Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-11-20
TO the floor had run to his father and climbed

| dent days | had kept a tame lizard, and by
whistling to it had been able to direct its
movements at viii and now | was reminded
of my whilom pet by watching Beatrice
Crawford'S eyes Every motion of her hus-
bands as he ran round the room tossing the
laughing boy in his arms, appeared to hold a
| fascination for her, and her gaze never left
| him but once That once was when she walked
swiftly to further table and possessed her
| self of paper knife, which she handed to
me, commenting on its curious make. TWAS
of steel and sharply pointed; and handed it
back again with the remark that it would
make a nasty weapon if needed. She took it
without Glancing at me again; but her hus-
band had caught her words, and now came up
TO us hrrathleSs and laughing, with Berthe
clinging round his neck.
Don't hold that thing, my darling" he
said tenderly. II hate to see such an ugly
| knife in Your dear little hands,
Give it to Bcrtic, mamma" cried the
child, stretching out his dimpled hands for
the coveted treasure; and his father, with an
injunction to I've careful, was taking it from
her TO give to him when. with a muifled cry,
she snatched the knife back and dashed it
through the open window into the garden be
yond.
| You shan't have it! YOU Shan't have itIn
she cried, cxcitodly, while a bright red spot
burned on either cheek. "You would
with marvellous self control she stopped dead
| short and after an almost impcrccptible
| pause, she added in her usual quiet tones;
Pray forgive me, Arthur, am so afraid of
BERTHE hurting himself Go up to the nursery,
! ,1ao, Mgpsr,a will 1nrna To Won
| AweStruck at her late passion, the child
| went gently out of the room, and, his mother
following him. was left alone with Craw-
ford, 1t went TO my heart to see the panied,
drawn look ON his face, but the scene had at
all events put one thing beyond doubt
Mrs. Crawford was not merely failing in
brain power-she was mad.
\ couple of days went by and became
| fairly puzzled All the ordinary verbal
tests, when applied TO my patient, proved
| complete failures. Her memory was excel
lent, and, indeed, in this respect she was far
| better than her husband, Wilo was constantly
| forgetting things. As to her Judgment, it
struck me as above the average, for she was
n widely read woman, and we had a stiff ar
| gument one night as to the merits of our
| faVurite authors. She managed her own
| housekeeping, and capitally she did it, too;
and, in fact-nCt to exhaust the readers pa-
| tienCe by entering into details-the only visi-
| lie outcome of her mental alteration was
| this extreme terror in which she lived and
! for which could find no reason. Il NAV re-
| mark parentheticallv that the mad undoubt-
cdly have rules of their own by which they
are Influenced. Experience thus teaching me
that Mrs Crawford had some reason for this,
| to us. inexpicable dread-evcn though it
| might be but fear of her own shadow-it
became my business to solve this reason.)
/ What hatiled me most was the fact that while
| it was Crawford himself who primarily ex-
| cited this terror, she was undeuiablv fond of
! him. Indeed the word fond Is hardly suit
| able, for she simply adored him | never
| heard him express the slightest wish as to
| the household arrangements but it was in
| stantly fulfilled; while every whim-and he
was the most whimsical of men-was i'm
| pilcitly obeyed. In fact, at the end of a
week | was precisely in the same state as
when | first entered the house But that nv
amour propre was piJued and l felt angry
| at my non-SJccesS, | should have been paving
| a very ENJOYABLE visit Arthur Crawford
made capital host and although, as | have
| already said, he was very whimsical man,
and was subject to unaccountable fits of de
| preston, he and I got on excellentlv to-
| gether
At the end of the week something happened
| which had the double effect of lowering me
| several inches in my own estimation and of
| placing matters in totally different light
1t was an exceedingly hot night, and after
we had all gone to bed was tempted to leave
my room, and seating myself by the open
window in the corridor to indulge in an extra
cigar. The fact that it was fine moonlight
night, and that while the corridor window
hoasted lovely view, that of my own room
| looked into the stables, amply justified my
| choice of a seat. / had been there for U.r-
| haps an hour when l heard the Crawfords
| talking in their room, which was on a level
with my own Their tones were excited and
eager. and fearing that Mrs Crawford might
be lashing herself into a fury and that her
husband might he ignorantlv increasing it,
| stole down to their door and stood listen
ing.
Arthur. dear give it to me You don't
want it tonight Why not wait until the
morning
These We're the first words that I caught
spoken N Mr. Crawfords usually gentle
tones.
Civ it to YOU. No; not /. I know a
trick worth two Of that All. you think l
don't know that you and that COMPOUNDED
mealy-mouthed doctor are in league against
me
Crawford's voice, shrin and mockins, but
undoubtedly his. Good heavens, was the
man drunk, There was moments pause.
and then he began again, this time more
gently
Come, come, Beatrice. Drop this stupid
joking l only want to have a little cut at
BERTHE, just little cut; and look the knife is
so bright and sharp, it cannot hurt him
much"
The wall seemed to reel around me as
,oancd against it for support In n flash OF
revelation that nearly blinded he, as real
lied the full horror of the situation. | under.
stood for the first time how mattAs actually
stood. Crawford himself was the mailman
and the devoted wife, whom | had beer
taught to look upon as insane had known The
truth all this time. and knowing it, fee soIue
iHscrItahle woman S reason, had shielded him
perhaps II tic cost OF her very life. Ii q mo
rnent the meaning of his many whims, the los
Of memory, bis fits Of depression were mad
clear TO me- and rs ] thought Of the martyr
dom through which his girl wife lad passed
cursed myself for the readiness with which
had been duped
While these thoughts were running through
my brain l had noiselessly opened the cute
door and now stood in the dressing room
peering into the bedroom beyond. The doc
between the two was standing open, but
heavy curtain hung in the aperture, and, b,
making little slit in it by means of my pen
knife, | was enabled to command view o
| the interior At the further end of the apart
ment lay Berthe asleep in his cot. Standin:
before him, clad in a long, white wrapper anC
with her auburn hair flowing over her shoul
ders, was the young mother herself. while a
some PAGES from her stood Crawford, still il
evening dress, and balancing in his fingers ;
long, glittering dagger that l recognized a
} one that usually hung in the library below
BY this time he had dropped his angry tone
and was speaking in his accustomed pleasan