fore I reveal what lies beyond that "but."

Notwithstanding Dr. Zabriskie's almost frenzied appeal for solitude, a
man had been placed in surveillance over him in the shape of a young
doctor skilled in diseases of the brain. This man communicated more or
less with the police, and one morning I received from him the following
extracts from the diary he had been ordered to keep.

"The Doctor is settling into a deep melancholy from which he
tries to rise at times, but with only indifferent success.
Yesterday he rode around to all his patients for the purpose
of withdrawing his services on the plea of illness. But he
still keeps his office open, and to-day I had the opportunity
of witnessing his reception and treatment of the many
sufferers who came to him for aid. I think he was conscious of
my presence, though an attempt had been made to conceal it.
For the listening look never left his face from the moment he
entered the room, and once he rose and passed quickly from
wall to wall, groping with outstretched hands into every nook
and corner, and barely escaping contact with the curtain
behind which I was hidden. But if he suspected my presence, he
showed no displeasure at it, wishing perhaps for a witness to
his skill in the treatment of disease.

"And truly I never beheld a finer manifestation of practical
insight in cases of a more or less baffling nature than I
beheld in him to-day. He is certainly a most wonderful
physician, and I feel bound to record that his mind is as
clear for business as if no shadow had fallen upon it.

* * * * *

"Dr. Zabriskie loves his wife, but in a way that tortures both
himself and her. If she is gone from the house he is wretched,
and yet when she returns he often forbears to speak to her, or
if he does speak, it is with a constraint that hurts her more
than his silence. I was present when she came in to-day. Her
step, which had been eager on the stairway, flagged as she
approached the room, and he naturally noted the change and
gave his own interpretation to it. His face, which had been
very pale, flushed suddenly, and a nervous trembling seized
him which he sought in vain to hide. But by the time her tall
and beautiful figure stood in the doorway he was his usual
self again in all but the