He likes me to sit with him a little of an afternoon and to talk to him; and if you have no objection I should like to do so, whenever the weather is fine enough for the poor old man to be out in the garden at this hour.' 'I have a very great objection, Lady Mary, and that objection is chiefly in your interest,' answered Steadman, firmly.

'No one who is not experienced in the ways of lunatics can imagine the danger of any association with them--their consummate craftiness, their capacity for crime.

Every madman is harmless up to a certain point--mild, inoffensive, perhaps, up to the very moment in which he commits some appalling crime.

And then people cry out upon the want of prudence, the want of common-sense which allowed such an act to be possible.

No, Lady Mary, I understand the benevolence of your motive, but I cannot permit you to run such a risk.' 'I am convinced that the poor old creature is perfectly harmless,' said Mary, with suppressed indignation.