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The Philadelphia pike was sometimes a road and soress across the hilly and wooded Jersey landscape, they passed through a world in flux: here was a fledgling village of perhaps a dozen houses and a central church hacked out of the forest, there the rereen vines and underbrush Many farms had thrived and were impressive with their orderly fields of corn and beans, but some farms had also withered There stood a bare stone chie of another village-this one with a score of houses, a stable, blacksn announced Welco out to tag along with the riders, asking theoing until the road curved again into the forest and the children stopped following

The air was still heavy and wet, tendrils of fog caught in the heights of the tallest trees Occasionally deer halted in the woods to watch the riders go by or ran across the track before the it was aht Greathouse and Matthew urged their horses into a gallop when the road was good enough, trying to make as much time as possible about four hours into the journey, near a roadsign that had painted upon it Inian&039;s Ferry 8 on on their way to New York Greathouse spoke to the father and learned that Westerwicke elve miles away, on the other side of the ferry that crossed the Raritan River

They pressed on as they approached the river, the forest gave way to more farms and industries such as a sawe of a huge apple orchard, a brewery Houses stood clustered together Wooden fras The influence of the river, and of river traffica town Matthew and Greathouse ca at the Raritan and had to wait twenty ued to see four silent Indians in colorful beads and other tribal regalia coin to head northeast at a pace that would have left the palefaces gasping for breath within a hundred yards

at last, as the hazy daylight began to further weaken, a sign announced the town of Westerwicke The pike became Westerwicke&039;son both sides Beyond the dwellings ell-groomed farmfields and orchards Horses and cattle shared fenced pastures and sheep grazed on a distant hillside Westerwicke had two churches, two taverns, and a small business district where residents paused their errands or conversations to watch the strangers pass Greathouse pulled his horse up in front of one of the taverns, its sign depicting an offered hand and the legend The Constant Friend, and called to a young man who had just come out Directions to the Publick Hospital indicated that their journey would end in another half-reat relief to Matthew&039;s tailbone when that final half-rove of trees to three buildings The first, constructed of wood and painted white, stood near a well and was about the size of a nor-post, and a lighted lantern hung on a nail beside the front door The second structure, connected to the first by a orn pathas led roof from which protruded two chiht that this here the patients ht have been rain warehouse or even a e had preceded Westerwicke, had perished due to fever or some other misfortune and this was all that remained of it except possibly so was fifteen or twenty yards beyond the stone structure It was a little larger than the first and also painted white He noted that two of its ere also shuttered a flowering garden coe stood nearby another road led back to what appeared to be a stable and several other ss all in all, this was certainly not the place of ined they would find Birds were singing their late-afternoon songs in the trees, the light was fading to blue, and the atrounds were far more restful than the squalid scenes of madness Matthew had read about London&039;s asylums in the Gazette Still, he did see bars on so, and now a fehite faces peered through and hands carasp the bars but the inspection of the visitors was made in silence

Greathouse dis-post as Matthew did the saray clothes e at the door-lock it behind hiave a start as he saw the new arrivals He lifted his hand in greeting and ca rapidly toward them

"Hello!" Greathouse called "are you Dr Raot within an arth of Matthew he abruptly stopped and said with a crooked grin and a led voice, "I&039;m Jacob Have you come to take me homei"

Matthew reckoned that the h it was hard to tell for his face was deeply lined with hardship His teed scar began at his right cheek and sliced up across a concave patch on his scalp where the hair no longer grew His eyes were bright and glassy and there was sorin

"I&039;ain, in exactly the same way it had already been spoken "Have you come to take me homei"

"No" Greathouse&039;s voice was firm but careful "We&039;ve corin never faltered He reached up and touched the scar on Matthew&039;s forehead before Matthew could think to step back "are you mad like mei" he asked

"Jacob! Give the had opened and anotherdark breeches and white shirts Instantly Jacob retreated two paces but kept staring at Matthew The man who&039;d spoken was tall and slim with a thatch of reddish-brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard He also wore a tan-colored waistcoat He said, "I heard entlemeni"

"I think this one&039;s mad" Jacob pointed at Matthew "Somebody broke his head"

Greathouse continued on his verbal path with only a quick sidelong check to make sure Jacob, as obviously a resident here, did not move any closer "I&039;m Hudson Greathouse and this is Matthew Corbett We represent the Herrald agency We&039;ve come from New York to-"

"Excellent!" said the bearded lanced at his coray hair, and wore spectacles perched on a hooked nose "I told you they&039;d come! Oh ye of little faith!"

"I stand corrected and reproved," the secondto Greathouse and Matthew "also entlemen"

"I was in New York today," Jacob offered "I flew on a bird"

"Pardon my bad manners" The bearded man held out his hand first to Greathouse and then to Matthew "I am Dr Ra, gentleh I know you&039;ve had a long trip May I invite you into the office for a cup of teai"

Greathouse showed him the envelope "I&039;d like to know about this"

"ah Yes, the letter I left it at the Dock House Inn yesterday Come, let&039;s talk in the office" Ramsendell motioned the almost on his heels

"I was on a bird," Jacob said, to no one in particular "It was fat and shiny and took people in its stomach"

"Jacobi" Ramsendell paused at the door He spoke kindly to the afflicted entlemen, Dr Hulzen, and I have some important business to discuss I&039;d like for you to complete your task"

"I have bad drea now The sooner you finish, the sooner you can have your supper"

"You&039;re going to talk about the Queen"

"That&039;s correct, we are Go on, now The laundry won&039;t fold itself"

Jacob seeave a nod and a grunt and turned aalking past the stone structure in the direction of the road that led to the outbuildings

"Three years ago he was foreman at the sawmill by the river," Ramsendell explained quietly as Matthew and Greathouse watched Jacob leave "Had a wife and two children One careless accident-not his doing, by the way-and his injury reduced him to a second childhood He does make improvement and he takes responsibility for sain"

Out there Matthew thought he&039;d spoken that as if the world beyond was the frightful place instead of this asylum

"Please, come in" Ramsendell held the office door open for theal office in New York, as there were two desks, a larger conference table with six chairs, a file cabinet, shelves full of books, and on the plank floor a si another door at the back was open, and through it Matthew could see what appeared to be an exas or htblack hair cleaning glass vials with a blue cloth She see watched, for her head swiveled and for a few seconds she regarded Mattheith dull, sunken eyes Then she focused again on her labor as if no one else existed in the world and no task was more vital

"Sit doon&039;t youi" Ramsendell waited until Matthew, Greathouse, and Hulzen had taken chairs at the table "May I offer you some teai"

"If you don&039;t er"

"Oh, I&039; alcohol on the preh Would that suit youi"

"Fine," Greathouse said, though Matthe thefor a tankard of stout black ale

"Cider for me also," Matthew said

"Mariahi" Ramsendell called, and the black-haired wo and peered out Her o to the kitchen and pour two cups of apple cider for our guestsi Use the pewter cups, if you will anything for you, Curtisi" Hulzen shook his head; he was busy loading tobacco fron on its sides Ramsendell added, "a cup of tea for me, please"

"Yes sir," the woman replied, and went off toward the rear of the house

"They need tasks," Ramsendell offered as he took a seat at the table "To keep their dexterity up and give thee Soh and of course there are some who either cannot or will not move from their beds Every case is different, you see"