ties of interest and early association, and to whose evils

"You are not the right person to speak of it," he said. "Nobody must speak of it but a person who understands me. You shan't be disappointed, David. I understand myself--_I'll_ tell you about it. You saw what sort of place I lived in and slept in at the madhouse, didn't you?"

"I saw it, Jack--and I can never forget it."

"Now just think of my having a room, to begin with. And add, if you please, a fire--and a light--and a bed--and blankets and sheets and pillows--and clothes, splendid new clothes, for Me! And then ask yourself if any man could bear it, all pouring on him at once (not an hour after he had left Bedlam), without going clean out of his senses and screeching for joy? No, no. If I have a quality, it's profound common sense. Down I went on my knees before her again! 'If you have any mercy on me, Mistress, let me have all this by a bit at a time. Upon my soul, I can't swallow it at once!' She understood me. We let the fire out--and surprised that deficient person, Fritz. A little of the Bedlam cold kept me nice and quiet. The bed that night if you like--but Heaven defend me from the blankets and the sheets and the pillows till I'm able to bear them! And as to putting on coat, waistcoat, and breeches, all together, the next morning--it was as much as I could do, when I saw myself in my breeches, to give the word of command in the voice of a gentleman--'Away with the rest of them! The shirt for to-morrow, the waistcoat for next day, and the coat--if I can bear the sight of it without screaming--the day after!' A gradual process, you see, David. And every morning Mistress helped me by saying the words she said in the carriage, 'I believe in you, Jack.' You ask her, when she gets up, if I ever once frightened her, from the day when she took me home." He looked again, with undiminished resentment, at Fritz. _"Now_ do you understand what I did when I got into my new room? Is Fritz in the business, David? He'll want a deal of looking after if he is. Just step this way--I wish to speak to you."

He got up again, and taking my arm with a look of great importance, led me a few steps away--but not far enough to be out of sight of my aunt's bell.

"I say," he began, "I've heard they call this place Frankfort. Am I right?"

"And there's a business here, like the business in London?"

"And Mistress _is_ Mistress here, like she is in London?"

"Very well, then, I want to know something. What about the Keys?"