self. People say he's not quite right in
his head, but he is a nice, good gentleman, never does any harm, and
edifies us of the village with pious discourses, giving us all the good
advice that he can.'

"I had come across the anchorite some six or eight miles from B----,
so I concluded that something must be known of him there, and this
proved to be the case. Dr. S---- told me all the story. This hermit
had once been one of the most brilliant intellects, one of the most
universally-accomplished men in M----; and belonging, as he did, to
a very distinguished family, he was naturally appointed to an important
diplomatic post as soon as he had completed his studies: the duties of
this office he discharged with great ability and energy. Moreover, he
had remarkable poetical gifts, and everything he wrote was inspired by
a most brilliant fancy, a mind and imagination which sounded the
profoundest depths of all subjects. His incomparable humour, and the
unusual charm of his character made him the most delightful of
companions imaginable. He had risen from step to step of his career,
and was on the point of being despatched on an important diplomatic
mission, when he disappeared, in the most incomprehensible fashion,
from M----. All search for him was fruitless, and conjecture and
enquiry were baffled by a combination of circumstances.

"After a time there appeared amongst the villages, in the depths of the
Tyrolese mountains, a man in a brown robe, who preached in these
hamlets, and then went away into the wildest parts of the forests,
where he lived the life of a hermit. It chanced one day that Count
P---- saw this man (who called himself Priest Serapion), and at once
recognised him as his unfortunate nephew, who had disappeared from
M----. He was taken into custody, became violent, and all the skill of
the best doctors in M---- could do nothing to alleviate his terrible
condition. He was taken to the lunatic asylum at B----, and there the
methodical system, based upon profound psychological knowledge, pursued
by the medical man then in charge of that institution, succeeded in
bringing about a condition of much less excitement, and greater
quietness in the form of his malady. Whether this doctor, true to his
theory, gave the patient an opportunity of escaping, or whether he
himself found the means of doing so, escape he did, and was lost sight
of for a considerable time.

"Serapion appeared, ultimately, in the country som