the
young man's private bottle was much accelerated; and though never
communicative, she was at times unpleasantly familiar. When asked about
the patient's health, she would dolorously shake her head, and declare
that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.

Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain the notion that his
complaint was other than bodily. The ill-looking birds that gathered to
the house, the strange noises that sounded from the drawing-room in the
dead hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate habits of
the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence, the entire seclusion of
Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up to that hour, he could not have sworn
to in a court of justice--all weighed unpleasantly upon the young man's
mind. A sense of something evil, irregular and underhand, haunted and
depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment was the more firmly rooted in
his mind, when, in the fulness of time, he had an opportunity of
observing the features of his tenant. It fell in this way. The young
landlord was awakened about four in the morning by a noise in the hall.
Leaping to his feet, and opening the door of the library, he saw the
tall man, candle in hand, in earnest conversation with the gentleman who
had taken the rooms. The faces of both were strongly illuminated; and in
that of his tenant Somerset could perceive none of the marks of disease,
but every sign of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still
looking, the visitor took his departure; and the invalid, having
carefully fastened the front door, sprang upstairs without a trace of
lassitude.

That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle once more into the
hot fit of the detective fever; and the next morning resumed the
practice of his art with careless hand and an abstracted mind. The day
was destined to be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been seated at
the easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden with baggage
drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person rapidly mounted the
steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset hastened to attend
the summons.

"My dear fellow," she said, with the utmost gaiety, "here I come
dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; and I have
no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty."

Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or welcome; and the
spirited old lady pushed briskly by him, and paused on the thre