"Well, just as we were passing those I caught sight of a horrid-looking tramp, lying on his back, half hidden by the undergrowth. May was sauntering along swinging her parasol, which she had not opened, as our whole way had lain in the shade. She evidently did not see the fellow, but I watched him get up and follow us on the other side of the bushes. I was a little frightened, but before I could decide what I had better do he had approached May and said something to her which I was unable to catch. It must have been something very dreadful, for she uttered a piercing shriek, and turning on him like a young tigress hit him several times violently over the head with her sunshade. Dropping everything, she fled from the scene. You know the rest."
The last words were spoken a trifle austerely, and I saw that Mrs. Derwent had not forgotten the position in which she had found her daughter, although she probably considered that that position was entirely due to May's hysterical condition and that I had been an innocent factor in the situation.
"What became of the tramp?" I inquired, eagerly. "I saw no one following your daughter."
"He did not do so. I stood for a moment watching her tear down the road, and when again I remembered the man I found he had disappeared."
"Would you know the fellow, if you saw him again?"
"Certainly! He was an unusually repulsive specimen of his tribe."
As Mrs. Derwent had failed to recognise him, the man could not have been her son, as I had for a moment feared.
"By the way, Doctor, May is still bent on going to New York."
"Well, perhaps it is advisable that she should do so."
"The quiet of the country does not seem to be doing her much good, does it? Let us, therefore, try the excitement of New York, and see what effect that will have. Besides, I am very anxious to have Miss Derwent see some great nerve specialist. I am still a very young practitioner, and I confess her case baffles me."
"I see that you fear that she is insane!" cried Mrs. Derwent.
"Indeed, I do not," I assured her, "but I think her nerves are very seriously out of order. If she goes on like this, she will soon be in a bad way. If you wish me to do so, I will find out what specialist I can most easily get hold of, and make arrangements for his seeing your daughter with as little delay as possible."