Yes, except when he is himself asleep. His command of my
dreams puzzled me at first. I thought I had put the past
completely out of my mind. But I could not hide it from him.
Little by little he learned everything in my history. One
day I saw him at work on a picture. It startled me. The
canvas showed a man lying on a surgeon's table. The knife
had just severed an artery in his thigh. There were four men
working over him--I was one of them. Gradually the features
took on a familiar expression. His face grew paler under the
brush. A few touches--the scene was complete. The man was
dead--his eyes wide open, staring at me.

My uncle paused and looked earnestly into my face.

"It was a bit of your professional experience," said I.
"Something had reminded you of it."

"The night before I dreamed about it" he answered. "My mind,
released from the command of my will, betrayed me."

"A strange power!" I exclaimed.

"Incredible to you! Impossible to acquire unless the work
begins at birth, and then the possibilities are infinite,"
said he, drawing his chair closer to mine. "You know what I
have done. Start the new-born mind on any highway and see
how it hurries along. You can do more, working a little
while over the cradle, than all the preachers under heaven,
after its occupant has grown beyond your ministry. I tell
you, sir, the world is indifferent to its children.