As they were turning into the grounds, Mr. Perry passed by on horseback.  The gentlemen spoke of his horse.

“By the bye,” said Frank Churchill to Mrs. Weston presently, “what became of Mr. Perry’s plan of setting up his carriage?”

Mrs. Weston looked surprized, and said, “I did not know that he ever had any such plan.”

“Nay, I had it from you.  You wrote me word of it three months ago.”

“Me! impossible!”

“Indeed you did.  I remember it perfectly.  You mentioned it as what was certainly to be very soon.  Mrs. Perry had told somebody, and was extremely happy about it.  It was owing to her persuasion, as she thought his being out in bad weather did him a great deal of harm.  You must remember it now?”

“Upon my word I never heard of it till this moment.”

“Never! really, never!—­Bless me! how could it be?—­Then I must have dreamt it—­but I was completely persuaded—­Miss Smith, you walk as if you were tired.  You will not be sorry to find yourself at home.”

“What is this?—­What is this?” cried Mr. Weston, “about Perry and a carriage?  Is Perry going to set up his carriage, Frank?  I am glad he can afford it.  You had it from himself, had you?”

“No, sir,” replied his son, laughing, “I seem to have had it from nobody.—­Very odd!—­I really was persuaded of Mrs. Weston’s having mentioned it in one of her letters to Enscombe, many weeks ago, with all these particulars—­but as she declares she never heard a syllable of it before, of course it must have been a dream.  I am a great dreamer.  I dream of every body at Highbury when I am away—­ and when I have gone through my particular friends, then I begin dreaming of Mr. and Mrs. Perry.”

“It is odd though,” observed his father, “that you should have had such a regular connected dream about people whom it was not very likely you should be thinking of at Enscombe.  Perry’s setting up his carriage! and his wife’s persuading him to it, out of care for his health—­ just what will happen, I have no doubt, some time or other; only a little premature.  What an air of probability sometimes runs through a dream!  And at others, what a heap of absurdities it is!  Well, Frank, your dream certainly shews that Highbury is in your thoughts when you are absent.  Emma, you are a great dreamer, I think?”

Emma was out of hearing.  She had hurried on before her guests to prepare her father for their appearance, and was beyond the reach of Mr. Weston’s hint.

“Why, to own the truth,” cried Miss Bates, who had been trying in vain to be heard the last two minutes, “if I must speak on this subject, there is no denying that Mr. Frank Churchill might have—­I do not mean to say that he did not dream it—­I am sure I have sometimes the oddest dreams in the world—­but if I am questioned about it, I must acknowledge that there was such an idea last spring; for Mrs. Perry herself mentioned it to my