New Britain herald., 1917-01-11
What Mrs. Cosgrove Told Madgc About Her Famous Brothers Life

About Her FamOuS bfOtncr'S Life
 The very air of the Cosgrove farm house parlor seemed vibrant with tragedy as Mrs. Cosgroves voice rose in her denunciation of the woman who had ruined her brothers life. All around us on the walls of the room were the wonderful paintings, the work of her brothers genius before madness clouded his brain. It seemed fantastic thing to me, one hardly believable that the man whose hands lad created the marvellous beauty be- fore me was chafing his life away in the little hidden enclosure but few rods from where we sat.
 Mrs. Cosgrove's voice went on with the pitifu story. steadily. without tremor But l guessed that under her unmoved exterior the woman's whole being was ahame.
 II had not seen Robert for a long time before the break came,' she said. Before the girl came into his life he had come to us often, and he left these pictures with me from time to time. "Some day, after I'm dead, tIcS u IIdhc Houl lOl tl.lt IlS uSSu lO say with a gloomy gaycty that fright ened me- He was always so disap- pointed over his work--poor Robert!
 But after he married he was either ashamed to come to me or she wouldn't let him. I have never de- cided which was the reason. At any rate, I had heard nothing from him for months when one of his friends, poorer even than himself, came to us and told us that for some time Robert had been in a sanitariunl, supported by the contributions of some of his friends, each of whom needed every dollar of his own slender means. The treatment, moreover, had done Robert no good, and he having found out by a search through Roberts things, that I was his sister, came to me to see what was to be done
 "I had no means to keep him in the sanitarium and I could not bear to have him sent to state institution, This place, was 8 great deal lonlier than even than now, so MT. Cosgrove fixed up that little greenhouse and the | kennels, and built the little house. He gave it out that he was raising rare flowers and blooded dogs, and got quite a reputation for crankiness and snubbishness because he wouldn't let people inspect his greenhouses.
 It was awfully hard to keep Roberts presence a secret at first. but since the twins got old enough to help l me, and Robert has grown quieter. it 1 has been comparatively easy. And the I best thing about it all is that every !! body believes, him dead. No one, not l even his wife, guessed the real state of things. His friends who took him 1 to the santariunl brought him here; never appeared in the matter at all. and they all hated her cordially, and ! could be depended on never to s:atify ! nnv inquiries she might make. But don't suppose she ever made any. She disappeared shortly before his 1 mind broke"
 X Little Explanation.
 She rose from her chair Her hands went out to the pictures on the wall l in an eloquent gesture,
 And now the light seems to be | breaking at last!" she said joyousIy. | "Robert's fame has come to him, his pictures are valuable enough to pro- cure the best treatment for him. and 1 his brain seems less clouded these last l few weeks than it has been in years. Only once in a while-once since you | have been here-he gets one of his | terrible weeping fits of melancholia, then one of us keeps constantly with | him until he is over it. That is the | reason for my deception concerning | the twins. One of them was with his uncle that day, but to avoid remark i created the impression that both were | at breakfast
 But I smell those ducks. It would l be a sorry return for your kindness and interest to let your dinner burn. v
 She hurried out to the kitchen. and I sat revolving in my mind the tragic | story to which I had just listened. | The most of 1t I had guessed. and I l felt a foolish little thrill of pride at | my own insight.
 DickN. Mr. CosgroNC, the warden l and the attorney came back from the justice court in short order, bringing i tla.aiaa l,a... k,,,