The Portland daily press., 1883-01-05
A Relation of Coincidences.

by Robert Browning, told in the Whitehall Re-
view.l
Mr.. Browning came back from Italy in the
Autumn with curious story of condolences.
The story is divided dramatically into two
pa rts, whereof the first was enacted late in
the summer of last year, when Mr. Brown
ing found himself with his sister in remote
Swiss valley on the confines of Italy Stroll
ing about in the evening while dinner was
preparing, they paused before going in, to ad-
mire the calm and repose of the valley that
lay stretched before them, when their talk
turned suddenly to the subject of murder,
and each began to speculate on what their
conduct would be if they should be SO un-
fortunate as to find body. l say unfortu-
nate, for it is well known that in France,
Switzerland and Italy the presumption of
innocence is most strongly against the per-
son ligh ting on a corpse, instead Of as in
our law, the presumption being in his favor
They could hardly settle as to whether they
should or should not give information to the
authorities and so escape the annoyance of
being detained on their journey, when they
found themselves at their inn door and din
ner ready. The next morning, as they were
about to resume their travels, the landlord
attended with long face to inform the poet
that it would be impossible to have the two
horses for his carriage, as one was wanted
to bring in the body of a man found MUIR
dered early that morning at the head of the
valley. Questioning him, Mr.. Browning
found that in all likelihood the murder had
been committed after the conversation of the
evening before, and that the body had been
found by man digging potatoes just about
the spot where his sister and he had stood
discussing the probabilities of their conduct
in case such an event should occur. Part
one ends on the departure of the travellers
behind the one horse; part two opens in the
autumn of this year, when Mr.. Browning
paid another visit to the remote Swiss val
ley, again in company with his sister. Re-
membering the incident of last year, they
asked the landlord if the murderer had ever
been discovered, when he told them no;
body had thrown himself out of his
prison window, unable to bear the
thought of a trial and the possibility
of his wife and children in want and
had since died; and that it was supposed
the murdered man, an Italian, had been
stabbed in quarrel by his com
panions, who had escaped ever the
Ironuef. Further, as on the previous year,
dinner preparing, he took them to the
spot where the body was discovered, and
they found themselves standing exactly
where, on the very evening of the crime,
they had speculated as to what they should
do in case of such an event. To heighten
the dramatic effect of the coincidence, they
learned that no crime of violence had been
committed in the valley for the last hundred
years. A gentleman present when this story
was told capped it with one of more curl
,ous chain of condolences, He was travel
ing to Doncaster on business, and, turning
to the first sheet of the Times, was amused
to see, Immediately below the announcement
Of his wife's giving birth to a son, the an
nouncement that the wife of similarly
named husband had performed the same
kindly Office on the same date. At Doncaster,
in the Office where his business called him, he
was introduced to his namesake, who, trav-
cling down in the same carriage, had been
equally amused. Nor did the coincidence
end here, for, attending the race course lat
er in the day, some one in the betting-fng
put his hand on his shoulder, and, naming
him, roughly said, "You owe me e20P'
Turning angrily, the man dropped his hand
at once and apologized profusely, declaring
he had for the moment mistaken him for a
friend.