Year: 1874

"A pleasant retreat for gentlemen and


abled mentality"


I Eugene AllertOn gave start OF the IN
/ tensest horror as he saw the look which


accompanied these words, and realized
I fully all the Importance of his situation.
I He saw that the man before him was a
I villain, and that he was by some foul
arrangement a close inmate Of one of those
/ places of confinement which, under the
name Of private asylums, are the bane
4 of many portions of the country. Even
rs he sat there, there recalled to his mind
a remembrance of what he had read Of such
places. and he did not even return his
visitors gaze.


by what person and for what reason
was brought here :" demanded he, after
long pause, during which the Doctor
played with his watch chain and regarded
him curiously, and he sat restless and
silent.


My lips are sealed upon that subject, +"
was Doctor Arnold's suave reply. "You
are entered upon our books as a patient
who is to be kept here until you are entirely
recovered.


Eugene Allerton sprang to his feet with
burst of words.


II see it all !" he excitedly cried ''you
sir, have been basely decel red by an i'm
postor Is it possible that you really be-
lieve me insane Why, am as right as
you Ill my mind, sir.


The Doctor smiled quietly.


They all talk III that way, he said.
You may be all right, but that is not for
me to know. You have been here placed
il my charge, and the duty | owe to my
self and my patron is that OF careful
guidance over you. You will be treated
in accordance with your demeanor. Ifyou
are at all reasonable and quiet you shall
have the freedom of the grounds if not,
You must be confined.


A grOan burst from Eugene Allerton's
lips.


why, sir, !" he said, 81 have not one
relative or friend in the world who would
even take an ordinary interest in me, and
very much less bring me to this out -of-the-
way place as a subject for your treatment
and in this asylum. IL is a vile plot, and
YOU are aiding villain in thus conhning
me


"You are getting excited, said the
doctor, soothingly. II must beg to ter
inmate the interview for the present. And
ere his patient could utter word i'll reply,
he had left the apartment, securing the
door safely after him.


Ills exit left Eugene Allerton IN be
wildered maze Of meditation. He was not
sufficiently obtuse to believe the doctor an
tool Of Nane Evelyn. Resolving
to be as pretentiously reasonable as the
doctor had desired, and to thus secure the
freedom Of the asylum grouIfNs, and an
for the wished for escape, he
took long slumber, and did not awaken
again until it was early morning. Then
he greeted the servant who brought his
meal, in gentlemanly and cour-
tcous manner, and he was soon thereafter
informed that he would be allowed to take
a little exercise in the gardens surrounding
the asylum.


motley assemblage Of inmates he met
there, but he found the vigilance of the
keepers too entire for him to endeavor an
escape from his companions and guardians
As he returned to his room, he saw a
woman standing without the gate soliciting
but was refused entrance.
As she left the gate, he was interested in
a gesture Of her hand, and, re ascending to
his room, he watched from his barred
window her retreating form.


She did not 90 far, for soon returning,
she looked up at his window, and, taking
little packet from her pocket, threw it up
at his window. When he got down from
the table and took up from the far end Of
the room where the little package had
rolled, the missive which had been 50 singu-
larly sent to him.


Opening it, he found it to containa stone,
but the wrapper around the stone was a
letter, which he eagerly proceeded to read.


The first words ne read were those Of
Eugene Allerton.