24 A CHEMICAL TEIAD. 



me be eight hours alone. Tell no one : let 110 one come near. 

 When eight hours have passed, come and see if I am dead. 

 If dead, let Lord George Cavendish know. This is my last 

 command. Now go !' 



The servant knew, from long experience, he might not 

 dispute his master's will. He turned to go away. 



6 Stay one word,' interrupted Cavendish ; ' stay one 

 word. Eepeat your orders exactly! And thereupon he caused 

 the servant to repeat the directions previously given. Obe- 

 dience was promised once more. 



But the directions, even though given by an eccentric 

 man, were too mysterious to be implicitly followed. They 

 seemed to point to suicide ; for who, not intending this, could 

 foretell so closely the period of the great event ? One, two, 

 three hours passed away. Cavendish had retired to his apart- 

 ment, and all was still. Was he dead, or still living ? The 

 man durst not ascertain ; but, feeling anxious, as well he might, 

 hurried away to London, and made the particulars of his 

 situation known to Sir Everard Home, the celebrated medical 

 practitioner. Cavendish was personally known to Sir Everard 

 known as a mere acquaintance, no more ; Cavendish had 

 neither enemies nor friends. The intimation was so alarming 

 that neither Sir Everard nor the man could banish entirely 

 the idea that the philosopher's brain had become turned ; that 

 a too arduous devotion to philosophical pursuits had caused 

 insanity. The will of Henry Cavendish, too, was noted for a 

 certain inflexibility which nothing could swerve from a pur- 

 pose once formed. If, therefore, he had set his mind on the 

 commission of suicide at some premeditated hour, he would 

 probably do so if not interrupted. Such were the reflections 

 which occurred to both the servant and Sir Everard as they 

 hurried away to Clapham. 



They arrived considerably before the expiration of the 

 appointed eight hours, and, proceeding at once to the bed- 

 room in wiiich Cavendish lay, listened for an instant outside 



