now moving. Marston,
however, laid his hand upon his arm, and thus recalled him, for a moment,
to a forced attention.

"It must seem strange to you, Doctor, that I should trust this cursed
secret to your keeping," he said; "and, truth to say, it seems so to
myself. I cannot account for the impulse, the irresistible power of which
has forced me to disclose the hateful mystery to you, but the fact is
this, beginning like a speck, this one idea has gradually darkened and
dilated, until it has filled my entire mind. The solitary consciousness
of the gigantic mastery it has established there had grown intolerable; I
must have told it. The sense of solitude under this aggressive and
tremendous delusion was agony, hourly death to my soul. That is the
secret of my talkativeness; my sole excuse for plaguing you with the
dreams of a wretched hypochondriac."

Doctor Danvers assured him that no apologies were needed, and was only
restrained from adding the expression of that pity which he really felt,
by the fear of irritating a temper so full of bitterness, pride and
defiance. A few minutes more, and the coach having reached its
destination, they bid one another farewell, and parted.

At that time there resided in a decent mansion about a mile from the town
of Chester, a dapper little gentleman, whom we shall call Doctor Parkes.
This gentleman was the proprietor and sole professional manager of a
private asylum for the insane and enjoyed a high reputation, and a
proportionate amount of business, in his melancholy calling. It was about
the second day after the conversation we have just sketched, that this
little gentleman, having visited, according to his custom, all his
domestic patients, was about to take his accustomed walk in his somewhat
restricted pleasure grounds, when his servant announced a visitor.

"A gentleman," he repeated; "you have seen him before--eh?"

"No, sir," replied the man; "he is in the study, sir."

"Ha! a professional call. Well, we shall see."

So saying, the little gentleman summoned his gravest look, and hastened
to the chamber of audience.

On entering he found a man dressed well, but gravely, having in his
air and manner something of high breeding. In countenance striking,
dark-featured, and stern, furrowed with the lines of pain or
thought, rather than of age, although his dark hairs were largely
mingled with white.

The physician bowed, and requested the stranger to take a chair; he,
how