house and lock him into a room--that would make talk. I think I had
better leave him to the tender mercies of the next policeman; if he gets
run in for being drunk and incapable, so much the better for me."

He took out his latch key and let himself into the house, closing the
door softly behind him, so as not to awaken the half-sleeping wretch
upon the steps. Then he ascended the stairs--still softly, as if he
thought that he was not yet out of danger of awaking him--and locked
himself into his own room. Then he drew a long breath, and stood
motionless for a moment, with bent brows and downcast eyes. "There will
be no end to this," he said to himself, "until Francis is shipped off to
America or landed safely in a madhouse. One seems to me about as likely
as another. I wonder whether he was drunk to-night, or insane? Drunk, I
think: insanity"--with a sinister smile--"would be too great a stroke of
luck for me!"

But it was perfectly true, as Francis had said, that no drop of
intoxicating liquor had passed his lips that day. He was suffering from
brain disease, as Oliver had half suspected, although not to such an
extent that he could actually be called insane. A certain form of mania
was gradually taking possession of his mind. He was convinced that he
had been robbed by his brother of much that was his due; and that Oliver
was even now withholding money that was his. This fancy had its
foundation in fact, for Oliver had wronged him more than once, and was
ready to wrong him again should a suitable opportunity occur; but the
notion that at present occupied his mind, respecting the payment of the
two thousand pounds, was largely a figment of his disordered brain.
Oliver had certainly questioned within himself whether he should be
called upon to pay this sum, and as Francis seemed to have completely
disappeared, he began to think that he might evade his promise to do so;
but he had not as yet sought to free himself from the necessity of
paying it. Francis' own words and demeanor suggested this idea for the
first time to his mind. Was it possible, he asked himself, to prove that
Francis was insane--clap him into a lunatic asylum--get rid of him
forever without hush-money? True, there was his wife, Mary, to be
silenced; but she had no influence and no friends. "Power is always in
the hands of those who have most money," Oliver said to himself, as he
reviewed the situation, after leaving Francis on the door step. "I have
m