u over the asylum and give you all the information you
require. This, of course, as you know, is a private institution. I
should have thought you would have got more material for your book in
one of the big public asylums. The people who are sent to Norwood, you
know, are not the mild cases, and you will see some rather terrible
sights. You are prepared for that?"

Mr. Briggerland nodded. He was prepared to the extent of two full
noggins of brandy. Moreover, he was well aware that Norwood was the
asylum to which the more dangerous of lunatics were transferred.

Dr. Carew proved to be a young and enthusiastic alienist whose heart and
soul was in his work.

"I suppose you are prepared to see jumpy things," he said with a smile,
as he conducted Mr. Briggerland along a stone-vaulted corridor.

He opened a steel gate, the bars of which were encased with thick layers
of rubber, crossed a grassy plot (there were no stone-flagged paths at
Norwood) and entered one of the three buildings which constituted the
asylum proper.

It was a harrowing, heart-breaking, and to some extent, a disappointing
experience for Mr. Briggerland. True, his heart did not break, because
it was made of infrangible material, and his disappointment was
counter-balanced by a certain vague relief.

At the end of two hours' inspection they were standing out on the big
playing fields, watching the less violent of the patients wandering
aimlessly about. Except one, they were unattended by keepers, but in the
case of this one man, two stalwart uniformed men walked on either side
of him.

"Who is he?" asked Briggerland.

"That is rather a sad case," said the alienist cheerfully. He had
pointed out many "sad cases" in the same bright manner. "He's a doctor
and a genuine homicide. Luckily they detected him before he did any
mischief or he would have been in Broadmoor."

"Aren't you ever afraid of these men escaping?" asked Mr. Briggerland.

"You asked that before," said the doctor in surprise. "No. You see, an
insane asylum is not like a prison; to make a good get-away from prison
you have to have outside assistance. Nobody wants to help a lunatic
escape, otherwise it would be easier than getting out of prison, because
we have no patrols in the grounds, the wards can be opened from the
outside without a key and the night patrol who visits the wards every
half-hour has no time for any other observation. Would you like to talk
to Dr. Thun?"

Mr. Brigg