you?"

"My name is Hutton," said the short, stout man, "and I am--well, one of
those whose business it is to uphold this establishment."

"My name is Turnbull," said the other; "I am one of those whose business
it is to tear it to the ground."

The small doctor smiled, and Turnbull's anger seemed suddenly to steady
him.

"But I don't want to talk about that," he said, calmly; "I only want to
know what the Master of this asylum really means."

Dr. Hutton's smile broke into a laugh which, short as it was, had the
suspicion of a shake in it. "I suppose you think that quite a simple
question," he said.

"I think it a plain question," said Turnbull, "and one that deserves
a plain answer. Why did the Master lock us up in a couple of cupboards
like jars of pickles for a mortal month, and why does he now let us walk
free in the garden again?"

"I understand," said Hutton, with arched eyebrows, "that your complaint
is that you are now free to walk in the garden."

"My complaint is," said Turnbull, stubbornly, "that if I am fit to walk
freely now, I have been as fit for the last month. No one has examined
me, no one has come near me. Your chief says that I am only free because
he has made other arrangements. What are those arrangements?"

The young man with the round face looked down for a little while
and smoked reflectively. The other and elder doctor had gone pacing
nervously by himself upon the lawn. At length the round face was lifted
again, and showed two round blue eyes with a certain frankness in them.

"Well, I don't see that it can do any harm to tell you know," he said.
"You were shut up just then because it was just during that month that
the Master was bringing off his big scheme. He was getting his bill
through Parliament, and organizing the new medical police. But of course
you haven't heard of all that; in fact, you weren't meant to."

"Heard of all what?" asked the impatient inquirer.

"There's a new law now, and the asylum powers are greatly extended. Even
if you did escape now, any policeman would take you up in the next town
if you couldn't show a certificate of sanity from us."

"Well," continued Dr. Hutton, "the Master described before both Houses
of Parliament the real scientific objection to all existing legislation
about lunacy. As he very truly said, the mistake was in supposing
insanity to be merely an exception or an extreme. Insanity, like
forgetfulness, is simply a quality which enters