Mollie from her arms on to her
back.

She had barely left the gate when a horrible yell of baffled rage rent
the air, making her turn and glance up at the window of the attic.

The maniac had just discovered that the door was locked, and rushing to
the window caught sight of his hostess and desired patient fleeing from
the house.

One glance showed Millicent that he was about to get out of the window,
but whether he intended to clamber down by the ivy, or creep in at the
next attic, she did not stop to ascertain; only praying that she might
have strength to gain a place of safety she sped on, staggering under
the weight of her little one, who clung to her neck in wonder.

On and on, still with the wild yells of rage ringing in her ears, until
she had put three fields between herself and the house, when she stopped
for breath in a shady lane.

Hark! Surely it was the sound of wheels coming towards her. "Help! oh,
help!" she shouted. "Help! help! help!"

In another moment a brougham, drawn by two horses, appeared, coming
slowly up the hill towards her.

The coachman at a word from his master drew up, and Millicent, now
nearly fainting from terror and exhaustion, was helped into the
carriage.

Giving directions to the coachman to drive home as quickly as possible,
Dr. Shielding, for it was the medical superintendent of the Lunatic
Asylum, the long building already referred to, drew from her between
sobs and gasps the story of her fright.

At length they drew up before the doctor's house, in the grounds of the
asylum, and with a hasty word of introduction, Dr. Shielding left
Millicent and Mollie with his wife and daughter.

Summoning two burly-looking keepers, he stepped into his brougham again.

"To the Priory," he said, and then related the story to the men,
describing the position of the attic as told him by Millicent, adding
that he had just returned from a distant village, where he had been
called for consultation about a case of rapidly developed homicidal
mania of a local medical man, but the patient had eluded his caretaker,
the previous day, and could not be found.

"I have no doubt it is the same man," he said, "and there he is!" he
added, as they stopped before the Priory gate, to find the strange
visitor was trying to descend from the window by the ivy.

There he clung, bag in hand, still five-and-twenty feet from the ground.
When hearing their voices, he turned to look at them, and in so doing