My weariness of all this may easily be imagined. Ten times had Sperver
taken me over the stables and the kennels; the dogs were beginning to
know me. I knew by heart all the coarse pleasantries of the major-domo
over his bottles and Marie Lagoutte's invariable replies. Sébalt's
melancholy was infecting me; I would gladly have blown a little on his
horn to tell the mountains of my _ennui_, and my eyes were incessantly
directed towards Fribourg.

Still the disorder of Yeri-Hans, lord of Nideck, was taking its usual
course, and this gave my only occupation any serious interest. All the
particulars which Sperver had made me acquainted with appeared clearly
before me; sometimes the count, waking up with a start, would half rise,
and supported on his elbow, with neck outstretched and haggard eyes,
would mutter, "She is coming, she is coming!"

Then Gideon would shake his head and ascend the signal-tower, but neither
right nor left could the Black Plague be discovered.

After long reflection upon this strange malady I had come to the
conclusion that the sufferer was insane. The strange influence that the
old hag exercised over him, his alternate phases of madness and lucidity,
all confirmed me in this view.

Medical men who have given especial attention to the subject of mental
aberrations are well aware that periodical madness is of not unfrequent
occurrence. In some cases the illness appears several times in the year,
in others at only particular seasons of the year. I know at Fribourg an
old lady who for thirty years past has regularly presented herself at the
door of the asylum. At her own request they place her in confinement;
then the unhappy woman every night passes through the terrible scenes of