The Princeton union., 1895-02-21

before him, he examined them for q
moment in grim silence H.
"The corpse!" he gasped with O.
| shudder. "Ah, it was terrible affair;
| terrible"
"Good Lord, man! what corpse are
you talking aboutY' I cried. 1t was
now evident to me that my unfor-''.
nate friend had become insane, and
his crazed condition had committed Il
crime. The idea was we'll borne out
by his manner. He shivered like a
man with a swamp fever, trying mean
while, In a futile sort Of a way to rub
the blood from one hand with the
other.
"What corpse?" he said, after a
pause, during which had been watch
ing his movements with increased ap-
prehension; "why the same ill-condi-
toned champagne drinking cadaver
that has caused all the disturbance.
Don't let them in," he went on, be-
coming intensely excited as several
sharp raps sounded on the door. Tell
them I'm mgone-gone-anywh New
York, New Zealand, anywhere you like,
but don't let them in, Lennon"
He made a rapid dive behind the
curtains Of the alcove, and emerged
again only after repeated assurances
that the reporters had gone
''That's about the fifteenth reporter
since I came in," he said. "See hold
ing out his hands, the blood is all off
now. 1t had dried, you see, and in the
excitement Of the affair I did not no.
tice it.
He was certainly crazy. These in
termitent periods Of calmness, depres-
sion and intense excitement were proof
conclusive it seemed to me. I shivered
at the thought
"It's beastly cold here" remarked
Collins, in a perfectly normal tone.
Light the fire." he added, land I'll
brew a punch. suppose the thing
can't be helped now, but I wish 1t
could have been kept out of the papers.
shall be branded charlatan from
San Francisco to New York"
Another phase Of the dementia, I
mentally observed. 1t seemed that the
best possible thing to be done was to
hr1nor him. While I was busy about
the stove my friend stood peeling
couple Of lemons, now uttering a half
subdued curse, now chuckling idiotic-
ally.
II give you my word,' he suddenly
broke out, "that I was never so COM
pletely paralyzed, so absolutely appall-
ed in my life. Why, the blood literally
poured from him in a stream. Money
wouldn't have tempted me to do the
thing, Lennon, but the woman seemed
in such intense grief that I could do
nothing burt consent"
Look here, jayne" said trying to
speak calmly, Who is the woman? ?
Whom have you killed. and why did
you commit the crime?"
Collins had finished making the
punch. He stood with the ladle in his
hand about to fill our glasses when my
questions arrested his progress. He
looked at me ixedly for a moment,
then he laughed aloud, dealt out two
goblets Of the streaming brew and sat
down near the stove.
This affair is beyond joke, though,
Lennon" he said with much gravity.
1T means that I shall be published to
the wide world as fakir who paints
portraits from photographs and that
sort of thing-a daubing trickster Of
the breed that no reputable man would
recognize"
could not imagine what his drift
was this time. The fellow was abso-
lutely babbling.
"You may be mistaken, old man." I
said. "Tell me how it all came about"
''You know Mrs. Brown-Bailey," he
began. "Well had note from her
yesterday. It read: Come at once and
without FAIL I was rather surprised,
because well you remember how af-
fairs stood between us when she sud
denly declined to marry old Brown and
his money. However, decided that 1
could not afford to disobey the injunc-
ton, 50 went. Madam was in tears
Brown had died before and she was.
utterly disconsolate. The old gentle
man was going to have portrait done
for the last two or three years. but he
never did. The old likeness his wife
had Of him was a bad photograph, TAX
en- three years ago. She wanted Inc to
have Brown tilted on one end in his
coffin and paint a portrait Of him.
could use the expression in the photo
graph, she said, and the eyes Of the
youngest child were exactly like
Browns I refused point blank. A
man can't afford to do that sort Of
thing, you know. It savors too much
Of the solar print and pastel shop.
L
was obdurate. At last. though, L pref
ts womans tears won the day. She's
still pretty, you know, and only Is.
The price was to be any amount I
chose to name-fancy naming a price
to Madge Brown. Well, the long and
short Of it was that promised to do
my best.
He paused to fill his pipe and take
nip at the punch before continuing
After few preliminary whiffs at the
long-steanmed "churchwarden'" he pro-
ceeded.
L went to Browns bright and early
this morning. The blinds were all
down, crepe on the door. widow un-
able to leave her room, servants walk
ing about like ghosts and that sort of
thing. The undertaken had just put
Brown in his coffin, and he was the
! only man could get to help me stand
the silver studded sarcophagus on end
against the wainscoaHng. The lid bad
been screwed down and the glass front
removed, exposing the face and throat
Of the dead man. There was a very
good light on it from the large window
on the right, anG I began to see that,
after all, I might be able to get some
thing worth while. The face looked