The palace conversation and the ticking

Early in 1886, when the excitement about Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was at its height, I dreamt that I was surveying one of the royal palaces, and had to pass up one of the staircases. On the half-landing I came upon the Queen in conversation with a lady whom I knew intuitively to be a Miss Cowper. I did not know, nor did I ever know, of such a person in real life. I caught the drift of the conversation. Miss Cowper was endeavouring to persuade the Queen to withhold the royal assent from Mr. Gladstone's Bill when it came before her. At this point I offered to withdraw, but was asked to remain by the Queen, who said that what she had to say might be heard by any one of her subjects. The conversation continued at great length, Miss Cowper seeming to urge every argument at her command, the Queen declaring that she would not depart from constitutional usage. During the entire conversation I was annoyed by a loud ticking noise, which I could not account for. The scene of the dream changed, and the time. It was the morning following the conversation that I was in the smoking-room of a certain club. There I saw a well-known publisher, who asked me whether I had seen the Times of that day. It contained, he said, an account of a very interesting conversation between the Queen and Miss Cowper; "and," he added, "your name is mentioned in connection with it." I got the paper, and saw the conversation printed at length. It occupied several columns, and I marked the introduction of my own appearance, and the Queen's desire that I should remain. At this point it flashed across me that the ticking noise which I had heard was accounted for. I said to myself, " All the time the conversation was going on it was being telegraphed to the Times office."