.

"I suppose they sent for you, sir?" resumed Harding. "They wished you to
see him?" and he made a slight gesture, to point out that he meant the
sick man.

"No; I came up to see if I could say a few words to Augustus--on a
matter purely my own."

"Ha! indeed! I 'm afraid you are not likely to have the opportunity.
This is a trying moment, sir. Dr. B., though only a country
practitioner, is a man of much experience, and he opines that the
membranes are affected."

"Indeed!"

"Yes; he thinks it's the membranes; and he derives his opinion from the
nature of the mental disturbance, for there are distinct intervals
of perfect sanity--indeed, of great mental power. The Colonel was a
remarkable man, Mr. L'Estrange; a very remarkable man."

"I 've always heard so."

"Ah, sir, he had great projects--I might call them grand projects, for
Ireland, had he been spared to carry them out."

"Let us still hope that he may."

"No, no, sir, that is not to be; and if Belton be correct, it is as
well, perhaps, it should not be." Here he touched his forehead with the
top of his finger, and gave a glance of most significant meaning.

"Does he apprehend permanent injury to the brain?"

The other pursed his mouth, and shook his head slowly, but did not
speak.

"That's very dreadful," said L'Estrange, sadly.

"Indeed it is, sir; take this from us," and here he touched his head,
"and what are we? What are we better than the beasts of the field?
But why do I say this to you, sir? Who knows these things better than
yourself?"

The curate was half inclined to smile at the ambiguity of the speech,
but he kept his gravity, and nodded assent.

"Nobody had the slightest conception of his wealth," said Harding,
coming up, and actually whispering the words into the other's ear. "We
knew all about the estated property; I did at least, I knew every
acre of it, and how it was let; but of his money in shares, in foreign
securities, on mortgages, and in various investments; what he had out at
venture in Assam and Japan, and what he drew twenty-five per cent from
in Peru;--of these, sir, none of us had any conception; and would you
believe it, Mr. L'Estrange, that he can talk of all these things at some
moments as collectedly as if he was in perfect health? He was giving
directions to Simcox about his will, and he said, 'Half a sheet of
note-paper will do it, Simcox. I 'll make my intentions very clear,
and there will be nobody to disput