does the gentleman want? the poor young lady who was last here? Lord help
her!'

"'What of her?' I called out, in a new alarm. 'What of her? Where has she
gone? Who took her away?'

"'Who took her?' mumbled the old woman, fretful at my impatient tone;
'Who took her? why, the mad doctor, to be sure!'

"I heard no more; my frame could support no longer the agonies my mind
had undergone; I fell lifeless on the ground.

"When I recovered, it was in the dead of night. I was in bed, the old
woman and the girl were at my side. I rose slowly and calmly. You know,
all men who have ever suffered much, know the strange anomalies of
despair--the quiet of our veriest anguish. Deceived by my bearing, I
learned, by degrees, from my attendants, that Gertrude had some weeks
since betrayed sudden symptoms of insanity; that these, in a very few
hours, arose to an alarming pitch.--From some reason the woman could not
explain, she had, a short time before, discarded the companion I had left
with her; she was, therefore, alone among servants. They sent for the
ignorant practitioners of the place; they tried their nostrums without
success; her madness increased; her attendants, with that superstitious
horror of insanity, common to the lower classes, became more and more
violently alarmed; the landlady insisted on her removal; and--and--I told
you, Peham--I told you--they sent her away--sent her to a madhouse! All
this I listened to!--all!--aye, and patiently! I noted down the address
of her present abode; it was about the distance of twenty miles from--. I
ordered fresh horses and set off immediately.