"How do you know?" exclaimed her husband. "What does any one know about the matter?"
"We can only judge from what one has heard from the best authority," again persisted his wife.
"Best authority! well, I can only say that far from being of your opinion, I should have said that Eustace Trevor had been as far from madness as earth from heaven."
"Really, Louis!" exclaimed Mrs. de Burgh, perceiving Mary's look of anxious interest and surprise, "one would fancy from the way you talk that you suspected him never really to have been mad."
"'And this the world called frenzy; but the wise
Have a far deeper madness, and the glance
Of melancholy is a fearful gift.
What is it but the telescope of truth,
Which brings life near in utter nakedness,
Making the cold reality more cold,'"
quoted Mr. de Burgh for all reply.
"What is all this to do with the point in question?" said Mrs. de Burgh impatiently. "Really, Louis, Mary will think you also decidedly have gone mad."
"Mary likes poetry," he answered quietly; "she will not think it is madness what I have uttered."
"But, Louis, what do you really mean about Eugene's brother?—tell me something about him. I have heard so very little," demanded Mary, earnestly.
"Why do you not make Eugene tell you himself? I can only say: