owed to wander away in a state of madness, and before night I was
far from the town. What passed, and whither I had bent my steps, I
cannot tell. All I know is, that after running like a maniac, seizing
everybody by the arm that I met, staring at them with wild and flashing
eyes; and sometimes in a solemn voice, at others in a loud, threatening
tone, startling them with the interrogatory, "Are you my father?" and
then darting away, or sobbing like a child, as the humour took me, I
had crossed the country, and three days afterwards I was picked up at
the door of a house in the town of Reading, exhausted with fatigue and
exposure, and nearly dead. When I recovered, I found myself in bed, my
head shaved, my arm bound up, after repeated bleedings, and a female
figure sitting by me.

"God in heaven! where am I?" exclaimed I, faintly.

"Thou hast called often upon thy earthly father during the time of thy
illness, friend," replied a soft voice. "It rejoiceth me much to hear
thee call upon thy Father which is in heaven. Be comforted, thou art in
the hands of those who will be mindful of thee. Offer up thy thanks in
one short prayer, for thy return to reason, and then sink again into
repose, for thou must need it much."

I opened my eyes wide, and perceived that a young person in a Quaker's
dress was sitting by the bed working with her needle; an open Bible was
on a little table before her. I perceived also a cup, and parched with
thirst, I merely said, "Give me to drink." She arose, and put a teaspoon
to my lips; but I raised my hand, took the cup from her, and emptied it.
O how delightful was that draught! I sank down on my pillow, for even
that slight exertion had overpowered me, and muttering, "God, I thank
thee!" I was immediately in a sound sleep, from which I did not awake
for many hours. When I did, it was not daylight. A lamp was on the table,
and an old man in a Quaker's dress was snoring very comfortably in the
arm-chair. I felt quite refreshed with my long sleep, and was now able
to recall what had passed. I remembered the condemned cell, and the
mattress upon which I lay, but all after was in a state of confusion.
Here and there a fact or supposition was strong in my memory; but the
intervals between were total blanks. I was, at all events, free, that I
felt convinced of, and that I was in the hands of the sect who denominate
themselves Quakers: but where was I? and how did I come here? I remained
thinking on the