sources of my life. You remember, without doubt, the disease of which the Duke of Olivarez died in Spain?"
"From the idea," replied the doctor, "that he was pursued by an apparition in whose existence he did not believe, and he died from the continual presence of this imaginary vision weighing down his strength, and breaking his heart."
"Well, my dear doctor," the patient went on, "I am in the same condition, and the presence of the vision that persecutes me is so painful and frightful, that my reason is totally helpless in controlling the effects of my imagination, and I feel that I am dying from the effects of an imaginary illness. My visions began two or three years since. At first I found myself embarrassed from time to time by the presence of a great cat, which appeared and disappeared I knew not how. But at last the truth flashed across my mind, and I was compelled to look upon the creature, not as an ordinary domestic animal, but as a vision which had its origin in some derangement of the organs of sight or in my imagination. I have no antipathy to cats, in fact I am rather fond of them, so I endured the presence of my imaginary companion so well that at last I treated the whole affair with indifference. But at the end of several months the cat disappeared, and was replaced by a spectre of greater importance, and whose exterior was, to say the least of it, very imposing. It was neither more nor less than one of the high officials of the House of Lords, in the full dress belonging to his dignity.
"This personage, who was in court dress, with a bag-*wig on his head, and a sword by his side, his coat splendidly embroidered and his chapeau bras under his arm, glided along by my side like a shadow. Whether I was in my own house or elsewhere, he mounted the stairs before me, as if to announce my coming. Sometimes he seemed to mix with the company, although it was evident
