remarkable anyway, nor particularly lady-like. However, she was just
come off a rapid journey, having travelled from Naples, with three small
children, without taking rest, since my letter reached her. A son (this
proved to be her new husband) of about twenty had come with her to the
Consulate. She was, of course, infinitely grieved about the young man's
insanity, and had two or three bursts of tears while we talked the matter
over. She said he was the hope of her life,--the best, purest, most
innocent child that ever was, and wholly free from every kind of vice.
But it appears that he had a previous attack of insanity, lasting three
months, about three years ago.

After I had told her all I knew about him, including my personal
observations at a visit a week or two since, we drove in a cab to the
Asylum. It must have been a dismal moment to the poor lady, as we
entered the gateway through a tall, prison-like wall. Being ushered into
the parlor, the Governor soon appeared, and informed us that Mr. ------
had had a relapse within a few days, and was not now so well as when I
saw him. He complains of unjust confinement, and seems to consider
himself, if I rightly understand, under persecution for political
reasons. The Governor, however, proposed to call him down, and I took my
leave, feeling that it would be indelicate to be present at his first
interview with his mother. So here ended my guardianship of the poor
young fellow.

In the afternoon I called at the Waterloo Hotel, where Mrs. ------ was
staying, and found her in the coffee-room with the children. She had
determined to take a lodging in the vicinity of the Asylum, and was going
to remove thither as soon as the children had had something to eat. They
seemed to be pleasant and well-behaved children, and impressed me more
favorably than the mother, whom I suspect to be rather a foolish woman,