"Do you then not dream at all now?" "If I dream, I do _but_ dream--like all ordinary mortals, but my second
existence is closed, I fear, for ever. I will tell you what I dreamt
last night. I walked towards the entrance of a beautiful garden where I
had often been in the habit of meeting Edith, and I found the gate
closed. I shook it, and tried to open it by main force, when I noticed
something written over the gate. I read these words, 'This is the abode
of spirits untrammelled by the flesh.' "I did not know other than that I was as much in the spirit as on any of
the preceding nights, so I tried the gate again, only to meet with the
same success; but this time I heard a voice calling out, 'Thy flesh hath
grown upon thy spirit--the doors of thy soul are closed--hence! back to
earth!' I made one more desperate effort, and called out, 'Edith! Edith!' but my voice went forth from me weak, like a voice in the
distance. Nevertheless, my cry was answered. I heard Edith's voice
within the garden calling out my name, but in very feeble tones. My ears
were too grossly clogged with flesh to hear distinctly spiritual
sounds. I was aware of Edith's presence. She shook the garden gate with
her hands and spoke to me through the bars, but I saw no form. I heard
only her voice. "'Come to me,' she said, in what appeared a suppressed whisper. 'Oh,
what is this, Charles? Why cannot you come?' "Then the same unknown voice that had addressed me before spoke again,
'Spirit to spirit--flesh to flesh!' and I felt myself whirled back from
the garden gate as by a whirlwind, and I awoke." "The dream is strange," I observed. "Have you many such dreams?" I
asked. "Up to the present time, thank goodness, no; but who knows if to-night I
shall be able to dream at all?" "You will sleep all the sounder if you don't. Dreams always come when
the sleep is disturbed," said I. "Doctor, would you rob me of all I have to live for by your drugs?" he
exclaimed. "I should be sorry," I replied, "if my drugs have the unfortunate effect
of robbing you of pleasant dreams; but it is my first duty as a medical
man to remedy the physical ills of my patients." "Well, no more drugs for me, that's all," he said, positively. "The next
article of food I take that tastes in the slightest degree of physic I
shall certainly throw away." "In that case," I replied, "if there is no way of administering
medicine to you, this must be my last visit. It is useless calling on a
patient who refuses to be cured." "Well, doctor," he said, "I shall be sorry to lose you, as your
conversation serves to cheer my waking death. Of course, I can't expect
you to put yourself out of the way to come here for nothing; but if at
any time you are not better employed, just drop in as a friend." "Well," I said, "I should not like to drop an acquaintance so
interesting. But, the subject of medicine apart, you really must take a
little more nutriment than you do." This was what was really the matter with him. The body was worn away
through insufficient diet, till the patient was in a state bordering on
starvation; and this had been for a long time persisted in, as the
invalid found a morbid delight in those vivid dreams peculiar to all
people who practise long fasting; and so loth was he to give up his
beloved dreamland, that he was ready to sacrifice life itself. We chatted together for some time longer, and he related to me many of
his dreams, which were all of a most extraordinary character. At length
I got up to go, saying I would call on the morrow, and entered the
parlour where the parents of the young man were seated. They asked me
how my patient progressed. I told them he wanted plenty of nutriment,
and, without ordering further medicine, I told them to give him plenty
of mutton broth, beef tea, and other nutritious things, and to put them
as close to his bed as possible, that the smell of the savoury food
might awaken his appetite. They promised to comply with my request, and I quitted the house. I had
one or two other cases to attend to after that, which interested me in a
much less degree, after which I returned home, and committed to paper
the leading peculiarities of the cases of Charles and Edith. In the course of the morrow I called again upon Charles. I thought he
looked better. There was certainly a change in him since my first visit. "Well," I asked, "and how did you sleep last night?" "Oh, doctor!" he answered, "such a dream!" "Well, come, what was it?" "I thought," he began, "that I was again in search of that garden gate
that I have before alluded to, but when I came in sight of it it was no
longer distinct and tangible as on the preceding night, but misty in
outline, and as I approached it seemed to recede and grew more misty, as
if I saw it through a fog. The fog grew more and more dense, like an
immense black cloud, and I saw nothing. Then the cloud seemed to
solidify, and it turned to a solid wall of stone, and I found myself
suddenly enclosed within what looked like the courtyard of a prison. I
looked out for some loophole, but all attempt at escape appeared
impossible. My eye soon caught an inscription on the wall, which ran
thus, 'The boundary of the body.' "'What,' I said, within myself, 'can my spirit no longer soar into those
blissful realms it was wont formerly to revel in? Must I tamely submit
to this imprisonment without one effort? No,' I said; 'never will I
basely give in thus.' And, noticing a wide chink between the stones, I
placed the tip of my foot in. I soon found another notch for my fingers. There was no one near, so, finding higher up another chink, I put the
other foot in that, and after considerable difficulty and danger,
succeeded in reaching the top of the wall. I found that the prison was
built on a high rock in the middle of the sea, and guarded by demon
sentinels. "I looked out into the distance. There was nothing but sea and sky, and
that, too, seemed so blended together as to appear all one element. In
whatever direction I chanced to gaze, all was vast, infinite,
indefinable. "'Yonder must be the realms of the spirit,' I muttered to myself, as I
lolled upon the summit of the prison wall. The words I uttered fell upon
the ear of a demon sentinel below, armed with a long halberd. He raised
the alarm, and I was forced to descend from my perch. Finding myself
once more in the prison yard, I heard rapid footsteps behind me, and the
jingling of keys. I turned round suddenly and beheld the jailor. "'What is this place?' I asked, somewhat sternly, 'and why am I here?' "'This building,' answered the jailor, 'is called _the prison-house of
flesh_, and the reason you are here is that you belong to "our sort."' "I groaned, and followed the jailor, who led me below into some horrid
cell, where the daylight scarce entered. He turned the key upon me and I
awoke." "Dear me," said I, "that was a very disagreeable dream. There was
nothing about Miss Edith in that," I said, smiling wickedly.