“My good sir, I wish you well: you have twice bestowed your charity on me, which I hope the Almighty will return to you with interest. I could not but observe, however, this evening your countenance no longer looked gay and happy as in the morning; and, believe me, I was sorry to see the change.”
The unaffected interest evinced by the old man pleased Francis. “Well,” replied he, “since you attach so much importance to the knowledge of the reason I have for remaining the whole day here plaguing myself, I will inform you that I came here in search of a friend who appointed to meet me on this bridge, but whom I have expected in vain.”
“With your permission I should say your friend was a rogue, to play the fool with you in this manner. If he had so served me, I should make him feel the weight of my crutch whenever I met him; for if he has been prevented from keeping his word by any unseen obstacle, he ought at least to have sent to you, and not have kept you here on your feet a whole day.”
“And yet I have no reason to complain of his not coming, for he promised me nothing. In fact it was only a dream that I was told I should meet a friend here.”
Francis spoke of it as a dream, because the history of the ghost was too long to relate.
“That alters the case,” replied the old man. “Since you rest your hopes on dreams, I am not astonished at your being deceived. I have also had many dreams in my life; but I was never fool enough to pay attention to them. If I had all the treasures that have been promised me in dreams, I could purchase the whole city of Bremen; but I have never put faith in dreams, and have not taken a single step to prove whether they were true or false; for I know full well, it would be useless trouble; and I am astonished that you should have lost so fine a day, which you might have employed so much more usefully, merely on the strength of a dream, which appears to me so wholly devoid of sense or meaning.”
“The event proves the justness of your remark, old father; and that dreams generally are deceitful. But it is rather more than three months since I had a very circumstantial dream relative to my meeting a friend on this particular day, here on this bridge; and it was so clearly indicated that he should communicate things of the utmost importance, that I thought it worth while to ascertain whether this dream had any foundation in truth.”