The Professor's Other Young Woman.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4513, 15 November 1884, Page 3

The Professor's Other Young Woman.

Mrs Bamo., wife of William Barton, a young professor of natural philosophy, was very pretty and very good. But no human being is perfect, Of course, and Mrs Barton had the fault of being of a suspicious nature. She was devoted to her husband, and he' to her, yet, when they were near any other pretty woman, she would watch Mm with a jealous vigilance,. Of this the professor, always engrossed with his own thoughts upon tha doctrines of sound and acoustics —a subject he had long studied and carefully investigated—was happily unconscious. One day the proprietor of a museum called upon him, and was shut up with him a long time in hia study. "Will you please tell me what he wanted!" said Mrs Barton to her husband when the visitor had gone. " I promised the man that I would tell no one, Mary, and I mußt keep my word. But you will know in time. "It must be a melodious voice," muttered the professor to himself, as he again relapsed into a, profound reverie —■ "very sweet, very feminine." ~,,: , : "What I" cried his wife, aghast, " Did you speak ?" he again asked. ; " It was nothing," she said, seating hereelf in a rocking-chair, and rocking to and fro.' i ',-.,. ~, ~,...

He rose and went to his study., " Very sweet and very feminine'?'.' That was what he said to himself, and the words kept ringing through her brain. . She guessed what it meant in a moment. -The museum man had invited him to go to the museum for a business purpose, no doubt, but it was connected with some Of: his female singers. The professor would doubtless be introduced to her, and then it would all end-at last in his going off with, her. Yes, that was very evident—oh yes— and now what was she to do ?

" I will not say a word to him about it," thought the grief-stricken wife, " but I'll watch—l'll watch closely, and I'll baulk the artful minx, whoever she may be." o "I have some very noisy experiments to make, Mary," said net husband on the following day, " The neighbours may wonder and ask questions, so I will hire a room for a study away from .home. I think that lonely old housejust outside the village will do."

She simply bowed her head, but her heart beatrapidly. . .1 "So the game has commenced," she thought. , . Before night the professor had removed all his experimental apparatus—brazen tubes, articles of brass ana glass, coils of wire, trumpets, &c, to the old house he had selected. , .

There he worked day after day in a room on the ground floor—the only.one which was habitable—with locked • door and closed shutters. His wife kept as vigilant. a lookout as was possible. Often]at night, when ho did not come home, she would go and listen at the door and the closed shutters. But as yet sho heard nothing to confirm her suspicions, : On the following evening, when starting on her usual spying expedition, she took, with her a pistol, which Mr Barton had, always kept in his room, but which, he had informed her, was never loaded. Her' reason for taking it on this occasion was that, just before dark, she' had seen tramps lurking about the village,' and she thought that if they should assault her on her way for- the purpose of robbing her of her beautiful gold ring and earrings—presents from her husband—she might be able to frighten them off with the weapon. 0 Nothing of this .kind, however, took place. She reached the old house and listened at tho shutters, when, to her dismay, she really heard a woman's voice in the room.

She also heard the voice of the museum proprietor, and .the convictions at once flashed uivon her that he had brought the female singer and introduced her to the professor. She endeavoured to open the shutters a little without noise, and at last succeeded, as they were merely: fastened with a string. .- -> What did she see through the window ? A eight that froze her very blood, and set her heart throbbing wildly, while her brain reeled so that she could Scarcely stand.

In the centre of the room stood a female figure, clad in a fantastic garb of gold and tinsel, with a plumed hat | gracefully poised on her head. The professor, her husband, stood with both hands upon the shoulders of this handsome figure, apparently looking straight into the eyes, The museum man in the further corner of the apartment had his back to the twain, while examining a curious apparatus of glass and wire, in one corner. v '

And now, hark I The professor speaks to the fair one, upon whose shoulders his hands are still resting. . i "Do you love me?" he inquires, in a clear, distinct voice. . - ,■; "I dot" replied the other softly and melodiously; ~,.•.. - : ,: : v " The shameless huzzy !" i gasped Mrs Barton, "and there before a third nerson, too. I cannot endure this perfidy 1 No! no! no Ito think that William could deceive me so 1" k With mingled rage and anguish she stood, her gaze rivetted' upon the female form in the room. • : . ■>;•,(; Her husband had now turned away. She pulled the pistol from her pocket. ;i ,•'. " I willlet them know .1 have been a wit-, ness to their base conduct,".'she groaned.: "And she, that brazen, woman,, 1.,wi1l at least have the satisfaction of frightening her!" :-.,,.- ■.<{• '-A . A.AA

She pointed the pistolat theheadof the fair object of her rage, and was about to utter a Ciy to attract the letter's attention, whan, lo 1 the trigger upon vrhioh she had pressed fell with a dick, and to her dismay, tho weapon, which she had thought was not loaded, went off with a loud report.l, ~. : . There was a groan from the gracoful female form in the room, as it .dropped to the floor, the bullet having passed through the right temple 1 "What have I done?" gasped,the;un: happy wife, and with wild terrorand dismay she fled homeward. She hurried-into her chamber on reaching the house, and gave way to-remorse and anguish. "A murderess I I a murderess !V she moaned, wringing, her hands. "I did not mean to do it, but who will believe that!"

She walked the floor until her strength gave way, and, half fainting, she sank upon a chair. ...

"Ob, if William .ould only come 1" ahe cried, rocking herself to and fro. "I will confess all to him, but even he may not believOmel" - '"■■'■> ■ !.-v_!"V_i

At last she heard voices outside. She looked out of the window, and saw before the door the stout person of the village constable, whose lantern also revealed near him the form of her husband. ' ■■ "■<

" The constable has come to arrest me !" she gasped in wild terror, and she dropped senseless upon the floor. t -: ... When she opened her eyes,!her husband: was tenderly Bending over her, applying camphor to her forehead. Sno raised herself on her elbow in the bed, where she now lay, and looked at him: a moment, ere the memory of the fearful deed she had perpetrated returned to her mind. - ••■< -•■

'.' Yes 1 yes 1 • William !" she screamed. " I did it, but don't let the constable arrest me !; I did not know that the pistol was loaded when I aimed it at that woman I"

The professor, who had looked puzzled at first, now seemed to divine the truth.

" So it was you, Mary, whofirod that unfortunate shot ?" . O O■- Ol ,' "Is the woman dead? Have I killed her?" gasped the poor wife. .'And where ia the constable?** she added, glancing round her with a look of terror., •<■ , » The constable did not enter the house. He only accompanied me ta the tor, 1 had spoken to him about the outrage, and we were trying to talk over eomejilan for the apprehension of the guilty party; but I did not dream it was you. The woman is not dead," be added smiling, "although she was shot through the temple," «What!" cried- his wife; astonished. " What do you mean—not dead ?" ■/.. " No. Now tell me why yon aimed, the pistolat " j. "Oh, William," she interrupted, the tears rushing to her eyes, " surely you must -know that woman with you I I—l—was driven almost crazy." "I see," he said gravely. _^iY<ra.have been spying upon me. lam very sorry foi this, Mary—Borra-you had so little confidence in me. , However, we will say no more about that. Are you strong enough to go with; toe to my room in the other house?"he continued. _■«■.;. _-. Yes, ainywhere-^anywhere." .■ i _■?. . "Then come, ond I will show yon something," .' A/ ' - •-••■' ■•■'- ---:"---"

• The two soon reached tho professor's study in the old building. He lighted a lamp, and then pointed to the floor, where lay the female figure which had aroused his ~ wife, jealousy and rage. This figure, - she now discovered, wosJ iiS merely of wood and plaster, dressed in, 'A feminine apparel—ln a theatrical costume. ' > The head had been partially broken by the. S shot, so that tho complicated machineiy -■■ inside, which the professor had been. _0... long preparing and had put there, was | partly visible. ■ T , .* ■-.■/

I " The museum proprietor sent' the images to me a few days ago," said Mr Barton, 1 " He meant to exhibit it in his museum r,s • S tho 'talking image,' after I had put in it - the machinery by means of which it was to _ I be made to speak certain words ; the works I for the purpose being regulated by pressuie ■ upon a spring in each shoulder. , That shot a 1 ot yours lias broken somoof the wires."'7 "But I-arh sure Iheard the strfinge3 ' thing groan after I fired,"; <; "It was\ the severed clock-like wiie running down that "made a noise very - lil-e a groan," answered the professor,•■• . | nately, the damage, though serious, can be - repaired.":' . " « AA " Ah,'mo'V see what I have done through % | my foolishness," cried the penitent wile, - throwing herself on hie breast. "Canyour! | forgivem'e?" :;~'';-': ,:." ■■■•■• -• ••< , "Freely;" kindly answered her husband, kissing her, "but you must never doubt n 0 agaiil"" .