as
suggested to me by my intercourse with the anchorite. I ought to have
kept out of his way, perhaps; but you all of you know what a
fascination insane people have always had for me. I have always thought
that in connection with those abnormal conditions nature vouchsafes us
glimpses into her most mysterious depths. In fact, by the very
gruesomeness which I have felt in the society of mad people, I have
found myself led upon the track of suggestions and ideas which have
inspired my mind and fancy to flights of unusual loftiness. Perhaps
people who are utterly sane may look upon flights such as these as mere
paroxysms of dangerous ill-health. But that is nothing when one _knows_
that one is sound and well."

"There is no doubt, dear Cyprian, that you are as sound and as well as
possible," said Theodore, "and in fact all this is a proof of the
strength and vigour of your constitution--which I almost could envy you
for. You speak of glimpses into Nature's mysterious depths; but people
who are not quite sure that they are exempt from anything like
giddiness ought to keep away from glimpses of the kind. Of course this
could never have applied to your Serapion, as you have described him to
us, inasmuch as to associate with him must have been better than
companionship with the most brilliant and splendid poet. But you will
admit that, chiefly because so many years have passed since you saw
him, you have pictured him to tie in all the brilliant colours in which
he glows in your memory. Now _I_ consider that, in the society of a
man, insane in the particular way in which your Serapion was, I should
never have been able to divest myself of an immense uneasiness, nay, I
may say terror! Even when you were telling us how he considered his
condition to be the happiest conceivable, and wished that it could be
yours, I felt my hair beginning to stand on end! What if the notion
that this condition _was_ a happy one should take root in one's mind,
and eventuate in real madness! Terrible thought! I could never have
been much with Serapion, just for that reason. Then, besides the risk
to the mind, there was the danger to the body, too. Pinel mentions
plenty of cases of people suffering from Fixed Idea who have suddenly
become fearfully violent, and murdered everybody whom they came near,
like furious wild beasts."

"Theodore is right," said Ottmar. "Cyprian, I blame you for your
foolish _penchant_ for folly, your insane interest in insa