290
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
steps limped to the door, at which, I saw, in the shade,
the face of a dark-featured man, looking gloomily in.
When he reached the door Uncle Lome suddenly stop-
ped and faced us, with a countenance of wrath and fear, and
threw up his arms in an attitude of denunciation ^but said
nothing. I thought for a moment the gigantr^gjctro was
about to rush upon us in an access of frenzyT^t what-
ever the impulse, it subsided — or was divera*i by some
new idea; his countenance changed, and he beckoned as if
to some one in the corner of the room behind us, and
smiled his dreadful smile, and so left the apartment.
"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 shan't go on. It is too absurd, really, that such a
^^monstrous thing should be enforced; I'll get a private Act,
n£x4 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."