isper: "I would like this to be his home when I am dead. It will be
better, however, to place him in some public institution where he can
be well provided for. I shall leave a sufficient allowance for him. The
manner of its bestowal I leave entirely to your judgment. There were two
of them--you have seen the other. He was a faithful fellow. They were
poor fools, both of them, but uncommonly wise," he continued. "They kept
it to themselves. I found them in an asylum twenty-five years ago. They
called them idiots. Idiots! God help us!"

That strange light seemed to kindle in his eyes again while he was
speaking, and it conveyed anything but a cheerful suggestion to my mind.

"There is this difference between idiots and madmen," he continued. "The
former are born outside the pale of human sympathy; the latter overstep
it. In either case they are not of this earth--they are embodied spirits
living in a world of their own creation, biding the time of liberation
from the flesh. And do you know, there are more madmen in the world than
it dreams of?"

He stopped with a tone of sharp interrogation and looked squarely into
my face.

"There are undoubtedly many of them," said I.

"The lines of monomania all lead to madness," he continued. "The deeper
one plunges into the mysteries of life the nearer he approaches it. But,
mark you, one man may venture further than another. For years I have
lived in fear of two things--madness and death. Not on my account, but I
had Rayel to think of."

My uncle rose to his feet before he had ceased speaking and walked
stealthily on his tiptoes to an open door, where he stood for a moment
listening. I could hear nothing but the sound of the wind whistling in
the chimney.

"Wait here," he whispered presently, and then disappeared through the
door, closing it after him. I held my watch down to the firelight and
saw it was near eleven o'clock. I felt drowsy, and had almost fallen
asleep, when my uncle returned, carrying a lantern. "Rayel is asleep,"
said he, in a whisper. "Won't you come with me?--it will not take long."

"Certainly," said I, rising, and waiting for him to lead the way. He put
on his antique hat and threw a shawl over his shoulders.

"It's a chilly night," said he. "You'd better wear another coat."

I drew on my overcoat at once, wondering what new experience awaited
me. Holding the lantern in front of him, he proceeded slowly and feebly
across the rear courtyard, and unloc