Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/262

 which would confine him to the presence of this man. Time and reflection, he said, might introduce dlfferent sentiments and feelings; but at present he could not but regard this person as a maniac, whose disease was irremediable, and whose existence could not be protracted but to his own misery and the misery of others.

Finding him irreconcileably [sic] averse to any scheme connected with the welfare of Clithero, I began to think that his assistance as a surgeon was by no means necessary: he had declared that the sufferer needed nothing more than common treatment; and to this the skill of a score of aged women in this district, furnished with simples culled from the forest, and pointed out, of old time, by Indian leeches, was no less adequate than that of Sarsefield. These women were ready and officious in their charity, and none of them were prepossessed against the sufferer by a knowledge of his genuine story.

Sarsefield, meanwhile, was impatient for my removal to Inglefield's habitation; and that venerable friend was no less impatient to receive me. My hurts were superficial, and my strength sufficiently repaired by a night's repose. Next day I went thither, leaving Clithero to the care of his immediate neighbours.

Sarsefield's engagements compelled him to prosecute his journey into Virginia, from which he had somewhat deviated in order to visit Solebury: he proposed to return in less than a month, and then to take me in his company to New-York. He has treated me with paternal tenderness; and insists upon the privilege of consulting for my interest, as if he were my real father. Meanwhile, these views have been disclosed to Inglefield; and it is with him that I am to remain, with my sisters, until his return.

My reflections have been busy and tumultuous: they have been busy in relation to you, to Weymouth, and especially to Clithero. The latter, polluted with gore, and weakened by abstinence, fatigue, and the loss of blood, appeared in my eyes to be in a much more dangerous condition than the event proved him to be. I was punctually informed of the progress of his cure, and proposed in a few days to visit him. The duty of explaining the truth