The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-04

subject, Asiric made slow progress. A week
passed and be had barely perfected the drawing.
1t seemed to him that when he left the work at
night it had undergone some marvellous trans
formation in the morning When it was begun
on canvas the same strange change followed the
colors. Those that were red at night appeared
black in the morning More curious still, his
liberty Of egress was now, under one pretext or
another. denied He was convinced that some
evil was intended. He lost appetite. He dared
not touch the coffee. He was in state OF de-
lirium. One night. on retiring, he found note
pinned to his pillow. 1t contained but the
words:
Fly! before it is too late.
His resolution was taken. He would force his
way out of the mysterious house tbs next day.
In the morning he strobe to the library and said
decisively:
'Mr Munde, leave you today
'Ah, is it sol And the picture? 1t is not COM
plete."
mo; cannot work on it any more. am i'll.
my hand trembles. must give up"
But if give you philter to revive your
spirit and invigorate your nerves.
''No-I-dare not-I-"
''You fear l will poison you. Look I will
drink half the contents of this cup. / shall then
have the energy of a robust youth of twenty L
Will lie on the couch here and watch the last
touches of the brush, while you, restored to all
your power, do the work. When it is done the
doors are open to you and you may 60"
He drank the phiter. Energy, madness, rage
came to his brain. Insensibly, the brush drew
the lines, until the man on the divan, with dag
the shadowy figure holding it was
Asiric Sterne! With frightful cry
the wizards elaring eyes discerned
the resemblance He snreked for help, but
before he could leap from the divan the painter
had plunged the dagger deep into Damort's
In one of the wards in an asylum on the
banks of the Hudson the keeper for many years
pointed out to visitors and told with awe the
story of the wizards murderer. The murderer
was young man, apparently, though his thick
hair was quite snowy. He was attended during
the day by gentle, girlish nurse, who alone
was able to repress the outbreaks that seemed to
recur at certain intervals in the craZed brain.
This girl had been examined on the judicial pro-
ceedings following the murder She explained
that her guardian was perfectly sane, on
one subject. Long ago. in Prague, he had won
the love of beautiful girl He had been
obliged to go to the army to serve his
he returned to Prague his sweetheart had
been ruined and driven to suicide by a
spendthrift nobleman, who not only re-
fused the lover redress but gave him the
whereabouts of the child born to the dead
girl. Damort sent the girl to a convent in
France, awaited his time and assassinated the
seducer in his bed, by the side of his new-made
bride. He fed to America and became possessed
of a mania to collect murder pieces. In course
of time he sent for the dead sweetheart's daugh-
ter, and with her and the mute negro lived in an
isolated villa near Washington Heights He had
come across the Wallenstein picture in Junk
shop. and struck by the name. Sterne-star, he
revived a prophecy that ran in his family, that
when the Sterne and Munde, moon, came into
conjunction, the house of Munde should recover
the fortunes of royal ancestry. When young
Sterne fell in love with Juana Damort trans
ferred the hatred he had cherished against the
seducer to the young man, and it was in order
to murder him that he was detained in the
house so many days against his will.
'And that is the secret of Asirc Sternes dis
appearancel" the artist asked. as the janitor
showed him the studio in Blocker street,
with the cartoons of these sanguinary murders
scattered over tho benches, floor and easel.
Eyes. the poor Young man was driven mad by
that dreadful man. Long before he went TO the
Washington Heights House he was that mad he
couldn't make his own coffee. but went out to
the chop-house at the corner and drank brandy"
'Ah!" and the artist signed the lease and
established himself in the attic where Asiric
Sterne's coffee brought him patron and mad
ness,