The morning call., 1891-04-05

he always tried to impress me with the idea
that it would be so dangerous for me 70
enter that den of his Ridiculous! 1t
wasn't so when we were first married. VI
course not; there was no widow then. lie
used to coax me into his laboratory TO SIT
and read to him while ne was at work. An,
the truth dawns upon me. 1tiSnt the ques-
ton of microbes. They can't do any one
harm, sealed up in bottles. | know enough
for that. 1t is because the widows photo
graph stands upon his desk; because her
loYe-letters are thrust into the pigeon-holes,
to be drawn out and read and reread while
waiting for microbes to develop. Ha, ha,
ha; is there bigger fool in the world than
a trusting and confding wife,"
But suddenly it flashed upon Josephine's
mind that the Inferno was kept Locked
aud the key carried in her husbands pocket.
Such feeling of bitter disappointment DID
this thought occasion her that she felt faint
and reached out for her salts. As she did
so her hand came in contact with something
cold. 1t was the key of the Inferno !
In his great, but TO JOsphine perfectly ac-
cOuntable, perturbation Professor Grubb-
Filkens had done something he had not
done for years, he had left the key of his
laboratory laying on his wife's dressing
case. The way was clear. the entrance to
the Inferno was il she did but reach
out her hand, open to her This uneX-
pected piece OF good luck sent thrill Of
satisfaction through Josephine's frame.
At last, after two years OF suffering, two
years of neglect, the wife felt that revenge
was within easy reach. For in her mind
dwelt naught but certainty that she should
find in her husbands laboratory some con-
vincing proof of his unlawful regard for
Hortensia Plantam-Loew. Did not the
whole world assure her that she was
wronged woman? How could a thing be
false when everybody said it?
Up to this moment the gas had been
turned down. With a view to satisfy her.
self that she had surely found the key of the
professors laboratory, she now sent it blaz-
ing to its full height, aud as she did so a cry
of horror escaped her lips. The key fell
from her hand and sent out loud metallic
ring as it struck the marble top of the dress
ing-caSe. 1t was blood stained
What silly woman l am whispered
Josephine. Its only stain Of some acid.
As if the chicken-hearted Galen Grubb-FiI-
bits and guinea pigs" In order that no one
in the household might know of her secret
entry into this mysterious apartment the
dangers of which had been so often i'm
pressed upon her mind by her husband,
Josephine now, under various preteXts, sent
the servants out of the house. In a S hort
quarter-hour the professors residence was
wrapped in the deepest silence. There was
no time to be lost. The professor might re-
turn for some reason at any moment. His
c0mlngs and S0lngS were often quite as &C.
centric as his manners.
CHANGING into the mirror she was re-
minded that her dress was not proper one
for her contemplated errand, the sleeves
were trimmed with lace which might easily
catch in some bit of chemical apparatus and
oVerturn it, She determined 10 change it
Tor another, but in her haste to remove
a heavy old-fashiOned brooch containing
her hus bands miniature which she wore at
her neck she ran the point of the pin deep
into the point of her finger. The sharp
pain caused her to cry out and turned her
thoughts entirely from her dress. The
blood flowed so freely that she took several
moments stanching it.
With taper in hand she soon found her
self at the laboratory door. She read the
terrible warning printed upon the placard.
She had often done so, had often laughed
over it, deeming it as mere device of the
professor to keep inQusitive people from
meddling with his instruments and tubes
and bottles. But as she placed the key into
the lock her husbands words rang in her
ears.
Remember. dear wife, you are never to
enter the Inferno. Death has its hiding
places there. A hundred times l should
have been stricken as with thunderbolt
had my body not been thoroughly protected
from the dread cOntagion by Often-reDeated
injections of diluted cultures. Ii aught
should happen to you, dear wife, my remain
ing years would be darkened by dreadful
remorse. Your disobedence, no matter how
willful. would not be sufficient to save me
from self-accusatiOn. Avoid the place as
you would the peStilence."