The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-12-04

his CAGE up as hopeless | determined 10
make another strong appeal to his COM
mon sense l told him of his cousins
visit to me-of his intentions and prop
osition. l begged him to consider what
consequences his extraordinary beliefs
and extravagant actions must eventu-
ally entail. He listened attentively and
calmly.
you see now" he said, chow right l
was in attributing all this to Ralph
Carriston-how right l was to come to
you, doctor of standing, who can
vouch for my sanity"
"Vouch for your sanity! How can l
when you sit here and talk such arrant
nonsense, and expect me to believe it?
When you jump from your chair and
rush madly at some visionary foe?
Sane as you may be in all else, any
evidence 1 could give in your favor
must break down in cross-examination
if an inkling of these things got about.
Come, Carriston, be reasonable, and
prove your sanity by setting about this
search for Miss Rowan in a proper
way
He made no reply, but walked up and
down the room apparently in deep
thought. My words seemed TO have
had no effect upon him. Presently he
seated himself; and, as if to avoid re-
turning to the argument, drew a book
at hazard from my shelves and began
to read. He opened the volume at ran
dom, but after reading a few lines
seemed struck by something that met
his eyes, and in a few minutes was
deeply immersed in the contents of the
book. / glanced at it to see what had
so awakened his interest. Ply curious
fatality he had chosen a book the very
worst for him in his present frame of
mind-Gilchrists recently published
life of William Blake, that mastery
memoir of a man who was on certain
points as mad as Carriston himself.
was about to demonstrate, when he laid
down the volume and turned to me.
'Varley, the painter" he said, was
a firm believer in Blake's visions"
"Varley was bigger fool than
Blake" l retorted. Fancy his sitting
down and watching his clever but mad
friend draw spectral heads, and beilev-
ing them to be genuine portraits of
dead kings whose forms copdescended
to appear to Blake"
A sudden thought seemed to strike
Carriston. "Will you give me some
paper and chalk?" he asked. Upon be-
ing furnished with these materials, he
seated himself at the table and began
to draw. At least dozen times he
sketched, Win his usual rapidity, some
object or onother, and a dozen times
after a moments consideration, threw
each sketch aside with an air OF dis
appointment and began a fresh one
At last one of his attempts seemed to
come up to his requirements. Il have
it now, exactly" he cried, with joy
even triumph-in his voice. He spen.
some time in putting finishing touches
TO the successful sketch, and then he
handed me the paper.
"That is the man / saw Just now
with Madeline" he said. when | find
him I shall find her" He spoke with
all sincerity and conviction. | looked
at the paper with, I am bound to say
a great amount of curiosity.
NO matter from what visionary
source Carriston had drawn his inspir-
alton, his sketch was vigorous and nat.
ural enough. have already mentioned
hts wonderful power of drawing por.
traits from memory, 60 was willing e
grant that he might have reproduced
the outline of some face which hat
somewhere struck him. Yet why shoulC
IL have been this one? His drawing
represented the three-quarter face of ;
man-an ordinary man-apparently be
tween forty and fifty years of age
was a coarse-featured, ill-favored face
with a ragged ruff Of hair round thu
chin. II was not the face of a gentle
man, nor even the face of gently nur
tured man; and the artist, by a few
cunning strokes, had made 1t wear
crafty and sullen look. The sketch, q