The madman would read a conspiratorial significance into those empty activities.

He would think that the lopping of the grass was an attack on private property.

He would think that the kicking of the heels was a signal to an accomplice.

If the madman could for an instant become careless, he would become sane.

Every one who has had the misfortune to talk with people in the heart or on the edge of mental disorder, knows that their most sinister quality is a horrible clarity of detail; a connecting of one thing with another in a map more elaborate than a maze.