A PALPITATING INTERVIE]V.

appropriated (o the Doctor’s private use. .\ fime rambling oll place 1t 1s, too, and in the cosy, habitatle past it 15 next to impossible to realize avvithing: @u e tive of constraint or restriction withiy ey casy reach. Indeed, the fact thot T 2o inan asylum never crosses

pitable roct,

One of these dehightul dances was on the faprs o sh vt time ago, and though on the same eventag there crose the densest fog | think I have cver seen, | was determined not to lose th: fun

and started for Ashmead.

I soon bhegan to wonder whether i was really mony senses o making the attempt, but once started 1 pushed on, per- suading myself that 1t would be as difficult to retreat as to advance, and batthing with difh- culticsaboutwhich vou shall laugh another time.

The point at present is o that | didd finally arrive at my destination, but at so absurdly latc an hour that I' found the fes- tivities well-nigh over, many of the cuests having with- drawn, whilcothers were i the act of saving good-hyc.

Clamorous shouts of derision greeted my entrare o cnd nawrally inspired me to enlarge and improve tpon my series of adventures smes leaving my chambers, and straightway I hid o tale unfold,” that carried, as 1t was intended it should, con- sternation before it

Dismay was writien en every face, and when the excitement had somewhat sub- stded, the Doctor’s cheery voice was heard to announce that rot o soul should leave his housc that niglt 5 encounter such perils as T had desciil:ed.

Of course, there were demurrings from the girls; oversruled e et aside by brothers

TSHOUTS OF DERISION

GREETED MY ENTRAC. T 1. 9 - Jack,” he

pered, “you are not the fellovs to be subject to the twatters.

513

i charge, and after an endless and distract- g buzzing of tongues, our host’s suggestion of unlimited shake-downs was carried unani- mously, and then began some fun. The Doctor was m his clement. The servants, who one and all adore their master, were summonced to the council) and plans were proposed and discusced for the accommo- dation of the multitude.

Ceremony was cost to the winds, and the re- sources of the estavlishment frecly canvassed.

The discovery of varicus odd corners in which the men could be stowed away ; the lavish distribution of mattresses for the ladics ; the exten- ston - of sundry casy-chairs for the accommodation of long legs 5 all these vave scope for an amount of 1in- cenuity which ren- dered that evening one to be remem- bered.

When all was arranged; and we began to feel, like the village black- smith, that we had carned a night's repose, We o were standing, a merry aroup, in the great hall preparatory to

A general good- r1zht. Stelling beck-

oncd me aside. “T.ook here, whis-

[ shall have to put you up over there,” pomting w:th his thumb over his shoulder to the lunatic half of the building, 1 can't help “t, end it has its advantages, too. You'll have more than a square inch to turn round 1, and that's what T can’t offer you on this side. You don’t object?”

Well, T el object most emphatically, but 1 lacked courage to say so, and the faint smile of acquicscence which my features assumed was born rather of politeness than of bliss.

“Why, ol course, Doctor, if you like. Thev can’t oot out, T suppose?”

Vol 1v. = 606,