rs were often vexatious and annoying, and as time wore on he
became exceedingly captious and irritable. His ebullitions of temper,
which now became quite frequent, were vented upon the innocent heads
of those who labored in his service, and much dissatisfaction was
engendered in consequence. He became suspicious of all who surrounded
him, and imagined that every one with whom he was connected were
seeking to rob him, and finally an idea took possession of his mind,
which completely destroyed his peace and made his existence perfectly
miserable. He imagined that his life was in danger, and that there
was a conspiracy formed to murder him for his money.

So firmly did this conviction cling to him that he became intensely
nervous and restless, and was scarcely able to sleep in his bed at
nights. He would bolt and bar himself in his chamber so securely that
it was a matter of perfect impossibility to effect an entrance, and
then, still doubtful, he would be wakeful and uneasy during the long,
weary hours of the night, until from sheer exhaustion he would fall
into a troubled sleep, which lasted late into the morning.

Nothing occurred of a character to justify his suspicions or to
increase his fears, until one morning he was awakened at a very early
hour by the breaking with a loud crash of one of the windows that
opened into his room. Instantly he was awake, and, springing from his
bed, he rushed frantically to the window, discharged his pistol
several times in succession, at the same time calling loudly for
help.

His cries alarmed his valet, who slept in a room communicating with
that of his master, and who hastened at once to his assistance. It
was too dark to discover anything of the cause of the breaking of the
glass, and as no further demonstration occurred, he succeeded in
quieting the fears of his master, and restoring him to tranquillity.
As soon as it was daylight, he made an investigation into the cause
of this seeming attack, and an examination of the outside of the
premises disclosed the fact that the alarm had been occasioned by the
falling of the branch of an old tree that stood near to the house,
and on which some of the limbs were withered and dead.

This discovery, however, by no means allayed his fears or dissipated
his suspicions, but, on the contrary, he became so fixed in the
insane idea that he would be assassinated, that his life in the old
home became a burden to him, and he longed for a change