that I slept badly that night; I felt worried and
anxious. There was not the least doubt that Thesiger was mad; it was all
too apparent that his madness was daily and hourly assuming a more and
more dangerous form. The affectionate girl who clung to him ought
undoubtedly to be removed from his neighbourhood.

At the hour named by Miss Thesiger, I rose, dressed, and stole
downstairs through the silent house. I found her as she had indicated in
the Laurel Walk.

"How good of you to come!" she said. "But we must not talk here; it
would not be safe."

"What do you mean?" I answered. "No one can possibly watch us at this
hour."

"Jasper may be about," she said; "as far as I can tell he seems never to
sleep. I believe he paces outside my room the greater part of the
night."

"You can scarcely blame him for that," I said; "he does it in order to
ensure your safety."

She gave me an impatient glance.

"I see he has been talking to you," she replied; "but now it is
necessary for you to hear my side of the story. Come into this
summer-house; he will never guess that we are here."

Turning abruptly, she led the way into a small, tastefully arranged
summer-house. Shutting the door behind her, she turned at once and faced
me.

"Now," she said in an eager voice, "I will tell you everything. There is
an unexplained mystery about all this, and I am convinced that Jasper is
at the bottom of it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I have nothing whatever but a woman's intuition to guide me, but, all
the same, I am convinced of what I am saying. Before Jasper came home
Uncle Edward was a Brahmin beyond doubt. His seances were intensely
disagreeable to me, and I took care never to witness them nor to speak
to him on the terrible subject of Siva; but, beyond the fact that he
was a Brahmin deeply imbued with the mysteries of his so-called
religion, he was a perfectly sane, happy, intelligent, and affectionate
man. He loved me devotedly, as I am the child of his favourite brother,
and told me just before Jasper's arrival that he had made me his
heiress, leaving me all that he possessed in the world. He had never
liked Jasper, and was annoyed when he came here and made this house his
headquarters. I had not met my cousin since I was a little child, and
when he arrived on the scene took a great dislike to him. He began at
once to pay me hateful attentions, and to question me eagerly with
regard to Uncle Edward and his ways. By a cu