l put an end to himself twenty years ago.'

'What in the name of fortune did he do that for?'

'Mania,' said Robert quietly.

'Whew!' said the other, lifting his eyebrows. 'Is that the skeleton in
this very magnificent cupboard?'

'It has been the Wendover scourge from the beginning, so I hear.
Everyone about here of course explains this man's eccentricities by the
family history. But I don't know,' said Robert, his lip hardening, 'it
may be extremely convenient sometimes to have a tradition of the kind. A
man who knew how to work it might very well enjoy all the advantages
of sanity and the privileges of insanity at the same time. The poor old
doctor I was telling you of--old Meyrick--who has known the Squire since
his boyhood, and has a dog-like attachment to him, is always hinting at
mysterious excuses. Whenever I let out to him, as I do sometimes, as
to the state of the property, he talks of "inherited melancholy," "rash
judgments," and so forth. I like the good old soul, but I don't believe
much of it. A man who is sane enough to make a great name for himself in
letters is sane enough to provide his estate with a decent agent.'

'It doesn't follow,' said Langham, who was, however, so deep in a
collection of Spanish romances and chronicles, that the Squire's mental
history did not seem to make much impression upon him. 'Most men of
letters are mad, and I should be inclined,' he added, with a sudden and
fretful emphasis, 'to argue much worse things for the sanity of your
Squire, Elsmere, from the fact that this room is undoubtedly allowed
to get damp sometimes, than from any of those absurd parochial tests of
yours.'

And he held up a couple of priceless books, of which the Spanish
sheepskin bindings showed traces here and there of moisture.

'It is no use, I know, expecting you to preserve a moral sense when you
get among books,' said Robert with a shrug. 'I will reserve my remarks
on that subject. But you must really tear yourself away from this room,
Langham, if you want to see the rest of the Squire's quarters. Here you
have what we may call the ornamental, sensational part of the library,
that part of it which would make a stir at Sotheby's; the working parts
are all to come.'

Langham reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged away. Robert held back
the hangings over the doorway leading into the rest of the wing, and,
passing through, they found themselves in a continuation of the library
totally differ