he
interview had taken place, but gave it as his opinion that Reardon
was in a state of nervous illness, and made by suffering quite unlike
himself. That he might be on the way to positive mental disease seemed
likely enough. 'Unhappily, I myself can be of no use to him; he has
not the same friendly feeling for me as he used to have. But it is
very certain that those of his friends who have the power should exert
themselves to raise him out of this fearful slough of despond. If he
isn't effectually helped, there's no saying what may happen. One thing
is certain, I think: he is past helping himself. Sane literary work
cannot be expected from him. It seems a monstrous thing that so good a
fellow, and one with such excellent brains too, should perish by the
way when influential people would have no difficulty in restoring him to
health and usefulness.'

All the months of summer went by. Jasper kept his word, and never
visited Mrs Yule's house; but once in July he met that lady at the
Carters', and heard then, what he knew from other sources, that the
position of things was unchanged. In August, Mrs Yule spent a fortnight
at the seaside, and Amy accompanied her. Milvain and his sisters
accepted an invitation to visit friends at Wattleborough, and were out
of town about three weeks, the last ten days being passed in the Isle of
Wight; it was an extravagant holiday, but Dora had been ailing, and her
brother declared that they would all work better for the change. Alfred
Yule, with his wife and daughter, rusticated somewhere in Kent. Dora and
Marian exchanged letters, and here is a passage from one written by the
former:

'Jasper has shown himself in an unusually amiable light since we left
town. I looked forward to this holiday with some misgivings, as I know
by experience that it doesn't do for him and us to be too much together;
he gets tired of our company, and then his selfishness--believe me, he
has a good deal of it--comes out in a way we don't appreciate. But I
have never known him so forbearing. To me he is particularly kind, on
account of my headaches and general shakiness. It isn't impossible that
this young man, if all goes well with him, may turn out far better than
Maud and I ever expected. But things will have to go very well, if the
improvement is to be permanent. I only hope he may make a lot of money
before long. If this sounds rather gross to you, I can only say that
Jasper's moral nature will never be saf