Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-03-03

vestigate, but ut length he arose, anil
qualxing with horror he endcavored
to trace the disquieting sound to its
source.
1t led him to q door which apparently
separated him from the next apartment.
What CHASTITY mystery lay behind it?
! He hardly dared to think. He listened,
and the gurgling signs made themselves
plainly audible. Doubtless some I'M
fortunate was leaving the Retreat by
the method Jenkins had described, and
had failed to arrange his moose in an en-
tirely satisfactory manner. For what
seemed long time, Drane quaked and
hesitated, not daring to penetrate
further into the secret. Then with n
sudden resolution he seized the knob
and threw his force upon it.
Tho door opened easily. 1t revealed
an empty closet, with set bowl ut the
side, into which q thin stream of water
was trickling, and running down the
escape pipe with the noise which had so
Mortified him. Alarm gave place to
wrath. He vowed all sorts of VEN
geance upon every body who had even
remotely contributed to his present
evil plight. Every body but Bessie.
He forgave her, and in thinking of her
no fell quietly asleep and was not
Weakened till tho light of morning
streamed into the room.
Breakfast was served to such of Jenk-
ms boarders as could be trusted outside
their cages, at eight o'clock. After par
taking of that frugal meal Drane was
permitted to spend little while in the
parlor. 1t had no other occupant at
first except short, stout man with an
abundance of stiff, curly hair who sat at
table writing. Every time he paused
in that labor he stuck his pen behind
his ear; and when he was ready to re-
sumo his task he picked up fresh one,
forgetting. what no had done with the
other. The consequence was that in a
few minutes the bushy hair over his
ear was full of pen-holders, and there
remained only the one which he was
using. Presently that joined the rest,
and then the little man, after hunting
about the table a few minutes, gave it
up and pushed his paper from him.
1.-THE servants here are very careless"
said he to Drane. "They always fail to
provide me with pens, although they
know the Importance of my work. And
for myself, am so absent-minded, do
you know, that my forgotfulness has
been the ruin of my life. 1t is true
He leaned toward Drane impressively,
and continued: 81 am a genius. once
wrote the greatest poem eXtanr. Then
mislaid it. For months I searched for
the manuscript, but without finding a
trace of it. My cursed forgetful-
ness! Then tried to remember
what was in Tiny forgotfulness
S-I.
gle line. could remember only
that it surpassed Homer, Dante or
Shakespeare. Tho thought that had
thus cast away undying fame by nero
carelessness undermined my health, I'M
til they brought me to this sanitarium.
Confound it, one might as well be hon.
est about it. There's no sanitarium
about it. It's a lunatic asylum, and
for the sake of veracity let's admit it.
Here sit scribbling away every day,
trying vainly to hit upon the single
inspiration which for moment raised
me to an intellectual height no man had
ever before attained. Thus far in vain.
But who knows-who knows! What's
your own special brand of lunacy?"
~ am q sane man." said Drane, half
angrily.
The short man shook his head.
"Wait till you've been here while"
said he. Then you'll dream dreams,
and see visions. was sane enough, too,
but the atmosphere of this place-you
don't know what it is. In two days
you'll have delusions. You'll see things
that aren't there-serpents of various
hues; zebras with their stripes running
from head to tail, and revolving around
their bodies like the rings of Saturn.
That's why they've put me here
They're jealous of me. They don't want
me to remember the great work which I
wrote but can not find. It's plot"
The short man was getting violent,
and presently an attendant came and re-
moved him, to Drane's great relief.
In the course of that day Drane en-
countered several interesting maniacs
of mild order, but no serious incident