'That d--d old madman is madder than ever,' said Lake, in his fellest tones, looking steadfastly with his peculiar gaze upon the closed door. 'Jermyn is with him, but he'll burn the house or murder some one yet. It's all d--d nonsense keeping him here--did you see him at the door?--he was on the point of assailing some of us. He ought to be in a madhouse.' 'He used to be very quiet,' said the Town Clerk, who knew all about him. 'Oh! very quiet--yes, of course, very quiet, and quite harmless to people who don't live in the house with him, and see him but once in half-a-dozen years; but you can't persuade me it is quite so pleasant for those who happen to live under the same roof, and are liable to be intruded upon as we have been to-night every hour of their existence.' 'Well, certainly it is not pleasant, especially for ladies,' admitted the Town Clerk. 'No, not pleasant--and I've quite made up my mind it sha'n't go on. It is too absurd, really, that such a monstrous thing should be enforced; I'll get a private Act, next Session, and regulate those absurd conditions in the will. The old fellow ought to be under restraint; and I rather think it would be better for himself that he were.' 'Who is he?' I asked, speaking for the first time. 'I thought you had seen him before now,' said Lake. 'So I have, but quite alone, and without ever learning who he was,' I answered. 'Oh! He is the gentleman, Julius, for whom in the will, under which we take, those very odd provisions are made--such as I believe no one but a Wylder or a Brandon would have dreamed of. It is an odd state of things to hold one's estate under condition of letting a madman wander about your house and place, making everybody in it uncomfortable and insecure and exposing him to the imminent risk of making away with himself, either by accident or design. I happen to know what Mark Wylder would have done--for he spoke very fiercely on the subject--perhaps he consulted you?' 'No.' 'No? well, he intended locking him quietly into the suite of three apartments, you know, at the far end of the old gallery, and giving him full command of the mulberry garden by the little private stair, and putting a good iron door to it; so that "my beloved brother, Julius, at present afflicted in mind" (Lake quoted the words of the will, with an unpleasant sneer), should have had his apartments and his pleasure grounds quite to himself.' 'And would that arrangement of Mr. Wylder's have satisfied the conditions of the will?' said the Town Clerk. 'I rather think, with proper precautions, it would. Mark Wylder was very shrewd, and would not have run himself into a fix,' answered Lake. 'I don't know any man shrewder; he is, certainly.' And Lake looked at us, as he added these last words, in turn, with a quick, suspicious glance, as if he had said something rash, and doubted whether we had observed it.