barrels were stored. I afterward learned that there was a
large garden and poultry yard in this lonely nook where my
uncle's only servant was sequestered.

I was glad when we started back through the thicket, for the
hour was late and I felt the need of sleep.

"He gives us our food," said my uncle, when we were at
length in the courtyard. "We have enough of everything
needful--but little meat. It destroys mental power. It is
fools' food."

Next day my uncle was unable to leave his bed. I determined
to go to the hotel for my baggage and to post some letters,
one of which gave Mr. Earl an account of my experiences
since the October night when I became an inmate of that
house.

It was midwinter now, and the long stretches of pasturage
and meadow land outside the walls were blasted and sere when
the old mute, whom I had seen twice before, let me out of
the big gate. When I returned he was there to open the gate
for me and help me with my baggage.

I found Rayel at his father's bedside. The sick man was
asleep, and I went at once to the library, where Rayel soon
came, as was his custom in the afternoon, for a lesson in
talking. Both my uncle and myself had taken great pains to
teach him this accomplishment, and his progress had been
even more rapid than we thought possible. He caught the