"It displeases you, then?" retorted my companion. "_Is it not unsafe to penetrate below the exterior of all things?_ Is not the surface ever the most safe? Is not the _outer_ clothing of nature ever the most beautiful to the eye? What deformity dwells in mines, in caverns, at the bottom of the ocean! Nature wears a cloak as beautiful as mine: do you wish also to strip off her covering as well as mine?" "At this moment, signor," said I gloomily, "I was not thinking of Nature at all, but of the strangeness of your ever wearing that cloak." "Was it for this you came from England, Sir Theodore?" inquired the marquis, "and sought me at Naples? The knowledge, I should deem, could never compensate you for the loss of your cousin's society so many days." "It was not for this I sought you, noble marquis," I replied, piqued at his irony; "but, when a man ever wears a cloak, it must be for some purpose." "Granted," slowly said my companion; "I have such purpose." "Which you promised to unfold!" I exclaimed, with pertinacity. "Is it still your pleasure so to do?" "_It is necessary first that we should have no intruders_," he answered, with a tone that froze me to the heart. Oh, how cutting, how sarcastic did it sound in my ears! "No person will enter this apartment save my faithful servant, Hubert; therefore----" "I promised to enlighten the master, and not the servant. If you insist on this strange request, the door must be securely locked; there must be no chance of interruption." "Oh, what a fuss," I thought, "about a mantle! Why, _he_ must be mad too! How can he cure me of an evil he has himself? Lock the door, forsooth, because he takes off his cloak! But I must humour him, I suppose, or he will find an excuse for breach of promise." As I thought this, I walked to the door, locked it, and, placing the key upon the table, merely said, "Now, signor, your promise?" "Would it not be prudent, young gentleman," he observed, laying his finger on my sleeve, "that you should speak of your request,--that one that brought you hither, and which I should conceive of more importance than the satisfying an idle curiosity,--would it not be wiser of you to mention this previously to my taking off my cloak." "Oh, what importance he attaches to so trifling a thing!" thought I; "but, after all, the man is right; I had better attend to the most essential, nor was I wise to couple two requests together." "Signor Marquis," said I, "have you any cure for insanity?" "_I cured your father_," was the answer, "and this your mother knows. He in return did _me_ a service; he presented me with--this excellent cloak."