The Dream-Woman

"Isaac Scatchard, an itinerant ostler, wakes on the night of his birthday to see the apparition of a woman trying to stab him with a clasp knife. Seven years later he marries Rebecca Murdoch, against the wishes of his mother who recognises her from Isaac's description as the dream woman. Rebecca takes to drink and fulfills the prophecy by attacking him on his birthday. She disappears and Isaac can never again sleep at night for fear she will return to kill him." —<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="http://www.wilkie-collins.info/books_frozen_deep.htm">Wilkie Collins Information Pages</a>

First published in the magazine Temple Bar, Nov-Dec 1874; revised from 'The Ostler', published in the magazine Household Words, Christmas 1855.