minds
revel in, to the utter exclusion of those sublime visions and
inspirations which visit the soul when least clogged with matter. It
would be to exchange a paradise for a pandemonium; high, exalted
thoughts and feelings for low and grovelling ones. No," he said; "he
who, like me, has tasted both lives will hardly throw away the higher
for the lower."

I was puzzled by this last speech of his. Was the brain really affected?
Had I to do with a case of insanity? I studied his physiognomy for some
time in silence. He would have been called decidedly handsome; and yet
that is not the word. I should rather say beautiful, but the complexion
was pallid and the face dreadfully emaciated. The forehead was ample,
but half-eclipsed by a mass of rich, chestnut hair that hung over his
head in disordered waves. The nose was Grecian; the mouth and chin
classic; the eyes were large, dark, and lustrous, with an expression
most unusual and indescribable.

If I may use the expression, he seemed to look through you and beyond
you into space. The expression was quite unlike the vacant stare of the
maniac, for the look abounded with superior intelligence, but yet it was
not that sort of intelligence which men get by mixing in the world. His
look had something _unearthly_ in it--something of another world. I
could not altogether bring myself to believe that he was mad. He would
certainly have been called so by the world at large, which calls
everything madness that does not come within its own narrow circle. His
madness was that his faculties were too acute, his nervous system too
sensitive. When he looked at me he seemed to read my inmost thoughts and
answer them all with his eyes before I had time to open my mouth to give
utterance to them.

I tried to reason with him, tried to show him that very good health was
compatible with the most exalted thoughts, etc. But he always had an
answer ready, and that, too, before the words were half out of my mouth.
He was a perfect study, and I took immense interest in him. He, in turn,
grew more docile and confiding, and after some five or six visits we
were the best of friends.

I have said that he slept much and was given much to talking in his
sleep. It was on my third visit that I had some experience of this. We
were in the midst of an animated discussion, when he suddenly went off
into a most profound slumber; more suddenly than I had ever before known
anyone to fall asleep, and so resembli