Chapter IV: Sufferings in Sleep

Three A.M. had struck, and he had been walking about in this way for five hours without a break, when he fell into his chair. He fell asleep, and had a dream. This dream, like most dreams, was only connected with his situation by something poignant and mournful, but it made an impression on him. This nightmare struck him so much that he wrote it down at a later date, and we think we are bound to transcribe it verbatim; for whatever the history of this man may be, it would be incomplete if we omitted it. Here it is then; on the envelope we notice the line,--_The dream I had on that night._

"I was upon a plain, a large mournful plain, on which no
grass grew. It did not seem to me to be day, but it was
not night. I was walking with my brother, the brother of
my boyish years, of whom I am bound to say I never think,
and whom I scarce remember. We were talking, and met
travellers. We spoke about a woman, formerly a neighbor of
ours, who had always worked with her window open, since
she had occupied a front room. While talking, we felt cold
on account of this open window. There were no trees on the
plain. We saw a man pass close by us; he was a perfectly
naked man, of the color of ashes, mounted on a horse of an
earthen color. The man had no hair, and I could see his
skull, and the veins on his skull. He held in his hand a
wand, which was supple as a vine-twig and heavy as lead.
This horseman passed and said nothing to us.

"My brother said to me: 'Let us turn into the hollow way.'

"It was a hollow way in which not a bramble or even a
patch of moss could be seen; all was earth-colored, even
the sky. After going a few yards, I received no answer
when I spoke, and I noticed that my brother was no longer
with me. I entered a village that I saw, and I fancied
that it must be Romainville. The first street I entered
was deserted; I entered a second street, and behind the
angle formed by the two streets a man was standing against
the wall. I asked this man, "What is this place? where am
I?" but he gave me no answer. I saw the door of a house
open, and walked in.

"The first room was deserted, and I entered a second.
Behind the door of this room there was a man leaning
against the wall. I asked him, "To whom does this house
belong? where am I?" but the man gave me no answer. I went
out into the garden of the house, and it was deserted.
Behind the first tree I found a man standing; I said to
the man, "Whose is this garden? where am I?" but he made
me no answer.

"I wandered about this village and fancied that it was a
town. All the streets were deserted, all the doors open.
Not a living soul passed along the street, moved in the
rooms, or walked in the gardens. But there was behind
every corner, every door, and every tree, a man standing
silently. I never saw more than one at a time, and these
men looked at me as I passed.

"I left the village and began walking about the fields.
At the end of some time I turned back and saw a great
crowd coming after me. I recognized all the men whom I had
seen in the town, and they had strange heads. They did
not appear to be in a hurry, and yet they walked faster
than I, and made no noise in walking. In an instant this
crowd joined me and surrounded me. The faces of these men
were earth-colored. Then the man I had seen first and
questioned when I entered the town said to me, "Where are
you going? do you not know that you have been dead for a
long time?" I opened my mouth to answer, and I perceived
that there was no one near me."

He woke up, chilled to the marrow, for a wind, cold as the morning breeze, was shaking the open window. The fire had died away, the candle was nearly burned out, and it was still black night. He rose and went to the window; there were still no stars in the sky. From his window he could see the yard and his street, and a dry sharp sound on the ground below him induced him to look out. He saw two red stars whose rays lengthened and shortened curiously in the gloom. As his mind was half submerged in the mist of dreams, he thought, "There are no stars in the sky: they are on the earth now." A second sound like the first completely woke him, and he perceived that those two stars were carriage lamps, and by the light which they projected he could distinguish the shape of the vehicle; it was a tilbury, in which a small white horse was harnessed. The sound he had heard was the pawing of the horse's hoof on the ground.

"What's the meaning of this conveyance?" he said to himself. "Who can have come at so early an hour?"

At this moment there was a gentle tap at his bed-room door; he shuddered from head to foot, and shouted in a terrible voice, "Who's there?"

Some one replied, "I, sir," and he recognized his old servant's voice.

"Well," he continued, "what is it?"

"It is getting on for four o'clock, sir."

"What has that to do with me?"

"The tilbury has come, sir."

"What tilbury?"

"Did you not order one?"

"No," he said.

"The ostler says that he has come to fetch M. le Maire."

"What ostler?"

"M. Scaufflaire's."

This name made him start as if a flash of lightning had passed before his eyes.

"Ah, yes," he repeated, "M. Scaufflaire."

Could the old woman have seen him at this moment, she would have been horrified. There was a lengthened silence, during which he stupidly examined the candle flame and rolled up some of the wax in his fingers. The old woman, who was waiting, at length mustered up courage to raise her voice again.

"M. le Maire, what answer am I to give?"

"Say it is quite right, and that I shall be down directly."