wholly in it and of it, everything had seemed all right; but, as he
approached his normal condition again, the disorder became more and more
apparent.

And the next few hours brought it home with startling clearness, and
increased to fever heat the desire for final escape.

It was not so much a nonsense-world--it was too alarming for that--as a
world of nightmare, wherein everything was distorted. Events in it were
all out of proportion; effects no longer sprang from adequate causes;
things happened in a dislocated sort of way, and there was no sequence
in the order of their happening. Tiny occurrences filled him with
disproportionate, inconceivable horror; and great events, on the other
hand, passed him scathless. The spirit of disorder--monstrous, uncouth,
terrifying--reigned supreme; and Jimbo's whole desire, though
inarticulate, was to escape back into order and harmony again.

In contrast to all this dreadful uncertainty, the conduct of the
governess stood out alone as the one thing he could count upon: she was
sure and unfailing; he felt absolute confidence in her plans for his
safety, and when he thought of her his mind was at rest. Come what
might, she would always be there in time to help. The adventure over the
sea had proved that; but, childlike, he thought chiefly of his own
safety, and had ceased to care very much whether she escaped with him or
not. It was the older Jimbo that preferred captivity to escape without
her, whereas every minute now he was sinking deeper into the normal
child state in which the intuitive flashes from the buried soul became
more and more rare.

Meanwhile, there was preparation going on, secret and mysterious. He
could feel it. Some one else besides the governess was making plans, and
the boy began to dread the moment of escape almost as much as he
desired it. The alternative appalled him--to live for ever in the horror
of this house, bounded by the narrow yard, watched by Fright listening
ever at his elbow, and visited by the horrible Frightened Children. Even
the governess herself began to inspire him with something akin to fear,
as her personality grew more and more mysterious. He thought of her as
she stood by the window, with the branches of the tree visible through
her body, and the thought filled him with a dreadful and haunting
distress.

But this was only when she was absent; the moment she came into the
room, and he looked into her kind eyes, the old feeling of se