The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-14

is the father of her third son. The count was at his friends bedside when he died and his sorrow showed clearly that he did not suspect his wife at that time.
 Now. I don't know how he discov- cred the truth. but I'm sure he has dis-: covered 1t, and It's pity, for the knowl- edge that his wife has deceived him will cast a horrible gloom over his last mo- ments When did he discover It? don { know. All do know Is that his manner toward his wife has entirely changed, instead of treating her kindly he repulses her. and even when other persons like myself are in the room takes no pains to conceal his dislike. At first l thought that this strange conduct was the result of his feverish condition, but soon dis covered that 1t was absolutely impossible for him to pronounce the name of his wife's lover and that he suffered tortures i, whenever any one pronounced 1t in his presence. tried the experiment one day. As felt his pulse I pronounced the mans name and the next moment knew positively that he had either been informed of his wife's misconduct or that he guessed the truth
 And what do you infer from that asked. .ss
 "I am satisfied he replied. that the Count has quarreled with his wife about this matter. and that this Is the reason why he is now so dangerously Ill or rather dying, for you know as well as that he cannot recover. Has the Coun- tess made a confession? Possibly some one has denounced her to him in an anonymous letter? Some former, ser want some lady's maid may have fur nished him with proof of his wife's guilt. don't know. but I'm sure that if you'll watch the Count closely for five minutes while his wife is in the room and then for five minutes after ske has left 1t, you'll arrive at the same conclusion as I have. Besides, the fact that he has not summoned his children to his bedside Is another proof that I am right. You see he cannot be certain that he is the father O. all of them. ...
 "'Now you understand why I am so delighted to have you here. If there should be any scandalous scene during the Counts last hours you wouldn't lose even one of your patients in Paris. whereas I-but you can readily see that after such an occurrence the widow would not be inclined to show me much favor. The worst of 1t is there's another doctor in this wretched village. and the Counters would certainly take him in my place Now I've explained everything
 There was something ludicrous in the zeal of this poor village doctor to remain in tho Countess good graces, but his story impressed me greatly, and at last saw clearly why the great physician who had sent me to RocquevilIe had ut tered his memorable words of warning Among physicians those alone are truly gifted who can read character ae un. erringly as they can diagnose disease The great Trousseau knew that+a trag- edy threatened this family as well as he knew that within a certain time Count de Rocquevilles kidneys would be wasted away. Consequently I more and more admired his good sense and thanked him for putting me on my guard. True, lie had not said q word about any mystery or tragedy. but I now knew what was in his mind when he cautioned me in the old time honored words
 What a contrast he was to the prat- ting village doctor! I, however, had good reason to be thankful to my talka- tive colleague for 1 was now able to de- eide on a method of treatment which 1 was confident would benefit the patient My first step on returning to the Counts room was to insist that he should not be disturbed by any one. I noticed that a strange look of delight came into his eyes when I told the Countess that I could not allow even her to remain in the room. She seemed surprised, but assured her that absolute rest was in- dispensable to her husband.
 II had no idea then that the rigid en- forcement of my rule on this occasion would lead to the very result which I was most anxious 10 avoid-that of playing part in this domestic drama. of which l as yet only knew a few startling incl- dents Well, the dying man and I were alone. and soon he asked me to do him service which seemed very simple. but