er the agonies my mind
had undergone; I fell lifeless on the ground.

"When I recovered, it was in the dead of night. I was in bed, the old
woman and the girl were at my side. I rose slowly and calmly. You know,
all men who have ever suffered much, know the strange anomalies of
despair--the quiet of our veriest anguish. Deceived by my bearing, I
learned, by degrees, from my attendants, that Gertrude had some weeks
since betrayed sudden symptoms of insanity; that these, in a very few
hours, arose to an alarming pitch.--From some reason the woman could
not explain, she had, a short time before, discarded the companion I had
left with her; she was, therefore, alone among servants. They sent
for the ignorant practitioners of the place; they tried their nostrums
without success; her madness increased; her attendants, with that
superstitious horror of insanity, common to the lower classes, became
more and more violently alarmed; the landlady insisted on her removal;
and--and--I told you, Peham--I told you--they sent her away--sent her to
a madhouse! All this I listened to!--all!--aye, and patiently! I noted
down the address of her present abode; it was about the distance of
twenty miles from--. I ordered fresh horses and set off immediately.

"I arrived there at day-break. It was a large, old house, which, like a
French hotel, seemed to have no visible door; dark and gloomy, the pile
appeared worthy of the purpose to which it was devoted. It was a long
time before we aroused any one to answer our call; at length, I was
ushered into a small parlour--how minutely I remember every article in
the room; what varieties there are in the extreme passions! sometimes
the same feeling will deaden all the senses--sometimes render them a
hundred fold more acute!--

"At last, a man of a smiling and rosy aspect appeared. He pointed to a
chair--rubbed his hands--and begged me to unfold my business; few words
sufficed to do that. I requested to see his patient; I demanded by what
authority she had been put under his care. The man's face altered. He
was but little pleased with the nature of my visit. 'The lady,' he said,
coolly, 'had been entrusted to his care, with an adequate remuneration,
by Mr. Tyrrell; without that gentleman's permission he could not
think even of suffering me to see her. I controlled my passion; I knew
something, if not of the nature of private mad-houses, at least of that
of mankind. I claimed his patient as my wife;