Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-14
Countess NarOla.
By wILKIE COLLINS.

"SO far, the baron, has no cause Co cofn- plain. But my lords turn comes, when the marriage has teen celebrated, and when the | honeymoon is over. The baron has joined ] the married pair at palace which they have 'Ihired ill Venice He is still bent on solving the problem of the Philosophers Stone' His laboratory is set up ill the vaults beneath the palace-so that smells from chemical experi- ments may not incommode the countess Ill 1 the higher regions of the house. The one 1 obstacle in the way of his grand discovery IS, 1 as usual, the want of money. Ills position, l at the present time, has become truly criti- cal. He owes debts of honor to gentlemen l in his own rank of life, which must positively 1 be paid; and he proposes, fin his own friendly manner, to borrow the money of my lord. My lord positively refuses, ill the rudest terms. The baron applies to his sister to ex- ercse her conjugal influence. She can only | answer that her noble h,lsband-being no l longer distractedly ill love with her-now 1 appears in his true character, of the meanest living The sacrifice of the 1 marriage has been made, and has already proved useless
 "Such is the state of affairs at the opening of the second act
 "The entrance of the countess suddenly dis turbs the baron's reflections. She is in state 1 bordering on frenzy. lncoherent expressions Ol idSc Du1 HUH 11po3 lU Is SO1llo LlIl6 l before she can sufficiently control herself to l speak plainly. She has been doubly insulted first, by menial person ill her employ ment; secondly, by her husband. Her maid, an Englishwoman, has declared that she will serve the countess no longer She will give up her wages and return at once to England. Being asked her reason for this strange pro- ceeding, she insolentIy hints that the coun- tess service is no service for an honest woman, since the baron has entered the l house. The countess does what any lady i'll l her position would do; she indignantly dis misses the wretch on the spot.
 l My lord, hearing his wife's voice raised in anger, leaves the study ill which he is accus- toned to shut himself up over his books, and asks what this di turbance means The coun- ] tess informs him of the outrageous language and conduct of her maid My lord not only l declares his entire approval of the woman's conduct, but expresses bis own abonlinable 1 doubts of his wfe's fidelity, in language of such horrible brutality that no lady could pollute her lips by repeating it. If I had been a man, the countess says, and if I had 1 had 8 weapon ill my hand 1 would have struck him dead at my feetp
 ''The baron, listening silently so far, now speaks. Permit me to finish the sentence for you,' he says. You woul. have struck your husband dead at your fee., and by that rash act you would have deprived yourself of the l insurance money settled the widow-the very money which is wanted to relieve your brother from the unendurable pecuniary po- 1 sition which he now occupiesr
 "The countess gravely reminds the baron that this is no joking matter. After what my lord has said to her she has little doubt that he will communicate his infamous suspicious to his lawyers in England. If nothing is done I to prevent it, she may be divorced and dis l graced and thrown on the world with no re- source but the sale of her jewels to keep her from starving. 1 ''At this moment the courier who has been engaged to travel with my lord from England crosses the stage with a letter to t,,ke to the post. The countess stops him and asks to look at the address on the letter. She takes it from him for moment and shows it to her brother. The handwriting is my lords, and the letter is directed to his lawyers in Lon- don.
 ''Ihe courier proceeds to the postoffice. The baron and the countess look at each other ill silence. No words needed. They thor oughly understand the position in which they are placed; they clearly see the terrible rem edy for it. What is the plain alternative be- fore them? Disgrace and ruin-or my lords death!
 "The baron walks backward and forward i'll great agitation, talking to himself The countess hears fragments of what he is say ing. He speaks of my lords constitution probably weakened in India-of q cold whicf my lord has caught two or three days since of the remarkable manner in which sucf slight things as colds sometimes end in seriou: illness and death.
 "He observes that the countess is listening to him, and asks if she has anything to pro pose. She is a woman who, with many de fects, has the merit of speaking out 'Is ther, no such thing as serious illness,' she asks 'corlSed up in one of those bottles of yours il the vaults down stairss'
 "The baron answers by gravely shaking hi
 head. What is he afraid of?-a possible ex !. animation of the body after deatha No: h.
 can set any post-mortem examination at de
 fance It is the process of administering tn
 poison that he dreads. A man so distin
 guished my lord cannot be taken seriousl
 ill without medical attendance. Where ther
 is a doctor there is always danger of discov
 cry. Then, again, there is the courier, faith
 full to my lord as long as my lord pays him
 Even if the doctor sees nothing suspicious the courier may discover something. Tn
 poison to do its work with the necessary St crecy, must be repeatedly administered
 graduated doses. One trifling niscalculatio
 ot mistake may reuse suspicion. The insu'
 ance offics may hear of 1t, and may refuse t pay the money. As things are, the baro ! will not risk it, and will not allow his sister } risk it ill his place.
 "My lord himself is the next character wh
 appears. He has repeatedly rung for th courier, and the bell has not been answered Q What does this insolence mean?
 "The countess Speaking with quiet dignit v flor why should her infamous husband hay the satisfaction of knowing how deeply h
 mas wounded herD reminds my lord that th
 courier has gone to the post. My lord ask
 suspiciously if she has looked at the letter
 The countess informs him coldly that she ha
 no curiosity about his letters. Referring
 the cold from which he is suffering, she il
 quires if he thinks of consulting medics
 man. My lord answers roughly that he
 quite old enough to be capable of doctorin
 himself.
 'sAs he makes this reply, the courier al
 pears, returning from the post My Tor
 gives him orders to go out again and bu
 some lemons He proposes to try hot lemo1
 ade as means of inducing precipitation bed. In that way he has formerly cure colds, and ill that way he will cure the col
 from which he is suffering now.