The Lunatic at Large | Page 9

turned again to Lady Alicia, and offering his arm, said,
"Let me lead you back to our fellow-fools."
"Is he safe?" whispered the Countess.
"I--I believe so," replied Dr Congleton in some confusion; "but I shall
have him watched more carefully."
As they entered the room Mr Beveridge whispered, "Will you meet a
poor lunatic again?" And the Lady Alicia pressed his arm.
CHAPTER IV.
On the morning after the dance Dr Congleton summoned Dr Escott to
his room.
"Escott," he began, "we must keep a little sharper eye on Mr

Beveridge."
"Indeed, sir?" said Escott; "he seems to me harmless enough."
"Nevertheless, he must be watched. Lady Grillyer was considerably
alarmed by his conduct last night, and a client who has confided so
many of her relatives to my care must be treated with the greatest
regard. I receive pheasants at Christmas from no fewer than fourteen
families of title, and my reputation for discretion is too valuable to be
risked. When Mr Beveridge is not under your own eyes you must see
that Moggridge always keeps him in sight."
Accordingly Moggridge, a burly and seasoned attendant on refractory
patients, was told off to keep an unobtrusive eye on that accomplished
gentleman. His duties appeared light enough, for, as I have said, Mr
Beveridge's eccentricities had hitherto been merely of the most playful
nature.
After luncheon on this same day he gave Escott twelve breaks and a
beating at billiards, and then having borrowed and approved of one of
his cigars, he strolled into the park. If he intended to escape observation,
he certainly showed the most skilful strategy, for he dodged deviously
through the largest trees, and at last, after a roundabout ramble, struck a
sheltered walk that ran underneath the high, glass-decked outer wall. It
was a sunny winter afternoon. The boughs were stripped, and the leaves
lay littered on the walk or flickered and stirred through the grass. In this
spot the high trees stood so close and the bare branches were so thick
that there was still an air of quiet and seclusion where he paced and
smoked. Every now and then he stopped and listened and looked at his
watch, and as he walked backwards and forwards an amused smile
would come and go.
All at once he heard something move on the far side of the wall: he
paused to make sure, and then he whistled, the sounds outside ceased,
and in a moment something fell softly behind him. He turned quickly
and snatched up a little buttonhole of flowers with a still smaller note
tied to the stems.

"An uncommonly happy idea," he said to himself, looking at the
missive with the air of one versed in these matters. Then he leisurely
proceeded to unfold and read the note.
"To my friend," he read, "if I may call you a friend, since I have known
you only such a short time--may I? This is just to express my sympathy,
and although I cannot express it well, still perhaps you will forgive my
feeble effort!!"
At this point, just as he was regarding the double mark of exclamation
with reminiscent entertainment, a plaintive voice from the other side of
the wall cried in a stage whisper, "Have you got it?"
Mr Beveridge composed his face, and heaving his shoulders to his ears
in the effort, gave vent to a prodigious sigh.
"A million thanks, my fairest and kindest of friends," he answered in
the same tone. "I read it now: I drink it in, I----"
He kissed the back of his hand loudly two or three times, sighed again,
and continued his reading.
"I wish I could help you," it ran, "but I am afraid I cannot, as the world
is so censorious, is it not? So you must accept a friend's sympathy if it
does not seem to you too bold and forward of her!!! Perhaps we may
meet again, as I sometimes go to Clankwood. Au revoir.--Your
sympathetic well-wisher. A. À. F."
He folded it up and put it in his waistcoat-pocket, then he exclaimed in
an audible aside, his voice shaking with the most affecting thrill,
"Perhaps we may meet again! Only perhaps! O Alicia!" And then
dropping again into a stage whisper, he asked, "Are you still there,
Lady Alicia?"
A timorous voice replied, "Yes, Mr Fortescue. But I really must go
now!"
"Now? So soon?"

"I have stayed too long already."
"'Tis better to have stayed too long than never to wear stays at all,"
replied Mr Beveridge.
There was no response for a moment. Then a low voice, a little hurt and
a good deal puzzled, asked with evident hesitation, "What--what did
you say, Mr Fortescue?"
"I said that Lady Alicia's stay cannot be too long," he answered, softly.
"But--but