of the owner of the Asylum altered, and he
withdrew his objections. He probably felt that a
continued refusal, under these circumstances, would
not only be an act of discourtesy in itself, but
would also imply that the proceedings in his
establishment were not of a nature to bear
investigation by respectable strangers.

Miss Halcombe's own impression was that
the owner of the Asylum had not been received
into the confidence of Sir Percival and the
Count. His consenting at all to let her visit
his patient seemed to afford one proof of this,
and his readiness in making admissions which
could scarcely have escaped the lips of an
accomplice, certainly appeared to furnish another.

For example, in the course of the introductory
conversation which took place, he informed
Miss Halcombe that Anne Catherick had been
brought back to him, with the necessary order
and certificates, by Count Fosco, on the thirtieth
of July; the Count producing a letter of
explanations and instructions, signed by Sir
Percival Glyde. On receiving his inmate again, he
(the proprietor of the Asylum) acknowledged
that he had observed some curious personal
changes in her. Such changes, no doubt, were
not without precedent in his experience of
persons mentally afflicted. Insane people were
often, at one time, outwardly as well as inwardly,
unlike what they were at another; the change
from better to worse, or from worse to better, in
the madness, having a necessary tendency to
produce alterations of appearance externally. He
allowed for these; and he allowed also for the
modification in the form of Anne Catherick's
delusion, which was reflected, no doubt, in her
manner and expression. But he was still
perplexed, at times, by certain differences between
his patient before she had escaped, and his
patient since she had been brought back. Those
differences were too minute to be described. He
could not say, of course, that she was absolutely
altered in height or shape or complexion, or in
the colour of her hair and eyes, or in the general
form of her face: the change was something that
he felt, more than something that he saw. In
short, the case had been a puzzle from the first,
and one more perplexity was added to it now.

It cannot be said that this conversation led to
the result of even partially preparing Miss
Halcombe's mind for what was to come. But it
produced, nevertheless, a very serious effect upon
her. She was so completely unnerved by it, that
some little time elapsed before she could summon
composure enough to follow the proprietor of the
Asylum to that part of the house in which the
inmates were confined.

On inquiry, it turned out that Anne Catherick
was then taking exercise in the grounds attached
to the establishment. One of the nurses
volunteered to conduct Miss Halcombe to the place;
the proprietor of the Asylum remaining in the
house for a few minutes to attend to a case
which required his services, and then engaging
to join his visitor in the grounds.

The nurse led Miss Halcombe to a distant
part of the property, which was prettily laid out;
and, after looking about her a little, turned into
a turf walk, shaded by a shrubbery on either
side. About half way down this walk, two
women were slowly approaching. The nurse
pointed to them, and said, " There is Anne
Catherick, ma'am, with the attendant who waits
on her. The attendant will answer any questions
you wish to put." With those words the
nurse left her, to return to the duties of the
house.

Miss Halcombe advanced on her side, and
the women advanced on theirs. When they
were within a dozen paces of each other, one of
the women stopped for an instant, looked
eagerly at the strange lady, shook off the
nurse's grasp on her, and, the next moment,
rushed into Miss Halcombe's arms. In that
moment Miss Halcombe recognised her sister—
recognised the dead-alive.

Fortunately for the success of the measures
taken subsequently, no one witnessed this
recognition but the nurse. She was a young woman;
and she was so startled by it that she was at
first quite incapable of interfering. When she
was able to do so, her whole services were
required by Miss Halcombe, who had for the
moment sunk altogether in the effort to keep
her own senses under the shock of the
discovery. After waiting a few minutes in the
fresh air and the cool shade, her natural energy
and courage helped her a little, and she became
sufficiently mistress of herself to feel the
necessity of recalling her presence of mind for
her unfortunate sister's sake.

She obtained permission to speak alone with
the patient, on condition that they both remained
well within the nurse's view. There was no time
for questions— there was only time for Miss
Halcombe to impress on the unhappy lady the
necessity of controlling herself, and to assure her of
immediate help and rescue if she did so. The
prospect of escaping from the Asylum by
obedience to her sister's directions, was sufficient
to quiet Lady Glyde, and to make her
understand what was required of her. Miss
Halcombe next returned to the nurse, placed all the
gold she then had in her pocket (three
sovereigns) in the nurse's hands, and asked when
and where she could speak to her alone.

The woman was at first surprised and distrustful.
But, on Miss Halcombe's declaring that she
only wanted to put some questions which she
was too much agitated to ask at that moment,
and that she had no intention of misleading the
nurse into any dereliction of duty, the woman
took the money, and proposed three o'clock on
the next day as the time for the interview. She
might then slip out for half an hour, after the
patients had dined; and she would meet the
lady in a retired place, outside the high north
wall which screened the grounds of the house.
Miss Halcombe had only time to assent, and to
whisper to her sister that she. should hear from
her on the next day, when the proprietor of the
Asylum joined them. He noticed his visitor's
agitation, which Miss Halcombe accounted for
by saying that her interview with Anne Catherick