oing out of his senses."

And she wrung her hands together with a nervous uneasiness in singular
contrast with her usual quiet exterior.

"How is he affected?"

"Well, Doctor, he came home last evening looking as white as a sheet. I
almost screamed out when I saw the strange, suffering expression on his
colorless face. My first thought was that he had fallen somewhere, and
been hurt dreadfully. He tried to pass me without stopping; but I put
both hands on him, and said--'Oh, Henry! what does ail you?' 'Nothing
of any account,' he answered, in a low, husky tone. 'I don't feel right
well, and am going to my room to lie down.' And saying this, he brushed
right past me, and went up stairs. I followed after him, but when I
tried his door it was fastened on the inside. I called three times
before he answered, and then he said--'Mother, I'm not sick; but I feel
bad and want to be alone. Please don't disturb me to-night.' I don't
think I would have known the voice if it hadn't been just then and
there. Knowing his disposition, anxious and troubled as I was, I felt
that it would be best for the time being to let him alone. And I did so.
For an hour or more all in his room was as still as death, and I began
to grow very uneasy. Then I heard his feet upon the floor moving about.
I heard him walk to his bureau--my ears served me for eyes--then to
the mantlepiece, and then to the window. All was still again for some
minutes. My heart beat like a hammer, as one vague suggestion after
another floated through my mind. Then he crossed the room with a slow
step; turned and went back again; and so kept on walking to and fro.
I listened, waiting for the sound to cease; nut he walked on and on,
backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, tramp, tramp, tramp,
until it seemed as if every jarring footfall was on my heart. Oh,
Doctor! I never had anything to affect me so before in my whole life. An
hour passed, and still he walked the floor of his room. I could bear it
no longer, and went and called to him. But he seemed deaf, and made no
reply. I rattled at the lock and called again and again. Then he came
close to the door, and said, speaking a little impatiently for him--

'Mother! Mother! For Heaven's sake don't trouble me! I don't feel just
right, and you must let me alone for the present.'

"Well, he kept on walking for an hour longer, and then everything was
still in his room for the night. This morning on trying his door it was