The Professor's Other Young Woman.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 76, 15 November 1884, Page 5

The Professor's Other Young Woman.

Mbs Barton, 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 him 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 his study. "Will you please tell me what he wanted !" said Mrs Barton to her husband when the visitor hod gone. "I promised the man that I would tell no one, Mary, and I must keep my word. But you will know in time. "It must be a melodious voice," fluttered the professor to himself, as he again relapsod into a profound reverie — "very sweet, very feminine." " What !" cried his wife, aghast. " Did you speak ?" ho again asked. " It was nothing," she said, seating herself in a rocking-chair, and rocking to and fro. 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 guesaed 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 evidert— -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." "I have some very noisy experiments to make, Mary," said hei 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 I lonely old house just outride tho village will do." She simply bowed her head, but her heart beat rapidly. i "So the game has commenced," she thought. Betoi-e 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 he 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 peen 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. Nothing of this kind, however, took place. She reached the old house and listened at the shutters, when, to her dismay, she really heard a woman's voice in the room. Sho also heard the voice of the museum proprietor, and the convictions at once Hashed upon her that he had brought the female singer and introduced her to the professor. She endeavoured to open the shutters a little without noiee, and at last succeeded, as they were merely fastened with a string. What did she see through the window ? A sight 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 etood a female figure, clad in a fantastic garb of gold and tineel, 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. And now, hark ! Tho professor speaks to the fair one, upon whose shoulders his hands are still resting. "Do you love me?" he inquires, in a clear, distinct voice. " I do !" replied the other softly and melodiously. "The shameless huzzy!" gasped Mrs Barton, "and there before a third person, too. I cannot endure this perfidy 1 No ! no ! no ! to think that William could deceive me so !" With mingled rage and anguish she stood, her gaze rivfetted upon the female form in the room. Her husband had now turned away. She pulled the pistol from her pocket. " I will let them know I have been a witness to their base conduct," she groaned. " And she, that brazen woman, I will at least have the satisfaction of frightening her !" Shepointed the pistolat theheadof the fair object of her rage, and was about to utter a cry to attract thelatter's attention, when, lo ! the trigger upon which she had pressed fell with a click, and to her dismay, the weapon, which she had thought was not loaded, went off with a loud report ! There was a groan from the graceful female form in the room, as it dropped to the floor, the bullet having passed through the right temple ! "What have I done?" gasped the unhappy wife, and with wild terror and dismay Bhe fled homeward. She hurried into her chamber on reaching the house, and gave way to remorse and anguish. " A murderess ! I a murderess !" she moaned, wringing her hands. " I did not i mean to do it, but who will believe that ?" i She walked the floor until her strength gave way, and, half fainting, she sank upon ' a chair. " Oh, if William could only come 1" she cried, rocking herself to and fro. " I will confess all to him, but even he may not be- , lieve me !" ' 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. When she opened her eyes, her husband was tenderly bending over her, applying camphor to her forehead. She raised herself on her elbow m 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 nqind.

"Yes! yes! 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 !" The professor, who had looked puzzled at first, now seemed to divine the truth. '• So it was you, Mary, whofirod that unfortunate shot ?" "Is the woman dead? Have I killed her ?" gasped the poor wife. " And where is the constable?" she added, glancing round her with a look of terror. " The constable did not enter the house. He only accompanied me to the door. I had spoken to him about the outrage, and we were trying to talk over some plan for the apprehension of the guilty party ; but I did not dream it was you. The woman is not dead," he added smiling, "although, she was shot through the temple." 11 What !" oried his wife astonished. " What do you mean— not dead ?" " No. Now tell me why you aimed the pistol at " "Oh, William," she interrupted, the tears rushing to her eyes, " surely you must know that woman with you ! I— l— was driven almost crazy." "I see," he said gravely. "You have been spying upon me. lam very sorry for this, Mary —sorry you had so little confidence in me. However, we will say no more about that. Are you strong enough to go with me to my room in the other ! house?" he continued. "Yes, anywhere— anywhere." " Then come, and I will show you something." The two soon reached the 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's jealousy and rage. This figure, she now discovered, was merely of wood and plaster, dressed in feminine apparel— in a theatrical costume. The head had been partially broken by the shot, so that the complicated machinery inside, which the professor had been so long preparing ana had put there, was partly visible. " The museum proprietor sent the image to me a feAv days ago," said Mr Barton. " He meant to exhibit it in his museum as the ' talking image,' after I had put in it the machinery by means of which it was to be made to speak certain words ; the works tor the purpose being regulated by pressure upon a spring in each shoulder. That shot of yours has broken some of the wiras." "But I am sure I heard the strange thing groan after I fired." "It was the severed clock-like wire running down that made a noise very like a groan," answered the professor. "Fortunately, the damage, though serious, can be repaired." •' Ah, me ! see what I have done through my foolishness," cried the penitent wite, throwing herself on his breast. " Can your fox-givo me V" "Freely," kindly answered her husband, kissing her, " but you must never doubt me again." ___________