Morris tribune., 1903-05-02

Does your lordshlp comprehend r
81 think | do secret poison"
E'When this Red Mask takes your
hand on that night, he will leave
within it a paper of instruction,
which you must find an opportunity
to read in secret and follow to the
letter.
GLOW do you know this?''
"You shall know if you come"
81 will come. Though how am I
to know you mean me well?"
eff I meant you i'll, my lord, what
need to warn your"
"True. 1t is enough. I will be
here"
Punctual to the appointed time,
the Count of Palermo appeared at
the banquet of the Duke of Franco
vella. At the close came the hand
shaking round Of the dreaded Red
Death.
The count, being stranger,
seemed the most Indifferent of any,
as was natural he should. He pour
ed out more wine and drank and
then seemed to reflect. In this
mood he held the small paper which
he had just received in such a way
that he could peruse it without be-
ing suspected, This paper contain
ed these words:
Feign illness and be shown to private
apartment. I will be there to complete
! the design.
In few minutes the duke, who
had been furtively watching the
count, remarked, with seeming con-
Germ, that he feared his lordship
was i'll.
The mobiles exchanged glances,
and each breathed freer as he fan
cied he had discovered the victim in
another than himself.
But the count, instead of getting
better, seemed to grow more faint,
and his kind host suggested that he
should be shown to private apart
ment and his chief physician be
summoned.
He offered his arm to the count,
who leaned heavily on it, and thus
left the hall. Passing through an
anteroom, they entered a room hung
with damask and richly furnished.
The Red Mask, who had left the
banquet hall before them, was stand
ing here as if awaiting their COM
ing. AS the duke assisted his guest
to a divan the Red Mask quietly
closed and bolted the door.
Then, producing a small rope
with the 81 pknot Of a hangman, he
glided up to the duke as he bent
over the count and, throwing the
moose around his neck, drew it tight
and strangled him before he could
comprehend his murderous design
and raise his voice for help.
When the duke was quite dead,
the mask was removed, and the face
of Antonio appeared before the
count.
"Quick, my lordp' said Antonio,
pale and trembling at what he had
done. ''Disrobe, put on the dress
Of the duke, return to the hall and
be lord of the palace. # you sue
coed in deceiving the assembled
guests, which I trust your close re-
semblance will enable you to do,
we are safe; if you fail, we are
los"
Assisted by Antonio, the Count
of Palmera was soon dressed in the
gorgeous robes Of the Duke of
Francavella, and the counterfeit
was so perfect that none but a
wife could have detected the diff
ference.
The plan of the Ubiquitous schem-
er succeeded perfectly, and all the
guests that night retired in the be
lief that the false duke was the real.
The next day the Count Of Pal
mera appeared in st. Marks place
and other parts of Venice in his own
proper person.
This destroyed the suspicion that
he had been poisoned, as all at the
banquet believed.
In fact, it was only through the
dying confessions of the count him
Golf that the truth came out at all.
which many would not believe even
then.
Long before this event, however,
the Red, Death had ceased to ap-
pear because Of the real death of
Antonio, whom his new master had
murdered in turn for fear of being
himself murdered or betrayed by
the only one who possessed his fatal
secret.
Corof's FRIENDSHIP,