t destructive form of lie imaginable. Paul had borne
much, had cherished to the last his feeling of duty and his outward
rendering of respect, but his mother had gone too far. He felt that she
was not mad, and that in accusing him she was only treating him as she
had always done since he was a boy; giving way to her unaccountable
dislike, and suffering her antipathy to get the better of all sense of
truth.

As Paul sat at table with Professor Cutter, he felt that the yoke had
suddenly been taken from his neck, and that he was henceforth free to
follow his own career and his own interests, without further thought for
her who had cast him off. He was not a boy, to grow sulky at an unkind
word, or to resent a fancied insult. He was a grown man, more than
thirty years of age, and he fully realized his position, without
exaggeration and without any superfluous exhibition of feeling. All at
once he felt like a man who has done his day's work, and has a right to
think no more about it.

"I am glad to see that you have a good appetite," observed the
professor.

"I am conscious of not having eaten for a long time," answered Paul. "I
suppose I was too much excited to be hungry before."

"You are not excited any longer?" inquired Dr. Cutter, with a smile.

"No. I believe I am perfectly calm. I have accomplished the journey, I
have seen my mother, I have heard her last word, and I shall go to
Persia to-morrow."

"Your programme is a simple one," answered his companion. "However, I am
sure you can be of no use here. Your mother is quite safe under my
care."

"It is my belief that she would be quite safe alone," said Paul, "though
your presence is a help to her. You are a friend of her family, you knew
my poor brother, you are intimate with my uncle by marriage, Mr. John
Carvel. I am sure that, since you are good enough to accompany my
mother, she cannot fail to appreciate your kindness and to enjoy your
society. But I do not think she really stands in need of assistance."

"That is a matter of opinion," replied the professor, sipping his wine.

"Yes; but shall I be frank with you, Dr. Cutter? I fancy that, as a
scientist and a student of diseases of the mind, you are over-ready to
suspect insanity where my mother's conduct can be explained by ordinary
causes."

"My dear sir," said the professor, "if I am a scientist, I am not one
for nothing. I know how very little science knows, and in due time I
shall be quite ready t