Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1893 — Page 2

THE YELLOW MASK

BY WILKIE COLLINS.

. Part Third. Z • ■CHAPTER VI.yCoNTiNUED. “Youmay let go your hold sir,’’ she said, dropping the ruler and turning toward D'Arbino with a smile on her white lips and a wicked calmness in her steady eyes. “I can wait for a better opportunity.” With those words she walked to the door and, turrng round there, regarded Nanina fixedly. “I wish I had been a moment quicker ’ and went out. * “There!” exclaimed the doctor; “I told you I knew how to deal with her as she deserved. One tiling I am certainly obliged to her for—she has saved us the trouble of going to her house and forcing her to give up the mask. And now, my child.” he continued, addressing Nanina, “you can go home, and one of the menservants shall see you safe to your own door, in case that woman should still be lurking al>out the palace. Stop! you are leaving the bag of scudi behind you.” “I can’t take it. sir.” “And why not?" “She would have taken money!" Saying those words. Nanina reddened and looked toward the door. The doctor glanced approvingly at D’Arbino. “Weil. weil. we won t ‘ argue about that now,” he said. “I'll lock up the money with the mask today. Come here to-morrow morning as usual, my dear. By that time I shall have made up my mind on the right means for breaking your discovery.to Count Fabio. (July let us proceed slowly and cautiously, and I answer for success.” CHAPTER VII. The next morning, among the first visitors at the Ascoli Palace was the master sculptor, Luca Lomi. He seemed, as the servants thought,agitated, and said he was especially desirous of seing Count Fabio.” On being informed that this was impossible, he reflected a little, and then inquired if the medical attendant.of the Count was at the palace, and could be spoken with. Both questions were answered in the affirmative, and he was ushered into the doctor’s presence. “I know not how to preface what .1 want to say,” Luca began, looking about him confusedly. “May I ask you, in the first place, if the workgirl named Nanina was here yesterday?” “She was,” said the doctor. “Did she speak in private with any one?* “Yes; with me.” •—“Then you know everything?” ‘ ‘Absolutely everything.” “I am glad at least to find that ray object in wishing to see the Count can be equally well answered by safing you. My brother, I regret to say —” He stopped perplexedly, and drew from his pocket a roll of papers. “You may speak of your brother in the plainest terms.” said the doctor. “I know what share he has had tn promoting the infamous conspiracy of the Yellow Mask.” “My petition to you, and through you to the Count. is that your knowledge of what my brother has done may go no further. If this scandal becomes public it wall ruin me in my profession. And 1 make little enough by it already.” said Luca, with his "6ii'd“s6rdTd smile breaking out’ faintly on his face. “Pray, do you come from your k rother with this petition?” inquired the doctor. x “No; I come solely on my own account. My brother seems careless what happens. He has made a full statement of his share in the matter from the first; has forwarded it to his ecclesiastical superior (who will lend it to the archbishop), and is now awaiting whatever sentence hey choose to pass on him. I have a copy pf the document, to prove that he has at least been candid, and <.hat he does not shrink from conseouences which he might have avoided by flight. The law cannot touch him, but the church can, and to the church he has confessed. All I ask is, that he may be spared a public exposure. Such an exposure would do no good to the Count, and it would do dreadful injury to me. Look over the papers yourself, and show them, whenever you think proper, to the master of this house, f have every confidence in his honor ind kindness, and in yours.” He laid the roll of papers on the table and then retired with great humility to the window. The doctor looked over them with some curiosity. The statement or confession began by boldly avowing the writer’s conviction that part of the property which the Count Fabio d’Ascoli had inherited from his ancestors had been obtained by fraud and misrepresentation from the church. The various authorities on which this assertion was based were then produced in due order, along with some curious particles of evidence culled from old manuscripts, which it must have cost much trouble to collect and'decipher. The second section was devoted, at great length, to the reasons which induced the writer to think it his absolute duty,'os an affectionate son and faithful servant of the church, net to rest until he had restored to the successors 'of the apostle’s ttf his day the property fraudulently taken away Dw them in days gone by. The writer held himself justified, in the last resort, and in that only, in using any moans for effect-

this restoration. mwept such as tit involve him in mortal sin. The third section described the priest’s share in promoting the marriage of Maddalena Lomi with Fa* bio. and the hopes he entertained of securing the restitution of tbe.church property through his niece, in the first place, and when she had died, through his influence over her child, in the second. The necessary fail ure of all his projects if Fabio married again was next glanced at, and the time at which the first suspicion of the possible occurrence of this catastrophe occurred to his mind was noted with scrupulous accuracy. □The fourth section narrated' the manner in which the conspiracy of the Yellow Mask -had originated. The writer described himself as be-ing-in his brother’s studio on the night of his niece’s death, harassed by forebodings of the likelihood of Fabio’s marrying again and filled with the resolution to prevent any such disastrous second union at ail hazards. He asserted that the idea of taking the wax mask from his brother’s statue flashed upon him on a sudden, and that he knew of nothing to lead to it. except, perhaps, that he had been thinking just before of the superstitious nature of the young man’s character, as he had himself observed it in the studio. He further declared that the idea of the wax mask terrified him at first; that he strove against it as against a temptation of the devil; that from fear of yielding to this temptation he abstained even from entering the studio during his brother’s absence at Naples, and that he first faltered in his good resolution when Fabio returned to Pisa, and when it was rumored, not only that the young nobleman was going to the ball, but that he would certainly marry for the. second time. - The fifth section related that the writer, upon this, yielded to temptation rather than to forego the cherished purpose of his life by allowing Fabio a chance of marrying again; that he made the wax mask in a plaster mold taken from the face of his brother’s statue, and that he had two separate interviews with a woman named Brigida (of whom he had some previous knowledge) who was ready and anxious, from motives of private malice, to personate the deceased Countess at the masquerade. The woman had suggested that some anonymous letters to Fabio would pave the»wfty in his mind for the approaching impersonation, and had written the letters herself. However, even when all the preparations were made, the writer declared that he shrank from proceeding to extremities, and that he would have abandoned the whole project but for the woman Brigida informing him one day that a work girl named Nanina was. to be one of the attendan ts at the ball. He knew the Count to have been in love with this girl, even to the point of wishing to marry her; he suspected that her engagement to wait at the ball was preconcerted, and in consequence he authorized his female accomplice to perform her part in the conspiracy. The sixth section detailed the proceedings at the masquerade, and contained the writers confession that, on the night before it, he had written to the Count proposing the reconciliation of a difference that had taken place between them, solely for the purpose of guarding himself against suspicion. He next acknowledged that he had borrowed the key of the Campo Santo gate, keeping the authority to whom it was intrusted in perfect ignorance of the purpose for which he wanted it. That purpose was to carry out the ghastly delusion of the wax mask (in the very probable event of the wearer being followed and inquired after) by having the woman Brigida taken up and set down at the gate of the cemetery in which Fabio's wife had been buried. The seventh section solemnly averred that the soie object of the conspiracy was to prevent the young nobleman from marrying again, by working on his superstitious fears; the writer repeating after this avowal, that any such second marriage would necessarily destroy his project for promoting the ultimate restoration of the Church possessions, by diverting Count Fabio’s property* in great part, from his first wife’s child, over whom the priest would always have influence, to another wife and probably other children, over whom he could hope to have none. The eighth and last section ex- • pressed the writer’s contrition for having allowed his zeal for the Church to mislead him into actions liable to bring scandal on his cloth; reiterated in the strongest language his conviction that, whatever might be thought of the means employed, the end ne bad proposed to himself was a most righteous one; and concluded by asserting his resolution to suffer with humility any penalties, however severe, which his ecclesiastical superiors might think fit to inflict on him. Having looked over this extraordinary statement, the doctor addressed himself again to Luca Lomi. “I agree with you,” he said, “that no useful end is to be gained now by mentioning your brother's conduct in public—always provided,however, that his ecclesiastical superiors do their duty. I shall show these papers to the Count as soon as he is fit to peruse them, and I have no doubt that he will be ready to take my view of the matter ” This assurance relieved Luca Lbmi of a great weight of anxiety. He. bowed and withdrew. , The doctor placed the papers In the same cabinet in which he had <

Secured the wax mask. had locked the doors again he took out the flat box. opened it, arid looked thoughtfully for a few minutes at the mask inside; then sent for Nanina. 1 “Now, ray_ child,” he said, when she appealed, “I am going to try our first experiment with Count Fabio; and I think it of great importance that you should be present while I speak to him.” He took up the box with the mask in it, and. oeckoning to Nanina to follow him, led the way to Fabio’s chamber. CHAPTER VIII. About six months after the events already related. Signor Andrea, d’Arbino and the Cavaliere Finello happened to bo staying witha friend in a seaside villa on the Castellamare shore of the <bay of Naples. Most of their time was pleasantly occupied on the sea, in fishing and sailing. A boat was placed e itirely at their disposal. Sometimes they loitered whole days along the shore; some times made trips to the lovely islands in the bay. One evening they were sailing near Sorrento, with a light wind/ The beauty of the coast tempted them to keep the boat close inshore. A, short time before sunset they/ rounded the most picturesque headland they had yet passed; and a tittle bay, with a white sand beach, opened on their viaw. They noticed first a villa surrounded by orange and olive trees on the rocky heightsinland; then a path in the cliff-side leading down to the sands; then a little family party on the beach enjoying the fragrant evening air. The elders of the group were a lady and gentleman, sitting together on the sand. The lady had a guitar in her lap, and was playing a simple dance melody. Close at her side a young child was rolling on the beach in high glee; in front of her" a little girl was dancing to the music, with a very extraordinary partner in the shape of a dog, \vho was capering on his hind legs in the most grotesque manner. The merry laughter of the girl and the lively notes of the guitar were heard distinctly across the still water. “Edge a little nearer inshore,” said D'Arbino to his friend, who was steering, ‘ ‘and keep as I do in the shadow of the sail. I want to see the faces of those persons on the beach without being seen by them.” Finello obeyed. After approaching just near enough to see the countenances of the party on shore, and to be barked at lustily by the dog, they turned the boat’s head again toward the offing. “A pleasant voyage, gentlemen,” cried the clear voicAof the little girl. They waved their hats in return,and then saw her run to the dog and take him by the fore legs. “Play, Nanina,” they heard her say. “I am not half done with my partner. The guitar sounded once ifiore, and the grotesque dog was on his hind legs in a moment. “I had heard that he was well again, that he had married her lately, and that he was away with her and her sister, and the child by the first wife,” said D’Arbino, “but I had no suspicion that their place of retirement was so near us. It is too soon to break in upon their .happiness, or .1 should have felt inclined to run the boat on shore.” “I never heard the end of that strange adventure of the Yellow Mask.” said Finello. “There was a. priest mixed up in it, was there not?” “Yes; but nobody seems to know exactly what has become of him. He was sent for to Rome, and he has never been heard of since. One report is that he has been condemned* to some mysterious penal seclusion by his ecclesiastical superiors; another, that he has volunteered, as a sort of forlorn hope, to accept a colonial curacy among a rough people and in a pestilential climate. I asked his brother, the sculptor, about him a little while ago, but he only shook his head and said nothing.” “And the woman who wore the yellow mask?” “She, too, has ended mysteriously. At Pisa she was obliged to sell off everything she possessed to pay her debts. Some friends of hers at a milliner’s shop, to whom she applied for help, would have nothing to do with her. She left the city alone and penniless.”' The boat had approached the next headland on the coast while they were talking. They looked back for a last glance at the beach. Still the notes of the guitar- came gently across the quiet water; but there mingled with them now the sound of the lady’s voice. She was singing. The little girl and the dog were at her feet, and the gentleman was still in his old place close at her side. In a few minutes more the boat rounded the next headland, the beach vanished from view, and the music died away softly in the distance. THE END.

Cultivating the Muse.

Texas Siftings. Poet —I have here some verses I would like to submit. They are not perfect, I admit; perhaps they want fire. Editor—You are quite right, sir: fire is what they want, but the wash basket will do just as well.

Too Much Sugar.

Texas Sifting. Little Johnny—You ought to have seen Gus De Smith and water make lemonade, Mrs. Brown —How difl they dor Little Johnny—Sister Birdie held the lemon while Gus squeezed Birdie ml Ottaia m.hb d

THE FAIR SEX.

Mme. Adelina Patti hasestablished a rule not to kiss any but her most intimate friends. Vassar graduated fifty-three yotlng ladies this year, and not one of them appears in print with a pet name. The town council of GeudaSprings, Kas., is composed entirely of married women, and the mayor is also, a woman—Mrs. Emma Barnes. A New York female dermatologist is suing the estate of a New York woman for $250. She claims to have made the deceased while alive look thirty-five instead of - fifty years old. The women of the Methodist Episcopal church at Pleasanton, Kan., are making a bed quilt to be composed of blocks, on which will be printed advertisements of the local merchants. THE VEIL IS QUEEN. No well-dressed woman is supposed to be seen abroad without her

veil, no matter how imperfect her eyesight or how sincere her desire for “unstrained air.” She will be an exacting young person, too, if she cannot find among the great variety of veils this season something to satisfy her taste. Veiling comes in all colors and in almost all designs. It varies in thickness from the mere film to the thick blue which our grandmothers approved and wore. The dots seen are larger and more numerous; in many instances they have developed into spider-like patterns, which spread grotesquely over the entire surface. - They are worn as milady pleases, but a recent English fashion is shown in the illustration. It is a forced revival of last year's custom, which fell into very prompt and thorough “desuetude.” It is feared that its success will be greater this summer. The Gray Ladies are a society of gentlewomen living together as friends to help in church work south of London. Miss Louise Aldrich Blake. eldest daughter of a Herfordshire (Engl and) clergyman, has achieved the highest distinction as a student of medicine ever won by a woman. Sbehas just taken a “double first” in the examinations at the London University. It is said that she attained excellence not by special cramming, but by steady, persevering, hard work. This gown would look well od many occasions. It is of brocaded silk trimmed with Duchesse lace. The background of the silk is black, over which are scattared fulL-blowm bush roses tied in a graceful waj with bow knots of gilt.

The silk can be bought for SI.OB a yard, and the fashionable skirt will require about nine yards when the material is twenty-two inches wiie. From the hem to the knees the skirt should be lined with a fine quality of haircloth. The tight-fit-ting bodice tucks in under the skirt and is finished about the waist with a band of jetted passementerie. Creamy Duchesse lace envelopes the bodice in front, and just opens a bit co give a glimpse of the brocaded vest beneath. Frills of the lace form graceful epaulettes over the shoulders. The sleeve has a highly puffed-up aopearance as far as the elbow. Then it clings to the arm to the wrist. The front of the lace is caught together by festoons of jet. If one is particular about wearing only what is real then one will pay about $7 a yard for the lace. At this price the lace will be nine inches wide. The bodice and epaulettes together will require at least two yards and a half. The imitation Duchesse in the same width costs bukfl.o& a yard. , summer gown may be made after this model of organdie instead of brocade, substituting fine embroidery for the laMb Mt. tai .M. MM M.

OUR PLEASURE CLUB.

Wife—-I think deafness the most distressing of all Infirmities; Husband—l don’t. Jig dancing music is the kind that reaches the sole. The best idea of a Sabbath day’s journey is Obtained when one tries to run through a Sunday newspaper. “Well,” said the impatient streetcar conductor to the corpulent party trying to catch the car, “come ahead or else go afoot.” “De singin’ ob birds is sweet,” remarked Uncle Eben; “but de' cackle ob er chickin’ on yer own hen roos’ has er heap mo’ expression in it.” Miss Laura— Don’t you think that the Mohammedan idea that women have no souls is the most ridiculous thing you ever heard of? Mr. Oldbatcb —I have an idea that Mohammed has been mistranslated. You know that “soul” and “mind” are the same in a good many languages. “Young Hustle didn’t succeed very welli as editor of that religious weekly, did he?" “Not very; the first thing he did was to start a voting contest to> see who was the most popular sexton). ” THE MONKEY SCHEME.

The monkey said to the chimpanzee,. In a monkey’s original way, “If we should start a peanut stand Do you think we could make it pay?’ “The boys would buy the nuts of you As you sat your stall beside. And every boy would divide with me As he passed where I was tied.

“So you could sell and I could feast; And I think we could make it pav. For you could sit and-handle the cash’ And I could eat all da?.” —Harpers Bazar. “An, children,” said a Frankford school director visiting one of the public schools, “how much I likes ter hear you sing that ‘Star Speckled Banner.”’ r A New York colored barber, with a fondness for “big words,” was induced by some cruel wag to hang in front of his shop a sign bearing the words “Tonsorial Abattoir.” boy! You’ve been fighting. Little Son—No’m. “How did your clothes get torn, and your face get scratched?” S ‘l was try in’ to keep a bad boy from hurting a good little boy.” “That was noble. Who was the good little boy?” “Me.” THOSE SKATES.

A beautiful pair of skates, he had. And he thought them awfully nice Till he became so awfully mad When he tried, them ea th* ice.

Another pair of skates was his That ho won o'er a game of dice; But they gave him a bead Just the same with a whizz When he took them with the ice. Mamma (reprovingly, Sunday)— You told me you were going to play church. Little Dick —Yes'ih. “Then I’d like to know what all this loud laughing is about.” “Oh, that’s all right. That’s Dot and me. ‘We’re the choir." .K, ■ 111 10- «■ • --ijgaU ‘ He—ls that your school friend? He—You said all the girls Wed her. .£

> About 37 percent. ts cvltivated. The World’s Fair has two miles o» lunch counters. A pair of cariaries in London were recently sold for £SOO. An uncut - diamond- looks very _ much like a bit of the best gum; arabic. Dog barbers are quite common in Parts. Their chief duty is to shave ppodles. * The average strength of a horse is seven and a half times greater than that of a man. _ Two- thirds of the gold nowin use in the world was discovered during • the lost fifty years. Moldy apples, wbjch have been stored in cellars, are perilous to health. They sometimes cause diphtheria. A bride and groom recently * wedded in St. John, Mich., were aged, respectively, twelve and thirteen years. On the Island of Trinidad is a large field covered with pitch which in the sunlight glistens like a dark liquid. It is called Pitch Lake. “If. money does talk,” observed Snobbs, the other night, “I would like to ask the girl on the silver dollar why she so persistently and successfully shuns me.” A curious book, in which the text is neither written or printed, but woven, has lately been published in Lyons, France. It was made of silk.. and was published in twenty-five parts, each part containing but two leaves. Chemically treated, one. pound of coal will yield dye of various brilliant colors—-enough' of -magenta tp color 500 yards of flannel, Vermillion for 2,560 yards, aurine for 120 yards, and alizarine sufficient for 156 yards of cloth. There is a lake near the Japenese town of Nara in which no person is permitted to bathe, because once, many years ago, a Japenese emperor bathed there, and the .waters have since been held sacred. The most indestructible wood is the Jarrah wood of Western Australia, which defies all known forms of decay, and is untouched by all destructive insects, so that ships built of it do not need to be coppered. The average yearly expenses, of Yales graduating class of 185 were <as follows: Fi-eshinan, $5139; sophomorA $1,011; junior, $1,115; senior, $1,215. The highest amount expended in any year was $4,700; the . lowest, S2OO. A Reynoldsville,Pa.,man has taken a photograph of his camera with that instinjHiient itself. The camera was stationed directly in front- of a mirror, pointed toward it, and thus it itook a picture of itself, but the picture was trimmed so that no one could’ detect that it was the object in the-mirror that was taken. A. curiosity in this year’s peach crop on the Delaware Peninsula is the fruit of a tree in the garden of Uoiin Stara,. of Chestertown, Kent county. Maryland. AH the peaches 'on this tree are tn twins or triplets. A twig on.es foot long was found to ’ have sixteen twin peaches. Anocca-. ! sional doublepeacb is not unusaul.but : such fruit seldom reaches a healthy maturity. ..

Guileless immigrants landing in New York sometimes are buncoed into the exchange of good European money for Confederate bills. Last week a Gorman gave 250 marks for a SSO bill. As the bill was crisp and new it may be argued that such counterfeits are of constant manufacture. The only power, however, that could enforce a penalty for such wrong-doing laid down its staff of office at Appomattox. An Arkansas City man is having a hard run of luck. Recently he went to Purcell with a cargo of mules. There he was robbed of SBS. On his return he bought a horse which proved to have been stolen and had to give it up. Then two watches were stolen from his deuce and he has found but one. Saturday he had a house burned on which there was no insurance. An old married couple from Ar declie, in the diocese of Tours, were admitted to the Pope's presence recently. The man, whose name is Charles Piboleau, is 80 years of age and his wife is 71. and this is their twenty-first pilgrimage to Rome, the journey being always performed on foot. They have also been twice to Jerusalem in the same manher. The Pope spoke with them some time, questioning them about their journeys, and in the end he bestowed on them a specially hearty benediction A material lately introduced in the construction of American warships, though not yet effectually tested in in war or serious casualty, is called cellulose. A naval man in Washington, speaking of the sinking of the Victoria, says; “I hardly think that such an accident could have happened to one of our war vessels. Above the protective deck in our boats we place a material dalled cellulose. It is six feet in thickness all along the inside of the vessel’s side and is about seven feet iu height. When this material fe wet it swells up and closes an opening. In case a shot from the enemy should drive a hole through the ship's side it would swell up nnd close the hole, keeping tbW water out. ■ It would act the same way in case,of a ;l cojlisjon in <which the. ship s side was shattered. It Would have a tendency to prevent a * rush of water.” a *