Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-14
CHAPTER xxv1n.
So the second act ended.

CHAPTER xxvIn So the second act ended.
 Turning to the third act Henry looked wearily at the pages as he let them slip through his fingers. Both in mind and body he began to feel the need of repose.
 In one important respect the latter portion of the manuscript differed from the pages | whch>he had just been reading. Signs of an ovefwron 5lh4tt> Efsain showed themselves here and there as the outihiise Of thS play ap- preached it's end. The handwriting grew worse and worse. Some of the longer sen tences were left unfinished. In the exchange of dialogue questions and answers were not always attributed respectively to the right speaker. At certain intervals the writer's failing intelligence seemed to recover itself 1 for awhile, only to relapse again and to lose the thread of the narrative more hopelessly than ever.
 After reading one or two of the more CO herent passages Henry recoiled from the ever darkening horror of the story. He closed the manuscript, heart sick and exhausted. and threw himself on his bed to rest. The door opened almost at the same moment. Lord Montbarry entered the room.
 We have just returned from the opera" he said, "and we have heard the news of that miserable woman's death. They say you spoke to her in Ter last moments, and want to hear how it happened"
 "You shall hear how it happened" Henry answered.; "and more than that You are ! now the head of the family, Stephen: and l feel bound, ill the position, which expresses me, to leave you to decide what ought to be done."
 With those introductory words, he told his | brother how the countess play had come into his hands. Read the first few pagesn he said, Il am anxious to know whether the | same impression is produced on both of us." 1 Before Lord Montbarry had got half way | through the first act, he stopped, and looked at hls brother. "What does she mean by boasting of this as her own inventionl" he asked. "Was she too crazy to remember that these things really happened2' | This was enough for Henry; the same i'm pression had been produced on both of them. ! You will do as you please" he said. "But if you will be guided by me, spare yourself the | reading of those pages to come, which de- | scribe our brothers terrible expiation of his I heartless marriage"
 "Have you read it all, Henryp "Not all. 1 shrunk from reading some of the latter part of it. Neither you nor saw | much of our elder brother after we left school; and for my part, felt, and never scrupled to express my feeling, that he be- haved infamously to Agnes. When I read that unconscious confession of the murderou> l conspiracy to which he fell a victim, re membered, with something like remorse, tha, the same mother bore us. have felt for him tonight what I am ashamed to think never felt for him before"
 Lord Montbarry took his brothers hand
 "You are good fellow, Henry" he said; {; "but are you quite sure that you have not been needlessly distressing yourselfl Because | some of this crazy creature's writings acsi dentally tells what we know to be the truth does it follow that all the rest is to be relied | on to the endT
 "There is no possible doubt of it." Henry replied.
 '.No possible doubtp his brother repeated II shall go on with my reading, Henry-and see what justification there may be for that 1 confident conclusion of yours"
 He read on steadily until he had reached the conclusion of the second act Then he looked up.
 "Do you really believe that the mutilateti remains which you discovered this morning ars the remains of our brother2" he asked ''And do you believe it on such evidence as thisa'
 Henry answered silently by sign in the affirmative.
 Lord Montbarry checked himself-evi- dently on the point of entering an indignant protest.
 "You acknowledge that you have not read the later scenes of the piece" he said. "Don't be childish, Henry. If you persist in pinning your faith on such stuff as this the least you can do is to make yourself thoroughly ac- quainted with it. Will you read the third acts No7 Then shall read it to you"
 He turned to the third act, and ran O rer those fragmentary passages which were | clearly enough expressed to be intelligible to the mind of a stranger.
 "Here is O scene ill the vaults of the palace, he began. "The victim of the conspiracy i: sleeping on his miserable bed; and the baron and the countess are considering the position in which they stand. The countess las well as can make it ouD has raised the money that is wanted by borrowing on the security of her jewels at Frankfort; and the courier up stairs is still declared by the doctor te have a chance of recovery. What are thu conspirators to do if the man does recover The cautious baron suggests setting the pris onor free If he ventures to appeal to thu law it is easy to declare that he is subject ts insane delusion and to call his own wife as
 witness. On the other hand, if the courier dies, how is the sequestrated and unknown nobleman to be put out of the wayi Pass lVeiy, ny IcIUliiS ulIu SCdTVe III HIS pTiSoH
 No; the baron is man of refined tastes; h.
 dislikes needless cruelty. The active policl
 remains. Say, assassination by the knife O
 hired bravo7 The baron objects to trusting an accomplice; also to spending money ol
 any one but himself. Shall they drop thei
 prisoner into the canals The baron decline
 to trust water-water will show him on th surface. Shall they set his bed on fret Al excellent idea; but the smoke might be seen No; poisoning is no doubt an easier deatl than he deserves. but there is really no othe safe way out of it than to poison him. Is 1
 possible, Henry, that you believe this consul tation really took placer
 Henry made no replay. The succession o questions that had just been read to him ex
 actly followed the succession of the dream that had terrified Mrs. Norbury on the tw nights which she had passed at the hotel. was useless to point out this coincidence t. , his brother. He only said, "Go on." Lord Montbarry turned the pages until b came to the next intelligible passage. "Here," i" he proceeded, lis double scene ol , the stage, so far as I can understand tn sketch of it. The doctor is up stairs, inno } gently writing the certificate of my lord } decease, by the dead courier's bedside. Dow IA II T. kl.