'Hark!' she said, in a whisper. 'Do you hear that? There's a burglar in
the house after my diamonds. What shall I do?'
But Frank knew that no burglar ever made the noise this disturber of
their rest was making and stepping out of bed he opened the door
cautiously, and looking out, saw his brother, wrapped in a long
dressing-gown, with a candle in his hand, opening one window after
another until the hall was filled with the cold night wind, which swept
down the long corridor banging a door at the farther end and setting all
the rest to rattling.
'Oh! Frank, is that you?' Arthur said. 'I am sorry I woke you, but I
smelled an awful smell somewhere, and traced it to the hall, which you
see I am airing; better shut the door or you will take cold. The house
is full of malaria.'
He was certainly crazy; there could be no doubt of it; and next morning,
when Mr. St. Claire entered his office, he found Frank Tracy waiting
there to consult him with regard to the legal steps necessary to procure
his brother's incarceration in a lunatic asylum.
Arthur St. Claire's face wore a grave, troubled look as he listened, for
he remembered a time, years before, when he, too, had been interested in
the lunatic asylum at Worcester, where a beautiful young girl, his wife,
had been confined.
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