d," he said,
quietly. "All sinners, my dear aunt, are more or less miserable sinners.
Nero must have been one of the wretchedest of mankind."

"Wretched!" exclaimed Lady Janet. "Nero wretched! A man who committed
robbery, arson and murder to his own violin accompaniment--_only_
wretched! What next, I wonder? When modern philanthropy begins to
apologize for Nero, modern philanthropy has arrived at a pretty pass
indeed! We shall hear next that Bloody Queen Mary was as playful as
a kitten; and if poor dear Henry the Eighth carried anything to an
extreme, it was the practice of the domestic virtues. Ah, how I hate
cant! What were we talking about just now? You wander from the subject,
Julian; you are what I call bird-witted. I protest I forget what I
wanted to say to you. No, I won't be reminded of it. I may be an old
woman, but I am not in my dotage yet! Why do you sit there staring? Have
you nothing to say for yourself? Of all the people in the world, have
_you_ lost the use of your tongue?"

Julian's excellent temper and accurate knowledge of his aunt's character
exactly fitted him to calm the rising storm. He contrived to lead Lady
Janet insensibly back to the lost subject by dexterous reference to
a narrative which he had thus far left untold--the narrative of his
adventures on the Continent.

"I have a great deal to say, aunt," he replied. "I have not yet told you
of my discoveries abroad."

Lady Janet instantly took the bait.

"I knew there was something forgotten," she said. "You have been all
this time in the house, and you have told me nothing. Begin directly."

Patient Julian began.

CHAPTER XIV. COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE.

"I WENT first to Mannheim, Lady Janet, as I told you I should in my
letter, and I heard all that the consul and the hospital doctors could
tell me. No new fact of the slightest importance turned up. I got my
directions for finding the German surgeon, and I set forth to try what I
could make next of the man who performed the operation. On the question
of his patient's identity he had (as a perfect stranger to her) nothing
to tell me. On the question of her mental condition, however, he made a
very important statement. He owned to me that he had operated on another
person injured by a shell-wound on the head at the battle of Solferino,
and that the patient (recovering also in this case) recovered--mad. That
is a remarkable admission; don't you think so?"

Lady Janet'