Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1893 — Page 6

THE YELLOW MASK

BY WILKIE COLLINS.

Part Third. CHAPTER V.— Continued. “Asleep, I see, and sighing in his sleep,” said the doctor, going to the bedside. “The grand difficulty with him," he continued, turning to D’Arbino. “remains precisely what it was. I have hardly left a single means untried of rousing him from that fatal depression, yet for the last fortnight he has not advanced a single step. It is impossible to shakehisconviction of the reality of the face which he saw (or rather which he thinks he saw} when the yellow mask was removed, and as long as he persists in his own shocking view of the case so long will he lie there, getting better, no-doubt, as to his body but worse as to his mind.” “I suppose, poor fellow, he is not in a fit state to be reasoned with.” “On the contrary, like all men with a fixed delusion, he has plenty of intelligence to appeal to on every point except the one point on which he is wrong. I have argued with him vainly by the hour together. He possesses, unfortunately, an acute nervous sensibility and a vivid imagination; and besides, he has. I suspect, been supevstitiously brought up as a child. It would probably be useless to argue rationally with him on certain spiritual subjects, even if his mind was 'in health. He has a good deal of the mystic and the dreamer in his composition, and science and logic are but broken reeds to depend upon with men of that kind.” “Does he merely listen to you when you reason with him or does he attempt to answer?" “He has only one form of answer, and that is, unfortunately, the most difficult of all to dispose of. When I try to convince him of his delusion he invariably retorts by asking me for a rational explanation of what happened to him at the masked ball. Now, neither you nor I, though we believe firmly that he has been "the dupe of some infamous conspiracy, have been able as yet to penetrate thoroughly into this mystery of the Yellow Mask. Our common sense tells us that he must be wrong in taking his view of it, and that we must be right in taking ours; but if we cannot give him open, tangible proof of that —if we can only theorize when he asks us for an explanation —it is but too plain, in his present condition, that every time we remonstrate with him on the subject we only fix him in his delusion more and more firmly.” “It is not for want of perseverance on my part,” said D’Arbino, after a moment of silence, “that we are still left in the dark. Ever since the extraordinary statement of the coachman who drove the woman home, I have been inquiring and in ves tigatingl ~ I have ottered - the reward of two hundred scudi for the discovery of her; I have myself examined the servants at the palace, the night watchman at the Campo Santo, the police books, the lists of keepers of lodging-houses and hotels, * to hit on some trace of this woman, and I have failed in all directions. If my poor friend’s perfect recovery does indeed depend on his delusion being combatted by actual proof, I fear we have but little chance of restoring him. So far as I am concerned, I confess myself at the end of my resources.” “I hope we are not quite conquered yet,” returned the doctor. “The proofs we want may turn up when we least expect them. It is certainly a miserable case,” he continued, mechanically laying his fingers on the sleeping man’s pulse. “There he lies, wanting nothing now but to recover the natural elasticity of his mind; and here we stand, unable to relieve him of the weight that is pressing his faculties down. I repeat it. Signor Andrea, nothing will rouse him from his delusion that he is the victim of a supernatural interposition. but the production of some startling, practical proof of his error. At present he is in the position of a man who has been imprisoned from his birth in a dark room, and who denies the existence of daylight. If we cannot open the shutters, and show him the sky outside, we shall never convert him to a knowledge of the truth." Saying these words, the doctor turned to lca,d the way out of the room, and observed Nanina, who had moved from the bedside on his efttrance, standing near the door. He stooped to look at her, shook his head good humoredly, and called to Marta, who happened to be occupied in an adjoining room. “Signor Marta,” said the doctor, “I think you told me some time ago that your pretty and careful little assistant lives in your house. Pray, does she take much walking exercise?” “Very little, Signor Dottore. She goes home to her sister when she leaves the palace. Very little walking exercise indeed.” ■ “I thought so! Her pale cheeks .and heavy eyes told me as much. ;Now, my dear,” said the doctor, ad;dressing Nanina, “you are a very good girl and I am sure you will attend to what I tell you. Go out every morning before you come here and take a walk in the fresh air. You arO too young not to suffer by being shut up in close rooms every day, unless you get some regular exercise. Take a good long walk in the morning or you will fall into my "hands as a patient and be quite unfit to continue -your attendance here.

j Now, Signor Andrea, I am ready for you. Mind, my child, a walk every , day in the open air outside the town, (or you will fall ill. take my word for it!” * Nanina promised compliance, but she spoke rather absently and seemed scarcely conscious of the kind familiarity that marked the doctor’s manner. The- truth was that all her thoughts were occupied with what he had been saying at Fabio’s bedside. She had not lost one word of the conversation yhile the doctor was talking of,his patient, and the-eonditions on which his recovery depended. “Oh, if that proof which would cure him couldonly be found!” she thought to herself, as she stole back anxiously to the bedside when the room was empty. ■ On getting home that day she found a letter waiting for her, and was greatly surprised to see that it was written by no less person than the master sculptor, Luca Lomi. It was very short, simply informing her that he had just returned to Fisa and that he was anxious to know when she could sit to him for a new bust—a commission from a rich foreigner in Naples. Nanina debated with herself for a moment whether she should answer the letter in the hardest way, to her, by writing, or in the easiest way, in person, and decided on going to the studio and telling the master sculptor that it would be impossible for her to serve him as a model, at least for some time to come. It would have taken her long hour to say this with due propriety bn paper; it would only take her a few minutes to say it with her own lips. So she put on hermantilla again and departed for the studio. , On arriving at the gate and ring- i ing the bell a thought suddenly or J eurred to her which she wondered ; had not struck her before. Was it not possible that she might meet Father Rocco in his brother’s work room? It was too late to retreat now, but not too late to ask, before she entered, if the priest was in the studio. Accordingly, when oneof. the workmen opened the door to her, she inquired first, very confusedly and anxiously, for Father Rocco. Hearing that he was not with his brother then, she went tranquilly enough to make her apologies to the master sculptor. She did not think it necessary to tell him more than that she was now occupied every day by nursing duties in a sick room, and that it was consequently out of her power to attendat the studio. Luca Lomi expressed, and evidently felt, great disappointment at her failing him as a model, and tried hard to persuade her that she might find time enough if she chose to sit to him, as well as to nurse the sick person. The more she resisted his arguments and entreaties, the more obstinately he reiterated them. He was dusting his favorite busts and statues, after his long absence, with a feather brush when she came in; and he continued this occupation all the while he was talking*—urging a fresh plea to induce Nanina to reconsider her refusal to sit at every fresh piece of sculptdre he came to, and always receiving, the same resolute apology from her as she slowly followed him down the studio toward the door. Arriving thus at the lower end of the room*, Luca stopped with a fresh argument on his lips before his statue of Minerva. He had dusted i it already, but he lovingly returned to dust it again. It was his favorite work—the only good likeness (although it did assume to represent a classical subject) of his dead daughter that he possessed. He had refused to part with it for Maddalena’s sake: and, as ho now approached it with his brush for the second time, he absently ceased speaking, and mounted on a stool to look at the face near and blow some specks of dust off the forehead. Nanina considered this a good opportunity of escaping from further importunities. She was on the point of slipping away to the door with a word of farewell, when a sudden expression from Lucca Lomi arrested her. “Plaster!" cried the master sculptor, looking intently at that part of the hair of the statue which lay lowest on the forehead. “Plaster here.” He took out his penknife as he spoke, and removed a tiny morsel of some white substance from an interstice between two folds of the hair where it touched the.face, plaster!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Somebody has been taking a cast from the face of my statue!” He jumped off the stool and looked all around the studio with an air of suspicious inquiry. '"T must have this cleared up,” he said. “My statues were left under Rocco’s care, and he is answerable if there has ; been any stealing of casts from any one of -them. I must question him directly." Nanina, seeing that he took no notice of her, felt that she might now easily effect her retreat. She opened the studio door, and repeated, for the twentieth time at least, that she was sorry she could not sit to him. “I am sorry, too, child," he said, irritably looking for his hat. He found it apparently just as Nanina went out, for she heard him call to one of the workmen in the inner studio, and order the man to say, if anybody wanted him, that he had gone to Father Rocco’s lodgings. CHAPTER Vi: The next morning, when Nanina arose, a bad attack of headache, anda sense of langudr and depression, reminded her of the necessity 'of following the doctor’s adviep, and preserving her health by getting a little fresh air and exercise. She had more , than two hours to spare before the usual time when her daily attend-

ance began at the Ascoli Palace; and she determined to employ the interval of leisure- in taking a morning walk outside’the town. La Bion della would have been glad enough to go too, but she had a large order for dinner-mats on hand, and was obliged for that day to stop in the house and work,. Thus it happened that when Nanina set forth from home, the learned poodle, Scaramuecia, was her only companion. She took the nearest way out of town; the dog trotting along in his usual steady, observant way, close at her side, pushing his great muzzle from time to time affectionately into her hand, and trying hard to attract her attention at intervals by barking and capering in front of her He got but little notice, however, for his pains. Nanina was thinking again of all that the physician had -said the day before byFabios bedside; and these thoughts brought with them others, equally absorbing, that were conn ected with the mysterious story of the young noblebleman’s adventure with the Yellow Mask. Thus preoccupied, she had little attention left for the gambols of the dog. Even the beauty of the morning appealed to her in vain. She felt the refreshment of the cool, fragrant air, but she hardly noticed the lovely blue of the sky, or the bright sunshine that gave gayety and an interest to the commonest objects around her. After walking nearly an hour, she began to feel tired, and looked about for a shady place to rest in. Beyond and behind her there was only the high-road and the flat coun - try; but by her side stood a little wooden building, half inn.Jialf cof-fee-house, backed by a large, shady pleasure-garden, the gates of which ' stood invitingly open. Some work- ! men jn the g irden were putting up a stage for. fire-works, but the place was otherwise quiet and lonely enough. It was only used at night as a sort of rustic Ranelagh, to which the citizens of Pisa resorted for pure air and amusement after the fatigues of the day. Observing that there were no visitors in the grounds, Nanina ventured in, intending to take a quarter of an hour’s rest in the coolest place she could find before returning to Pisa. She had passed the back of a wooden summer-house in a secluded part of the gardens, when she suddenly missed the dog from her side, and. looking round, after him, saw that he was standing behind the summerhouse with his ears erect and his nose to the ground, having evidently that instant scented something that excited*Tffs suspicion. Thinking it possible that he might be meditating an attack on some unfortunate cat, she turned to see what he was watching. The carpenters engaged on the firework stage were just then hammering at it violently. The noise prevented her from hearing that Scaramuccia was growling, but she could feel that he was the moment she laid her hand on his back. Her curiosity was excited, and she stooped close to him, to look through a crack in the boards before which he stood into the sum-mer-house. She was startled at seeing a lady and gentleman sitting inside. The place she was looking through was not high enough up to enable her to see their faces, but she recognized, or thought she recognized, the pattern of the lady’s dress as one which she had noticed in former days in the Demoiselle Grifon's show-room. Rising qui’kly, her eye detectela hole in the boards about the level of her own height, caused by a knot having been forced out of the wood. She looked through it to ascertain, without being discovered, if the wearer of the familiar dress was the person she had taken her to be; and saw, not Brigida only, as she had expected, but Father Rocco as well. At the same moment the carpenters left off hammering and began to saw. The new sound from the firework stage was regular and not loud. The voices of the occupants of the sum-mer-house reached her through it, and she heard Brigida pronounce the name of Count Fabio. Instantly stooping down once more by the dog’s side, she caught his muzzle firmly in both her hands. It was the only way to keep Scaramuccia from growling again, at a time when there was no din of hammering to prevent him from being heard. Those two words, “Count Fabio,” in the mouth of another woman, excited a jealous anxiety in her. What could Brigida have to say in connection with that name? She never came near the Ascoli Palace —what right or reason could she have to talk of Fabio? “Did you hear what I said?” she heard Brigida ask, in her coolest, hardest tone. “No," the priest answered. “At least, not all of it.” “I will repeat it. then. I asked what had so suddenly determined you to give up all idea of making any future experiments bn the superstitious fears of Count Fabio?” “In the first place, the result of the experiment already tried has been so much more serious than I had anticipated that I believe the end I had in view in making it has been answered already.” “Well, that is not your only reason?"

•’Another shock to his mind might be fatal to him. I can use what I be|ieve'tobe a justifiable fraud to prevent his marrying again, but I cannot burden myself with a crime." (TO BE CONTINUED.) Fiveladies in waiting to the (Em}>ress of China are on route for Berjn, whither they have gone, it is said, to study the German language and German cougt etiquette.

THE WORLD’S FAIR.

The Ferris Wheel— Depew on the Fair—Blarney Castle. - EIFFEL TOWER OUTDONE. [ The event of list Wednesday at the World’s Fair was the formal dedication or opening to the public of the Ferris wheel. This is a remarkable piece of mechanism and likely to become as famous in its way as the Eiffel tower at Paris. Like some other notable triumphs in engineering. it is the work of a man who is not an engineer. The idea and construction of the Eiffel were simple and easy compared with those of the Ferris wheel. The tower might be compared to a bridge 800 feet long, stood on end, while the wheel is a bridge of that length bent- in the form of a circle and set in the air. The tower was stationary while the whcelre\ , olvess Its..Aiameteris2so feet, and it has two rims, or tires, with a complicated system of spokes and girders, suggestive of a huge bicycle. Between the two iron rims arc suspended three dozen coaches, each about as large as a Pullman ear and capable of holding about sixty

WEDDING PROCESSION IN THE STREETS OF CAIRO, MIDWAY PLAISANCE.

passengers. These coaches are suspended in such a way that when the wheel revolves they are carried around without changing their horizontal position. The entire weight of the wheel and its mechanism is 4,300 tons, and it is moved by two engines of 1,000 horse power- each. The object of the huge structure is to give people a trip through the upper air where, from a height of 250 feet, they may get a bird’s-eye view, not only of Jackson Park and the World's Fair, but of Chicago, the lake and more distant scenes. The wheel cost an enormous sum of money, but as it is expected to make thirty revolutions per day and carry from one thousand to two thousand passengers every trip at 50 cents each, it is likely to prove a profitable investment. The Ferris wheel is as likely to be distinctly the sensation of the World’s Fair as the Eiffel tower was at the Paris Exposition. % DEPEW’S IMPRESSION’S. The urbane Chauncey M. Depew, of New York, visited the Exposition last week. He was seen by reporters at his hotel, and seemed the embodiment of good nature and kindly courtesy. “Come along,” said he, and I will tell you all about my trip of yesterday. I have seen the Fair, and I have seen it thoroughly,” were his first words. “Naturally, the

VIEWING THE WHALE SKELETON—FISHERIES BUILDING.

first thing that strikes one is the ex- ( cellcnce of the transportation facili- j ties. Yesterday, I watched how! 178,000 people went to the Exposition and I saw how they, returned. It surpassed what I thought could be done when I was here at the dedicatory exercises. The stories of extortion which we hear so much about in the East are like everythingjaffecting Chicago, greatly exaggerated. I think people can secure about what they want at a reasonable price for what they get in Chicago. The Fair itself is so vast, so comprehensive, so beautiful, that it eliminates comparison with other exhibitions of the kind that have been held before in the world. It is vastly superior in interest, in extent, and in value to any previous fair ever built. If one wall come in from the lake through the marvelous entrance, which seems to revive in the memory of a college man his dreams of the approaches to the famous buildings of antiquity, then a fitting sense of the Exposition is in a degree Obtained. By a further ride on gondola or launch through the lagoons one gets an impression of the vastness, the superb architectural beauty, and the completeness of Chicago’s work, which it is impossible to describe as superlatives are unequal to the occasion. Then you must add to that the thirty buildings belonging to the States of the Union, which in size, appointment, and number far surpass the buildings erected by all the foreign nations of the world at the Paris Exposition. “I remained last night to the ll.umination. It was worth a visit from New York if there was nothing else to see. It was simply enchant-

ing. ’Twould make a poqt out of a 1 baggage-smasher. I have seen an j illumination of the Grand canal in i Venice, and repeatedly that of the World’s Exposition in Paris, but the vastness of the White City and its possibilities for effects made those

JAPANESE SERPENT IN A PARADE.

frights, as wonderful as they seemed at the time, after last night, remind one of the difference between a candle and an arc light.” BLARXEY CASTLE. like stepping across the sea into the midst of scenes of historic interest, natural beauty, and Irish life, dear to every traveler’s

heart, is a visit to the industrial village at the inner entrance of the Mid way plaisance. From the classic gateway of King Cormac’s chapel on the Rock of Cashel, through which the visitor passes into the picturesque ruins of beautiful Muckross abbey, to the summit of Blarney Castie and the cottages with heaps of turf from the bogs of the Emerald Isle, all is redolent of the “ould

BLARNEY CASTLE.

sod.” Grouped around the four sides of an ancient square, in the midst of which rises Castle Blarney, are typical peasant cottages in which, especially in the industrial part, can be seen the life and labor of the frugal and industrious poor. In these humble domiciles one hears the bright sallies of wit and the

keen repartee from Irish lassies who plainly have no need to kiss the blarney stone. Exquisite laces, beautiful carvings, grow before the eye, while rare old relics of the days gone by adorn many rooms. In the village hall the music of the Irish harp accompanies sweet voices singing Irish national melodies. The entire proceeds of this village, of which Lady Aberdeen is the presiding spirit, go to the establishment and development of home industries in Ireland.

RUNNING A NEWSPAPER.

Jim Jonet, he was an editor; that la, ho tried to Be; He bought himself a hand press, an' he started in to see Jes’ what there was to editin’, but when he’d canvassed 'round, Some fifteen hundred editors tn that same town he found. They all knew more about it than Jones could hopn to know; They told him: -You must run her, Jones, jes' so an’ ho an' sol Be sure an boom the Baptists, they’re bound to help you out. An’ give the good old Methodists a big salva tion shout I . _ - Give every man a notice; be sure an' put it down Whenever Major Jinks is seen to perambulate the town; Putin a few free locals for all the stores, an’ give Each m in a free subscription, if you want your sheet to live!" Well. Jones he done jes’ as they said, for fear they'd make a row: But the more be tr'ed to please ’em all, the more they told him how! Until at lust he took his book an' laid it on the shelf: Then run the paper lu the gro ind, an’ follerod it himself. —Atlanta Constitution. The hay acreage of the United States is larger than all England and Wales. Until 1840 Europe produced 8 per dent of the world’s wheat; mon 50 per cent.

OUR PLEASURE CLUB.

Licksmith —So you are going t< marry that Boston girl? Think you can afford it? She has very expensive tastes. Jayson— True; but look at what 1 will save on my ice billls. About the most discouraging thing that comes to a man in his life is the desire td thrash an enemy, coupled with the belief that he can’t do it. “Augustus,” said Angelina to her lover “you know that father has recently invested in an American silver mine, and is going there at once, and I cannot leave mother alone. So I ask you, how long would you wait for me?” “Wait for you, my darling?" exclaimed Augustus, “I will wait for you until we learn how the silver mine turns out.” A GREAT SEND OFF. - - ,

A poor little fellow called Vaughan, Was playing one day on the laughan, W hen a whilwind qfimc nigh, Tqok him up to the skigh, ‘ Aud none could tell where he had gaughan. —Truth. “How long,” says a contemporary, “can one live without air?” It depends on the air. Most could live a long time without some of the lirs which have been popular during the last twelvemoth. The trapeze performer’s business is precarious at best. He should always have some good thing to fall Dack on. Beltevefncremation? Tfowhet I do, see! You say you would like to know why? In debt all my life, I'm blessed if I’ll be Left still in a hole when I die. ‘ ‘How did you find out that he was unpopular with his last congregation?” • “Mercy, he has but seven pairs of embroidered slippers and five headrests, so the cook says.” We are told that love is blind. But it seems quite like a bluff, ' For he always can tell a moneyless girl From a rich one fast enough. Why Grady Was Ruffled, ■fudge- ,

Miss Grady with mamma, papa, and I’d like to give a german. Mr. Grady—Phwat’s that? I Miss Grady—l said I thought some of giving a german. Mr. Grady—Av yez giv wan o’ thim Dutch loafers annyt'ing out o’ this house yez follys it yuresilf. In the Palais de jJustice—A lawyer is walking to and fro, gesticulating and talking earnestly to himself, whereupon another lawyer points to him and says: “What a fool that man is! A lawyer who wastes Words talking to himself is like a confectioner who eats his own cakes.” Howson Lott —I tell you, you ought to come qut and live at Lonesomehurst. It’s the healthiest and most beautiful station on the road. Murray Hill (musingly)’—l wonder if I could buy a nice •little place out There? Howson Lott (eagerly)—Yes; I’ll sell yon mine! Dirt cheap, too. Bob (trying to grow a mustache) I say, Tom, does it show at all? Tom (seriously)—Well, yes, a little; but never mind, I don’t think any one will notice it. Colored Society Note. - '

Sam Johnsing—Miss Ashcot, I has brung yer some dark chocolate ice* cream. I 'lowed it would match yei complexion better dan de strawberry blonde ice-cream.