wn the name in my pocket-book. It was "Mercy
Merrick."'"

Lady Janet produced _her_ pocket-book. "Let me take the name down too,"
she said. "I never heard it before, and I might otherwise forget it. Go
on, Julian."

Julian advanced to his second extract from the consul's letter:

"'Under these circumstances, I could only wait to hear from the hospital
when the patient was sufficiently recovered to be able to speak to
me. Some weeks passed without my receiving any communication from the
doctors. On calling to make inquiries I was informed that fever had
set in, and that the poor creature's condition now alternated between
exhaustion and delirium. In her delirious moments the name of your aunt,
Lady Janet Roy, frequently escaped her. Otherwise her wanderings were
for the most part quite unintelligible to the people at her bedside. I
thought once or twice of writing to you, and of begging you to speak to
Lady Janet. But as the doctors informed me that the chances of life or
death were at this time almost equally balanced, I decided to wait until
time should determine whether it was necessary to trouble you or not.'"

"You know best, Julian," said Lady Janet. "But I own I don't quite see
in what way I am interested in this part of the story."

"Just what I was going to say," added Horace. "It is very sad, no doubt.
But what have _we_ to do with it?"

"Let me read my third extract," Julian answered, "and you will see."

He turned to the third extract, and read as follows:

"'At last I received a message from the hospital informing me that Mercy
Merrick was out of danger, and that she was capable (though still very
weak) of answering any questions which I might think it desirable to
put to her. On reaching the hospital, I was requested, rather to my
surprise, to pay my first visit to the head physician in his private
room. "I think it right," said this gentleman, "to warn you, before you
see the patient, to be very careful how you speak to her, and not to
irritate her by showing any surprise or expressing any doubts if she
talks to you in an extravagant manner. We differ in opinion about her
here. Some of us (myself among the number) doubt whether the recovery
of her mind has accompanied the recovery of her bodily powers. Without
pronouncing her to be mad--she is perfectly gentle and harmless--we are
nevertheless of opinion that she is suffering under a species of insane
delusion. Bear in mind the caution which I have