Year: 1867

handsome cavaliers in the woodlands.


daresay have Mile. Senderi to than


for this noble stranger, aud that he's onl


the great Cyrus in Modern costume"


q All, that is the point which mystifie


me, Hector" she said. "The stranger
costume is not modern. He looks as al
old picture might look if it could descent
from its frame"


Her words panied me, for they remind
ed me of that hidden picture in the Ii
brary, an 4 that quaint hunting eostum,
of orange and purple which Andre d,
Brissac wore at che Regents ball.


After this my wife confined her walk:
to the pleasaunce and for many week,
heard no more of the nameless stranger
dismissed all thought of him from my
mind, for grqver and heayier care bad
come upon me. My wife's health began
to droop. The change in her was SC
gradual as to be almost inperceptible tc
those who watched her day by day. Il
was only when she put on rich. gala
dress which she had not worn for months
that / saw how wasted the form must Re
on which the embroidered hung so !osse-
ly, and how wan aud dim were the eyes
which had once been brilliant as the Jew:
els she wore in her hair. -" a4


l sent messenger to Paris to summon
one of the court physicians; but knew
that many days must needs elapse before
he could arrive at Puy Verdun.


In the interval ! watched my wife with
unutterable fear. a. ,s.a..5


1t was not her health only that had
declined. The change was more painful
to behold thanany physical alienation
The bright and sunny spirit had vanish
ed, and in the place of my joyous young
BRIDE l beheld woman weighed down
by rooted melancholy. In vain | sought
to fathom the cause of my darling's sad
ness. She assured me that she had no
real ground for sorrow. But although
she said nothing, / could see she had no
hope or BELIZE in the healing powers of
medicine.


Qne day, when wished to beguile her
from that pensive silence in which she
was wont to sit an hour at time, told
her, laughing, that she appeared to have
forgotten her mysterious cavalier of the
wood, and it seemed also as if he he'd for
gotten her. '-


To my wonderment, her pale face be-
came Of p sudden crimson; and from
crimson turned to pale again in breath.
Gag" You have meyer seen him since you
deserted your woodland grotto.?" said.


She turned to me with heart-rending
look. 1gf Is sg g


3" Hector" she cried, II see him every
day and it is that which is killing me."
"She burst into passion of tears when
she had said this. took her in my arms
as if she had been frightened child, and
tiled to comfort her. a5..s set


sMy darling, this Is Madness" said
/" You know that'no stranger can come to
you in the pleasaudce. The moat is ten
feet wide and always full of water, and
the gates are kept locked day and night
by old Mason. The chatelaine offa
medieval fortress need fear 20 INTRUDER
in her antique garden


My wife shook her head sadly. stg


" | see him every day." she said. 5


On this ! believed that my wife was
mad. shrank from questioning her
more closely concerning mysterious visi-
taqt. 1t would be i'll, | thought, to give
a form and subsSapce to the shadow that
tormented her by too close inquiry about
its look and manner, its coming and going.


| took care to assure myself that no
stranger to the household could by any
possibility penetrate to the plesaaunce.--
Having done this, | was fain to wait .he
coming of the physician. ii as.a


He came at last. / revealed to him
the conviction which was my misery.
told him that believed my wife to be
mad He saw her-spent an hour alone
with her, and then came to me. To my
unspeakable relief he assured me of her
sanity.


"Itis Just possible that she may be af, ,
fectsd by one delusien," he said "but
she is so reasonable upon all other points
that | can scarcely bring myself to be-
lieve her the subject of monomania. |
am rather inclined to think that she
really sees the person Of whom she speaks.
She described him to me with perfect
minuteness. The descriptions Of scenes
or individuals given t y patients inflicted
with monomania are always more or less
disjointcd but your wife spoke to me as
clearly and camly as | am now speaking
to you. Are you sure there is no one
who can approach her in that garden
y ID i - b -