al sweetness of temper,
fortified by his love for his mother, carried him triumphantly through
all trials. Not a hard word or a harsh look ever escaped him in her
presence; he was unchangeably loving and forbearing with her to the very
last.

Such were the positions of the son, the mother, and the friend, when
the next notable event happened in the lives of the three. On a dreary
afternoon, early in the month of November, Mr. Brock was disturbed
over the composition of his sermon by a visit from the landlord of the
village inn.

After making his introductory apologies, the landlord stated the urgent
business on which he had come to the rectory clearly enough.

A few hours since a young man had been brought to the inn by some farm
laborers in the neighborhood, who had found him wandering about one of
their master's fields in a disordered state of mind, which looked to
their eyes like downright madness. The landlord had given the poor
creature shelter while he sent for medical help; and the doctor, on
seeing him, had pronounced that he was suffering from fever on the
brain, and that his removal to the nearest town at which a hospital or
a work-house infirmary could be found to receive him would in all
probability be fatal to his chances of recovery. After hearing this
expression of opinion, and after observing for himself that the
stranger's only luggage consisted of a small carpet-bag which had been
found in the field near him, the landlord had set off on the spot to
consult the rector, and to ask, in this serious emergency, what course
he was to take next.

Mr. Brock was the magistrate as well as the clergyman of the district,
and the course to be taken, in the first instance, was to his mind clear
enough. He put on his hat, and accompanied the landlord back to the inn.

At the inn door they were joined by Allan, who had heard the news
through another channel, and who was waiting Mr. Brock's arrival, to
follow in the magistrate's train, and to see what the stranger was like.
The village surgeon joined them at the same moment, and the four went
into the inn together.

They found the landlord's son on one side, and the hostler on the other,
holding the man down in his chair. Young, slim, and undersized, he was
strong enough at that moment to make it a matter of difficulty for the
two to master him. His tawny complexion, his large, bright brown eyes,
and his black beard gave him something of a foreign look. His dres