One day I got intelligence through a West-of-England paper that a gentleman, answering to the description of Mr. Percival, had been found wandering along the coast, in a state which indicated mental disorganisation. I lost no time in proceeding to the spot, with the doctor, and with Mrs. Percival, who insisted upon being of the party. We claimed the poor man, who yielded himself up to our control like an infant. We brought him to London, and took apartments for him in a western suburb, so as to be out of the eye of gossips, and near to that of his physician. It is, perhaps, needless to say that his wife attended on him mainly with her own hands, and would let none but the rudest offices be performed by any other person. Carriage rides, gentle exercise, and tonic medicines told beneficially on the patient day by day; so that in a few weeks, under the doctor's advice, arrangements were made to take him, in his own yacht, to the north of Europe. The physician explained to me that the secret of his malady was disappointed or impatient ambition. He was an only son. He had inherited, with his father's property, that gentleman's desire to establish a house. He feared that the curse of sterility had fallen on him or his wife, and the constant brooding over this thought had curdled jealousy in his heart. In the north of Europe Mr. Percival's mental health was completely restored. On his return to England he called upon me, and thanked me very sincerely for the part I had played in the narrative I have described--stating that if any thing could exceed the claims I had upon his gratitude for the attention I had bestowed upon him, it would be the faithful manner in which I had combated and sought to destroy his unfounded suspicions of his wife. A better or nobler woman did not, he said, exist. She had, he feared, impaired her health by her vigilant attention to him during his illness; and the only grief he now had was the apprehension that, being _enceinte_, the change of air, and Continental travel, which had just been recommended for her sake, would be inadequate to restore a vigour and tone to her delicate system. I am happy, however, in being able to state that these fears have not been realised. Mr. and Mrs. Percival, who are among the very happiest people in the world (the health of both, in mind and in body, being as nearly perfect as they can be), have two sons, with the prospect of contributing more guarantees against the termination of their pedigree in this generation. The End. London: Levey And Robson, Printers, Great New Street, Fetter Lane. * * * * * Typographical Errors Corrected By The Etext Transcriber: which indeed their was=> which indeed there was {pg 23} thet investigation=> that investigation {pg 53} which aliowed him=> which allowed him {pg 65}