CHAPTER XXIV Henry and Agnes were left alone in the room of the Kariatids. The person who had written the description of the palace, probably a poor author or artist had correctly pointed out the defects of the mantelpiece. Bad taste exhibiting itself on the most costly and splendid scale was visible in every part of the work. It was nevertheless greatly admired by ignorant travellers of all classes, partly on account of its imposing size and partly on account of the number of variously coloured marbles which the sculpture had contrived to introduce into his design. Photographs of the mantelpiece were exhibited in the public rooms and found a ready sale among English and American visitors to the hotel. Henry led Agnes to the figure on the left as they stood facing the empty fireplace. Shall I try the experiment? he asked, or will you?  I can't even look at it, she said. That merciless marble face frightens me. Henry put his hand on the forehead of the figure. What is there to alarm you, my dear, in this conventionally classical face? he asked, gestingly. Before he could press the head inwards, Agnes hurriedly opened the door. Wait till I'm out of the room! she cried. The bare idea of what you may find there horrifies me. She looked back into the room as she crossed the threshold. I won't leave you altogether, she said. I will wait outside. She closed the door. Left by himself, Henry lifted his hand once more to the marble forehead of the figure. For the second time he was checked on the point of setting the machinery of the hiding place in motion. On this occasion the interruption came from an outbreak of friendly voices in the corridor. A woman's voice exclaimed, Dearest Agnes, how glad I am to see you again. A man's voice followed, offering to introduce some friend to Miss Lockwood. A third voice, which Henry recognized as the voice of the manager of the hotel, became audible next, directing the housekeeper to show the ladies and gentlemen the vacant apartments at the other end of the corridor. If more accommodation is wanted, the manager went on, I have a charming room to let here. He opened the doors he spoke and found himself face to face with Henry Westwick. This is indeed an agreeable surprise, sir, said the manager cheerfully. You are admiring our famous chimney-piece, I see. May I ask, Mr. Westwick, how you find yourself in the hotel this time? Have the supernatural influences affected your appetite again? The supernatural influences have spared me this time, Henry answered. Perhaps you may yet find that they have affected some other member of the family. He spoke gravely, resenting the familiar tone in which the manager had referred to his previous visit to the hotel. Have you just returned? He asked, by way of changing the topic. Just this minute, sir, I had the honour of travelling in the same train with friends of yours who have arrived at the hotel, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Barville, and their travelling companions. Miss Lockwood is with them, looking at the rooms. They will be here before long if they find it convenient to have an extra room at their disposal. This announcement decided Henry on exploring the hiding-place before the interruption occurred. It had crossed his mind when Agnes left him that he ought perhaps to have a witness in the not very probable event of some alarming discovery taking place. The two familiar managers suspecting nothing was there at his disposal. He turned again to the carienne figure, maliciously resolving to make the manager his witness. I am delighted to hear that our friends have arrived at last. He said, Before I shake hands with them, let me ask you a question about this queer work of art here. I see photographs of it downstairs. Are they for sale? Certainly, Mr. Westwick. Do you think the chimney piece is as solid as it looks? Henry proceeded. When you came in, I was just wondering whether this figure here had not accidentally got loosened from the wall behind it. He laid his hand on the marble forehead for the third time. To my eye, it looks a little out of the perpendicular. I almost fancied I could jog the head just now when I touched it. He pressed the head inwards as he said those words. A sound of jarring iron was instantly audible behind the wall. The solid harpsichord in front of the fireplace turned slowly at the foot of the two men and disclosed a dark cavity below. At the same moment, the strange and sickening combination of odours hitherto associated with the vaults of the old palace and with a bed-chamber beneath, now floated up from the open recess and filled the room. The manager started back. Good God, Mr. Westwick! he exclaimed. What does this mean? Remembering not only what his brother Francis had felt in the room beneath, but what the experience of Agnes had been on the previous night, Henry was determined to be on his guard. I am as much surprised as you are, was his only reply. Wait for me one moment, sir, said the manager. I must stop the ladies and gentlemen outside from coming in. He hurried away, not forgetting to close the door after him. Henry opened the window and waited there, breathing the pure air. Vague apprehensions of the next discovery to come filled his mind for the first time. He was doubly resolved now not to stir a step in the investigation without a witness. The manager returned with a waxed taper in his hand which he lighted as soon as he entered the room. We need fear no interruption now, he said. Be so kind, Mr. Westwick, as to hold the light. It is my business to find out what this extraordinary discovery means. Henry held the taper. Looking into the cavity by the dim and flickering light they both detected a dark object at the bottom of it. I think I can reach the thing, the manager remarked, if I lie down and put my hand into the hole. He knelt on the floor and hesitated. Might I ask you, sir, to give me my gloves, he said, they are in my hat on the chair behind you. Henry gave him the gloves. I don't know what I may be going to take hold of, the manager explained smiling rather uneasily as he put on his right glove. He stretched himself at full length on the floor and passed his right arm into the cavity. I can't say exactly what I have got hold of, he said, but I have got it. Half raising himself he drew his hand out. The next instant he started to his feet with a shriek of terror. A human head dropped from his nervous grasp on the floor and rolled to Henry's feet. It was the hideous head that Agnes had seen hovering above her in the vision of the night. The two men looked at each other, both struck speechless by the same emotion of horror. The manager was the first to control himself. See to the door for God's sake, he said, some of the people outside may have heard me. Henry moved mechanically to the door. Even when he had his hand on the key ready to turn it in the lock in case of necessity, he still looked back at the appalling object on the floor. There was no possibility of identifying those decayed and distorted features with any living creature whom he had seen, and yet he was conscious of feeling a vague and awful doubt which shook him to the soul. The questions which had tortured the mind of Agnes were now his questions too. He asked himself, in whose likeness might I have recognized it before the decay set in, the likeness of Ferrari, or the likeness of... He paused trembling as Agnes had paused trembling before him. Agnes, the name of all women's names, the dearest to him, was a terror to him now. What was he to say to her? What might be the consequence if he trusted her with the terrible truth? No footsteps approached the door. No voices were audible outside. The travelers were still occupied in the rooms at the eastern end of the corridor. In the brief interval that had passed, the manager had sufficiently recovered himself to be able to think once more of the first and foremost interests of his life, the interests of the hotel. He approached Henry anxiously. If this frightful discovery becomes known, he said, the closing of the hotel and the ruin of the company will be the inevitable results. I feel sure that I can trust your discretion, sir, so far. You can certainly trust me, Henry answered, but surely discretion has its limits, he added, after such a discovery as we have made. The manager understood that the duty which they owed to the community as honest and law-abiding men was the duty to which Henry now referred. I will at once find the means, he said, of conveying the remains privately out of the house, and I will myself place them in the care of the police authorities. Will you leave the room with me or do you not object to keep watch here and help me when I return? While he was speaking, the voices of the travelers made themselves heard again at the end of the corridor. Henry instantly consented to wait in the room. He shrank from facing the inevitable meeting with Agnes if he showed himself in the corridor at that moment. The manager hastened his departure in the hope of escaping notice. He was discovered by his guests before he could reach the head of the stairs. Henry heard the voices plainly as he turned the key. While the terrible drama of discovery was in progress on one side of the door, trivial questions about the amusements of Venice and facetious discussions on the relative merits of French and Italian cookery were proceeding on the other. Little by little the sound of the talking grew fainter. The visitors, having arranged their plans of amusement for the day, were on their way out of the hotel. In a minute or two there was silence once more. Henry turned to the window, thinking to relieve his mind by looking at the bright view over the canal. He soon grew wearied of the familiar scene. The morbid fascination which seems to be exercised by all horrible sights drew him back again to the ghastly object on the floor. Dream or reality, how had Agnes survived the sight of it? As the question passed through his mind he noticed for the first time something lying on the floor near the head. Looking closer he perceived a thin little plate of gold with three false teeth attached to it which had apparently dropped out, loosened by the shock when the manager let the head fall on the floor. The importance of this discovery and the necessity of not too readily communicating it to others instantly struck Henry. Here surely was a chance if any chance remained of identifying the shocking relic of humanity which lay before him, the dumb witness of a crime. Acting on this idea he took possession of the teeth, purposing to use them as a last means of inquiry when other attempts at investigation had been tried and had failed. He went back again to the window. The solitude of the room began to weigh on his spirits. As he looked out again at the view there was a soft knock at the door. He hastened to open it and checked himself in the act. A doubt occurred to him. Was it the manager who had knocked? He called out. Who is there? The voice of Agnes answered him. Have you anything to tell me, Henry? He was hardly able to reply. Not just now, he said confusedly. Forgive me if I don't open the door. I will speak to you a little later. The sweet voice made itself heard again, pleading with him piteously. Don't leave me alone, Henry. I can't go back to the happy people downstairs. How could he resist that appeal? He heard her sigh. He heard the rustling of her dress as she moved away in despair. The very thing that he had shrunk from doing but a few minutes since was a thing that he did now. He joined Agnes in the corridor. She turned as she heard him and pointed, trembling in the direction of the closed room. Is it so terrible is that, she asked faintly. He put his arm round her to support her. A thought came to him as he looked at her, waiting in doubt and fear for his reply. You shall know what I have discovered, he said, if you will first put on your hat and cloak and come out with me. She was naturally surprised. Can you tell me your object in going out? She asked. He owned what his object was unreservedly. I want before all things, he said, to satisfy your mind and mine on the subject of Montberry's death.  Her eyes rested on Henry gratefully. Oh, how well you understand me, she said. The manager joined them at the same moment on his way up the stairs. Henry gave him the key of the room and then called to the servants in the hall to have a gondola ready at the steps. Are you leaving the hotel? The manager asked. In search of evidence Henry whispered, pointing to the key. If the authorities want me, I shall be back in an hour. CHAPTER XXV The day had advanced to evening. Lord Montberry and the bridal party had gone to the opera. Agnes, alone, pleading the excuse of fatigue, remained at the hotel. Having kept up appearances by accompanying his friends to the theatre, Henry Westwick slipped away after the first act and joined Agnes in the drawing room.  He asked, taking a chair at her side. Do you agree with me that the one dreadful doubt which oppressed us both is at least set at rest?  I wish I could agree with you, Henry. I wish I could honestly say that my mind is at ease. The answer would have discouraged most men. Henry's patience, where Agnes was concerned, was equal to any demands on it. If you will only look back at the events of the day, he said, he must surely admit that we have not been completely baffled. Remember how Dr. Bruno disposed of our doubts. After thirty years of medical practice, do you think I am likely to mistake the symptoms of death by bronchitis? If ever there was an unanswerable question, there it is. Was the consul's testimony doubtful in any part of it? He called at the palace to offer his services after hearing of Lord Montberry's death. He arrived at the time when the coffin was in the house. He himself saw the corpse placed in it and the lid screwed down. The evidence of the priest is equally beyond dispute. He remained in the room with a coffin reciting the prayers for the dead until the funeral left the palace. Bear all these statements in mind, Agnes, and how can you deny that the question of Montberry's death and burial is a question set at rest? We have really but one doubt left. We have still to ask ourselves whether the remains which I discovered are the remains of the lost courier or not. There is the case as I understand it. Have I stated it fairly? Agnes could not deny that he had stated it fairly. Then what prevents you from experiencing the same sense of relief that I feel? Henry asked. What I saw last night prevents me. Agnes answered. When we spoke of this subject after our inquiries were over, you reproached me with taking what you called the superstitious view. I don't quite admit that, but I do acknowledge that I should find the superstitious view intelligible if I heard it expressed by some other person. Remembering what your brother and I once were to each other in the bygone time, I can understand the apparition making itself visible to me to claim the mercy of Christian burial and the vengeance due to a crime. I can even perceive some faint possibility of truth in the explanation which you described as the mesmeric theory that what I saw might be the result of magnetic influence communicated to me as I lay between the remains of the murdered husband above me and the guilty wife suffering the tortures of remorse at my bedside. But what I do not understand is that I should have passed through that dreadful ordeal having no previous knowledge of the murdered man in his lifetime or only knowing him if you suppose that I saw the apparition of Ferrari through the interest which I took in his wife. I can't dispute your reasoning Henry, but I feel in my heart of hearts that you are deceived. Nothing will shake my belief that we are still as far from having discovered the dreadful truth as ever. Henry made no further attempt to dispute with her. She had impressed him with a certain reluctant respect for her own opinion in spite of himself. Have you thought of any better way of arriving at the truth? He asked. Who is to help us? No doubt there is the countess who has the clue to the mystery in her own hands. But in the present state of her mind is her testimony to be trusted even if she were willing to speak. Judging by my own experience I should say decidedly not. You don't mean that you have seen her again? Agnes eerily interposed. Yes, I disturb her once more over her endless writing and I insisted on her speaking out plainly. Then you told her what you found when you opened the hiding place. Of course I did, Henry replied. I said that I held her responsible for the discovery though I had not mentioned her connection with it to the authorities as yet. She went on with her writing as if I had spoken in an unknown tongue. I was equally obstinate on my side. I told her plainly that the head had been placed under the care of the police and that the manager and I had signed our declarations and given our evidence. She paid not the slightest heed to me. By way of tempting her to speak I added that the whole investigation was to be kept a secret and that she might depend on my discretion. For the moment I thought I had succeeded. She looked up from her writing with a passing flash of curiosity and said, What are they going to do with it? Chap meaning I suppose the head. I answered that it was to be privately buried after photographs of it had first been taken. I even went to the length of communicating the opinion of the surgeon consulted that some chemical means of arresting decomposition had been used and had only partially succeeded. And I asked point blank if the surgeon was right. The trap was not a bad one but it completely failed. She said in the coolest manner. Now you are here I should like to consult you about my play. I met a loss for some new incidents. Mind there was nothing satirical in this. She was really eager to read her wonderful work to me. Evidently supposing that I took a special interest in such things because my brother is the manager of a theater. I left her making the first excuse that occurred to me. So far as I am concerned I can do nothing with her. But it is possible that your influence may succeed with her again as it has succeeded already. Will you make the attempt to satisfy your own mind?  Agnes shuttered at the bare suggestion of another interview with the Countess. I can't. I tarant. She exclaimed. After what has happened in that horrible room she is more repellent to me than ever. Don't ask me to do it Henry. Feel my hand you have turned me as cold as death only with talking of it. She was not exaggerating the terror that possessed her. Henry hastened to change her subject. Let us talk of something more interesting. He said. I have a question to ask you about yourself. Am I right in believing that the sooner you get away from Venice the happier you will be. Right. She repeated excitedly. You are more than right. No words can say how I long to be away from this horrible place. But you know how I am situated. You heard what Lord Montberry said at dinner time. Suppose he has altered his plan since dinner time. Henry suggested. Agnes looked surprised. I thought he had received letters from England which obliged him to leave Venice tomorrow. She said. Quite true. Henry admitted. He had arranged to start for England tomorrow and to leave you and Lady Montberry and the children to enjoy your holiday in Venice under my care. Circumstances have occurred however which have forced him to alter his plans. He must take you all back with him tomorrow because I am not able to assume the charge of you. I am obliged to give up my holiday in Italy and return to England too. Agnes looked at him in some little perplexity. She was not quite sure whether she understood him or not. Are you really obliged to go back? She asked. Henry smiled as he answered her. Keep the secret, he said, or Montberry will never forgive me. She read the rest in his face. Oh! she exclaimed, blushing brightly. You have not given up your pleasant holiday in Italy on my account. I shall go back with you to England, Agnes. That will be holiday enough for me. She took his hand in an irrepressible outburst of gratitude. How could you are to me? She murmured tenderly. What should I have done in the troubles that have come to me without your sympathy? I can't tell you, Henry, how I feel your kindness. She tried impulsively to lift his hand to her lips. He gently stopped her. Agnes, he said, are you beginning to understand how truly I love you? That simple question found its own way to her heart. She owned the whole truth without saying a word. She looked at him and then looked away again. He drew her nearer to him. My own darling, he whispered and kissed her. Softly and tremulously the sweet lips lingered and touched his lips in return. Then her head drooped. She put her arms round his neck and hit her face on his bosom. They spoke no more. The charmed silence had lasted but a little while when it was mercilessly broken by a knock at the door. Agnes started to her feet. She placed herself at the piano, the instrument being opposite to the door, it was impossible when she seated herself on the music stool for any person entering the room to see her face. Henry called out irritably. Come in. The door was not opened. The person on the other side of it asked a strange question. Is Mr. Henry Westwick alone? Agnes instantly recognized the voice of the Countess. She hurried to a second door which communicated with one of the bedrooms. Don't let her come near me. She whispered nervously. Good night, Henry, good night. If Henry could, by an effort of will, have transported the Countess to the uttermost ends of the earth, he would have made the effort without remorse. As it was he only repeated more irritably than ever. Come in.  Her step was unsteady. A dark flush appeared on her face in place of its customary pallor. Her eyes were bloodshot and widely dilated. In approaching Henry she showed a strange incapability of calculating her distances. She struck against the table near which he happened to be sitting. When she spoke her articulation was confused and her pronunciation of some of the longer words was hardly intelligible. Most men would have suspected her of being under the influence of some intoxicating liquor. Henry took a truer view. He sat as he placed a chair for her. Countess, I am afraid you have been working too hard. You look as if you wanted rest. She put her hand to her head. My invention has gone. She said, I can't write my fourth act. It's all a blank, all a blank. Henry advised her to wait till the next day. Go to bed, he suggested, and try to sleep. She waved her hand impatiently. I must finish the play, she answered. I only want a hint from you. You must know something about plays. Your brother has got a theatre. You must often have heard him talk about fourth and fifth acts. You must have seen rehearsals and all the rest of it. She abruptly thrust the manuscript into Henry's hand. I can't read it to you, she said. I feel giddy when I look at my own writing. Just run your eye over it. There's a good fellow, and give me a hint. Henry glanced at the manuscript. He happened to look at the list of the persons of the drama. As he read the list he started and turned abruptly to the countess intending to ask her for some explanation. The words were suspended on his lips. It was but too plainly useless to speak to her. Her head lay back on the rail of the chair. She seemed to be half asleep already. The flush on her face had deepened. She looked like a woman who was in danger of having a fit. He rang the bell and directed the man who answered it to send one of the chambermaids upstairs. His voice seemed to partially rouse the countess. She opened her eyes in a slow, drowsy way. Have you read it? she asked. It was necessary as a mere act of humanity to humor her. I will read it willingly, said Henry, if you will go upstairs to bed. You shall hear what I think of it tomorrow morning. Our heads will be clearer. We shall be better able to make the fourth act in the morning. The chambermaid came in while he was speaking. I am afraid the lady is ill. Henry whispered, take her up to her room. The woman looked at the countess and whispered back. Shall we send for a doctor, sir? Henry advised, taking her upstairs first and then asking the manager's opinion. There was great difficulty in persuading her to rise and accept the support of the chambermaid's arm. It was only by reiterated promises to read the play that night and to make the fourth act in the morning that Henry prevailed on the countess to return to her room. Left himself, he began to feel a certain languid curiosity in relation to the manuscript. He looked over the pages, reading a line here and a line there. Suddenly he changed colour as he read and looked up from the manuscript like a man bewildered. Good God! What does this mean? He said to himself. His eyes turned nervously to the door by which Agnes had left him. She might return to the drawing-room. She might want to see what the countess had written. He looked back again at the passage which had startled him, considered with himself for a moment. And, snatching up the unfinished play, suddenly and softly left the room. Having his own room on the upper floor, Henry placed the manuscript on his table, open at the first leaf. His nerves were unquestionably shaken. His hand trembled as he turned the pages. He started at Chan's noises on the staircase of the hotel. The scenario or outline of the countess's play began with no formal prefatory phrases. She presented herself and her work with the easy familiarity of an old friend. Allow me, dear Mr. Francis Westwick, to introduce to you the persons in my proposed play. Behold them arranged symmetrically in a line. My Lord! The Baron! The Courier! The Doctor! The Countess! I don't trouble myself, you see, to invest fictitious family names. My characters are sufficiently distinguished by their social titles and by the striking contrast which they present one with another. The first act opens. No. Before I open the first act I must announce, injustice to myself, that this play is entirely the work of my own invention. I scorn to borrow from actual events, and what is more extraordinary still, I have not stolen one of my ideas from the modern French drama. As the manager of an English theatre, you will naturally refuse to believe this. It doesn't matter, nothing matters, except the opening of my first act. We are at Hamburg in the famous Salon d'Or at the height of the season. The countess, exquisitely dressed, is seated at the green table. Strangers of all nations are standing behind the players, venturing their money or only looking on. My Lord is among the strangers. He is struck by the countess's personal appearance, in which beauties and defects are fantastically mingled in the most attractive manner. He watches the countess's game, and places his money where he sees her deposit her own little stake. She looks round at him and says, Don't trust to my colour. I have been unlucky the whole evening. Place your stake on the other colour, and you may have a chance of winning. My Lord, but true Englishman, blushes, bows, and obeys. The countess proves to be a prophet. She loses again. My Lord wins twice the sum that he has risked. The countess rises from the table. She has no more money, and she offers my Lord her chair. Instead of taking it, he politely places his winnings in her hand, and begs her to accept the loan as a favour to himself. The countess stakes again and loses again. My Lord smiles superbly and presses a second loan on her. From that moment her luck turns. She wins, and wins largely. Her brother, the Baron, drying his fortune in another room hears of what is going on and joins my Lord and the countess. Pay attention, if you please, to the Baron. He is delineated as a remarkable and interesting character. This noble person has begun life with a single-minded devotion to the science of experimental chemistry, very surprising in a young and handsome man with a brilliant future before him. A profound knowledge of the occult sciences has persuaded the Baron that it is possible to solve the famous problem called the Philosopher's Stone. His own pecuniary resources have long since been exhausted by his costly experiments. His sister has next supplied him with a small fortune at her disposal, reserving only the family jewels placed in the charge of her banker and friend at Frankfurt. The countess's fortune also being swallowed up, the Baron has in a fatal moment sought for new supplies at the gaming table. He proves at starting on his perilous career to be a favorite of fortune, wins largely and alas, profanes his noble enthusiasm for science by yielding his soul to the all-debasing passion of the game-ster. At the period of the play, the Baron's good fortune has deserted him. He sees his way to a crowning experiment in the fatal search after the secret of transmuting the baser elements into gold. But how is he to pay the preliminary expenses? Destiny like a mocking echo answers. How? Will his sister's winnings, with my lord's money, prove large enough to help him? Eager for this result he gives the countess his advice how to play. From that disastrous moment the infection of his own adverse fortune spreads to his sister. She loses again, and again loses to the last farthing. The amiable and wealthy lord offers a third loan, for the scrupulous countess positively refuses to take it. On leaving the table she presents her brother to my lord. The gentlemen fall into pleasant talk. My lord asks leave to pay his respects to the countess the next morning at her hotel. The Baron hospitably invites him to breakfast. My lord accepts with a last admiring glance of the countess, which does not escape her brother's observation and takes his leave for the night. Alone with his sister the Baron speaks out plainly. Our affairs, he says, are in a desperate condition and must find a desperate remedy. Wait for me here while I make inquiries about my lord. You have evidently produced a strong impression on him. If we can turn that impression into money, no matter what sacrifice the thing must be done. The countess now occupies the stage alone and indulges in a solokui which develops her character. It is at once a dangerous and attractive character. Immense capacities for good are implanted in her nature side by side with equally remarkable capacities for evil. It rests with circumstances to develop either the one or the other. Being a person who produces a sensation wherever she goes, this noble lady's naturally made the subject of all sorts of scandalous reports. To one of these reports which falsely and abominably points to the Baron as her lover instead of her brother, she now refers with just indignation. She has just expressed her desire to leave Hamburg as the place in which the vile Columné first took its rise when the Baron returns, overhears her last words and says to her, Yes, leave Hamburg by all means, provided you leave it in the character of my lord's betrothed wife. The countess is startled and shocked. She protests that she does not reciprocate my lord's admiration for her. She even goes the length of refusing to see him again. The Baron answers, I must positively have command of money. Take your choice between marrying my lord's income in the interest of my grand discovery or leave me to sell myself and my title to the first rich woman of low degree who is ready to buy me. The countess listens in surprise and dismay. Is it possible that the Baron is an earnest? He is horribly earnest. The woman who will buy me, he says, is in the next room to us at this moment. She is the wealthy widow of a Jewish user. She has the money I want to reach at the solution of the great problem.  Take five minutes to consider what I have said to you and tell me on my return which of us is to marry for the money I want, you or I. As he turns away the countess stops him. All the noblest sentiments in her nature are exalted to the highest pitch. Where is the true woman, she exclaims, who wants time to consummate the sacrifice of herself when the man to whom she is devoted demands it. She does not want five minutes. She does not want five seconds. She holds out her hand to him and she says, Sacrifice me on the altar of your glory. Take as stepping stones on the way to your triumph, my love, my liberty and my life. On this grand situation the curtain falls. Judging by my first act, Mr. Westwick, tell me truly and don't be afraid of turning my head. Am I not capable of writing a good play? Henry paused between the first and second acts, reflecting not on the merits of the play, but on the strange resemblance which the incidents so far presented to the incidents that had attended the disastrous marriage of the first Lord Montgomery. Was it possible that the countess in the present condition of her mind supposed herself to be exercising her invention when she was only exercising her memory? The question involved considerations, too serious to be made the subject of a hasty decision. Reserving his opinion, Henry turned a page and devoted himself to the reading of the next act. The manuscript proceeded as follows. The second act opens at Venice. An interval of four months has elapsed since the date of the scene at the gambling table. The action now takes place in the reception room of one of the Venetian palaces. The baron is discovered alone on the stage. He reverts to the events which have happened since the close of the first act. The countess has sacrificed herself, the mercenary marriage has taken place, but not without obstacles, caused by difference of opinion on the question of marriage settlements. Private inquiries instituted in England have informed the baron that my Lord's income is derived chiefly from what is called entailed property. In case of accidents he is surely bound to do something for his bride. Let him, for example, ensure his life for a sum proposed by the baron, and let him to settle the money that his widow shall have it, if he dies first. My Lord hesitates. The baron wastes no time in useless discussion. Let us by all means, he says, consider the marriage as broken off. My Lord shifts his grunt and pleads for a smaller sum than the sum proposed. The baron briefly replies, I never bargain. My Lord is in love. The natural result follows. He gives way. So far the baron has no cause to complain, but my Lord's turn comes when the marriage has been celebrated and when the honeymoon is over. The baron has joined the married pair at a palace which they have hired in Venice. He is still bent on solving the problem of the philosopher's stone. His laboratory is set up in the vaults beneath the palace, so that smells from chemical experiments may not incommode the countess in the higher regions of the house. The one obstacle in the way of his grand discovery is, as usual, the want of money. His position at the present time has become truly critical. He owes debts of honour to gentlemen in his own rank of life which must positively be paid, and he proposes in his own friendly manner to borrow the money of my Lord. My Lord positively refuses in the rudest terms. The baron applies to his sister to exercise her conjugal influence. She can only answer that her noble husband, being no longer distractedly in love with her, now appears in his true character as one of the meanest men living. The sacrifice of the marriage has been made and has already proved useless. Such is the state of affairs at the opening of the second act. The entrance of the countess suddenly disturbs the baron's reflections. She is in a state bordering on frenzy. Incoherent expressions of rage burst from her lips. It is some time before she can sufficiently control herself to speak plainly. She has been doubly insulted, first by a menial person in her employment, secondly by her husband. Her maid and English woman has declared that she will serve the countess no longer. She will give up her wages and return at once to England. Being asked her reason for this strange proceeding, she insolently hints that the countess's service is no service for an honest woman since the baron has entered the house. The countess does what any lady in her position would do. She indignantly dismisses the wretch on the spot. My lord, hearing his wife's voice raised in anger, leaves a study in which he is accustomed to shut himself up over his books and asks what this disturbance means. The countess informs him of the outrageous language and conduct of her maid. My lord not only declares his entire approval of the woman's conduct, but expresses his own abominable doubts of his wife's fidelity in language of such horrible brutality that no lady could pollute her lips by repeating it.  The baron listening silently so far now speaks. Permit me to finish the sentence for you, he says. You would have struck your husband dead at your feet and by that rash act you would have deprived yourself of the insurance money settled on the widow, the very money which is wanted to relieve your brother from the unendurable pecuniary position which he now occupies. The countess gravely reminds the baron that this is no joking matter. After what my lord has said to her, she has little doubt that he will communicate his infamous suspicions to his lawyers in England. If nothing is done to prevent it, she may be divorced and disgraced and thrown on the world with no resource but the sale of her jewels to keep her from starving. At this moment the courier who has been engaged to travel with my lord from England crosses the stage with a letter to take to the post. The countess stops him and asks to look at the address on the letter. She takes it from him for a moment and shows it to her brother. The handwriting is my lord's and the letter is directed to his lawyers in London. The courier proceeds to the post office. The baron and the countess look at each other in silence. No words are needed. They thoroughly understand the position in which they are placed. They clearly see the terrible remedy for it. What is the plain alternative before them? Disgrace and ruin or my lord's death and the insurance money? The baron walks backwards and forwards in great agitation talking to himself. The countess hears fragments of what he is saying. He speaks of my lord's constitution probably weakened in India, of a cold which my lord has caught two or three days since, of the remarkable manner in which slight things as colds sometimes end in serious illness and death. He observes that the countess is listening to him and asks if she has anything to propose. She is a woman who with many defects has the great merit of speaking out. Is there no such thing as a serious illness? She asks, quirked up in one of those bottles of yours in the vaults downstairs. The baron answers by gravely shaking his head. What is he afraid of, a possible examination of the body after death? No, he can set any post-mortem examination at defiance. It is the process of administering the poison that he dreads. A man so distinguished as my lord cannot be taken seriously ill without medical attendance. Where there is a doctor there is always danger of discovery. Then again there is a courier, faithful to my lord as long as my lord pays him. Even if the doctor sees nothing suspicious the courier may discover something. The poison to do its work with a necessary secrecy must be repeatedly administered in graduated doses. One trifling miscalculation or mistake may rouse suspicion. The insurance offices may hear of it and may refuse to pay the money. As things are the baron will not risk it and will not allow his sister to risk it in his place. My lord himself is the next character who appears. He has repeatedly rung for the courier and the bell has not been answered. What does this insolence mean? The countess, speaking with quiet dignity for why should her infamous husband have the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he has wounded her, reminds my lord that the courier has gone to the post. My lord asks suspiciously if she has looked at the letter. The countess informs him coldly that she has no curiosity about his letters. Referring to the cold from which he is suffering she inquires if he thinks of consulting a medical man. My lord answers roughly that he is quite old enough to be capable of doctoring himself. As he makes this reply the courier appears returning from the post. My lord gives him orders to go out again and buy some lemons. He proposes to try hot lemonade as a means of inducing perspiration in bed. In that way he has formerly cured colds and in that way he will cure the cold from which he is suffering now. The courier obeys in silence. Judging by appearances he goes very reluctantly on this second errand. My lord turns to the baron who has thus far taken no part in the conversation and asks him in a sneering tone how much longer he proposes to prolong his stay in Venice. The baron answers quietly. Let us speak plainly to one another my lord. If you wish me to leave your house you have only to say the word and I go. My lord turns to his wife and asks if she can support the calamity of her brother's absence laying a grossly insulting emphasis on the word brother. The countess preserves her impenetrable composure nothing in her betrays the deadly hatred with which she regards a titled ruffian who has insulted her.  Is all she says. Do as you please. My lord looks at his wife, looks at the baron and suddenly alters his tone. Does he perceive in the composure of the countess and her brother something lurking under the surface that threatens him? This is at least certain he makes a clumsy apology for the language that he has used. Abject wretch. My lord's excuses are interrupted by the return of the courier with the lemons and hot water. The countess observes for the first time that the man looks ill. His hand trembles as he places the tray on the table. My lord orders his courier to follow him and make the lemonade in the bedroom. The countess remarks that the courier seems hardly capable of obeying his orders. Hearing this the man admits that he is ill. He too is suffering from a cold. He has been kept waiting in a draught at the shop where he bought the lemons. He feels alternately hot and cold and he begs permission to lie down for a little while on his bed. Feeling her humanity appealed to the countess volunteers to make the lemonade herself. My lord takes the courier by the arm, leads him aside and whispers these words to him. Watch her and see that she puts nothing into the lemonade, then bring it to me with your own hands and then go to bed if you like. Without a word more to his wife or to the baron my lord leaves the room. The countess makes the lemonade and the courier takes it to his master. Returning on the way to his own room he is so weak and feels he says so giddy that he is obliged to support himself by the backs of the chairs as he passes them. The baron always considerate to persons of low degree offers his arm. I am afraid, my poor fellow, he says, that you are really ill. The courier makes this extraordinary answer. It's all over with me, sir. I have caught my death. The countess is naturally startled. You are not an old man, she says, trying to rouse the courier's spirits. At your age catching cold doesn't surely mean catching your death. The courier fixes his eyes despairingly on the countess. My lungs are weak, my lady, he says. I have already had two attacks of bronchitis. The second time a great physician joined my own doctor in attendance on me. He considered my recovery almost in the light of a miracle. Take care of yourself, he said. If you have a third attack of bronchitis, as certainly as two and two make four, you will be a dead man. I feel the same inward shivering, my lady, that I felt on those two former occasions, and I tell you again, I have caught my death in Venice. Speaking some comforting words the baron leads him to his room. The countess is left alone on the stage. She seats herself and looks towards the door by which the courier has been let out. Ah, my poor fellow, she says, if you could only change constitutions with my Lord, what a happy result would follow for the baron and for me. If you could only get cured of a trumpery cold with a little hot lemonade, and if he could only catch his death in your place. She suddenly pauses, considers for a while, and springs to her feet with a cry of triumphant surprise. The wonderful, the unparalleled idea has crossed her mind, like a flash of lightning. Make the two men change names and places, and the deed is done. Where are the obstacles? Remove my Lord by fair means or foul from his room, and keep him secretly prisoner in the palace to live or die as future necessity may determine. Place the courier in the vacant bed and call in the doctor to see him, ill in my Lord's character, and, if he dies, dying under my Lord's name. The manuscript dropped from Henry's hands. A sickening sense of horror overpowered him. The question which had occurred to his mind at the close of the first act of the play assumed a new and terrible interest now. As far as the scene of the Countess, Soliloquy, the incidence of the Second Act, had reflected the events of his late brother's life as faithfully as the incidence of the first act. Was the monstrous plot revealed in the lines which he had just read, the offspring of the Countess's morbid imagination, or had she in this case also diluted herself with the idea that she was inventing, when she was really writing under the influence, of her own guilty remembrances of the past. If the latter interpretation were the true one, he had just read the narrative of the contemplated murder of his brother, planned in cold blood by a woman who was at that moment inhabiting the same house with him. While, to make the fatality complete, Agnes herself had innocently provided the conspirators with the one man who was fitted to be the passive agent of their crime. Even the bear doubt that it might be so was more than he could endure. He left his room resolved to force the truth out of the Countess, or to denounce her before the authorities as a murderous at large. Arrived at her door, he was met by a person just leaving the room. The person was the manager. He was hardly recognizable. He looked and spoke like a man in a state of desperation. Oh, go in if you like, he said to Henry. Mark this, sir. I am not a superstitious man, but I do begin to believe that crimes carry their own curse with them. This hotel is under a curse. What happens in the morning? We discover a crime committed in the old days of the palace. The night comes and brings another dreadful event with it. A death, a sudden and shocking death in the house. Go in and see for yourself. I shall resign my situation. Mr. Westwick, I can't contend with the fatalities that pursue me here. Henry entered the room. The Countess was stretched on her bed. The doctor on one side and the chambermaid on the other were standing, looking at her. From time to time she drew a heavy, statorious breath, like a person oppressed and sleeping. Is she likely to die? Henry asked. She is dead, the doctor answered. Dead of the rupture of a blood vessel and the brain.  They may go on for hours. Henry looked at the chambermaid. She had little to tell. The Countess had refused to go to bed and had placed herself at her desk to proceed with her writing. Finding it useless to remonstrate with her, the maid had left the room to speak to the manager. In the shortest possible time the doctor was summoned to the hotel and found the Countess dead on the floor. There was this to tell and no more. Looking at the writing table as he went out, Henry saw the sheet of paper on which the Countess had traced her last lines of writing. The characters were almost eligible. Henry could just distinguish the words, first act, and persons of the drama. The lost wretch had been thinking of her plates the last and had begun it all over again. Recording by Kehinde The Haunted Hotel A Mystery of Modern Venice by Wilkie Collins Chapter 27 Henry returned to his room. His first impulse was to throw aside the manuscript and never to look at it again. The one chance of relieving his mind from the dreadful uncertainty that oppressed it by obtaining positive evidence of the truth was a chance annihilated by the Countess's death. What good purpose could be served? What relief could he anticipate if he read more? He walked up and down the room. After an interval his thoughts took a new direction. The question of the manuscript presented itself under another point of view. Thus far his reading had only informed him that the conspiracy had been planned. How did he know that the plan had been put in execution? The manuscript lay just before him on the floor. He hesitated, then picked it up, and, returning to the table, read on as follows, from the point at which he had left off. While the Countess is still absorbed in the bold, yet simple combination of circumstances which she has discovered, the Baron returns. He takes a serious view of the case of the courier. It may be necessary, he thinks, to send for medical advice. No servant is left in the palace now, the English maid has taken her departure. The Baron himself must fetch the doctor if the doctor is really needed. Let us have medical help, by all means, his sister replies. But wait and hear something that I have to say to you first. She then electrifies the Baron by communicating her idea to him. What danger of discovery have they to tread? My Lord's life in Venice has been a life of absolute seclusion. Nobody but his banker knows him, even by personal appearance. He has presented his letter of credit as a perfect stranger, and he and his banker have never seen each other since the first visit. He has given no parties and gone to no parties. On the few occasions when he has hired a gondola or taken a walk, he has always been alone. Thanks to the atrocious suspicion which makes him ashamed of being seen with his wife, he has led the very life which makes the proposed enterprise easy of accomplishment. The cautious Baron listens, but gives no positive opinion as yet. See what you can do with a courier, he says, and I will decide when I hear the result. One valuable hint I may give you before you go. Your man is easily tempted by money, if you only offer him enough. The other day I asked him in jest what he would do for a thousand pounds. He answered, anything. Bear that in mind and offer your highest bid without bargaining. The scene changes to the courier's room and shows the poor wretch with a photographic portrait of his wife in his hand, crying. The Countess enters. She wisely begins by sympathizing with her contemplated accomplice. He is truly grateful he confides his sorrows to his gracious mistress. Now that he believes himself to be on his deathbed, he feels remorse for his neglectful treatment of his wife. He could resign himself to die, but despair overpowers him when he remembers that he has saved no money and that he will leave his widow without resources to the mercy of the world. On this hint the Countess speaks. Suppose you were asked to do a perfectly easy thing, she says, and suppose you were rewarded for doing it by a present of a thousand pounds as a legacy for your widow. The courier raises himself on his pillow and looks at the Countess with an expression of incredulous surprise. She can hardly be cruel enough, he thinks, to joke with a man in his miserable blight. Will she say plainly what this perfectly easy thing is, the doing of which we'll meet with such a magnificent reward? The Countess answers that question by confiding her project to the courier without the slightest reserve. Some minutes of silence follow when she has done. The courier is not weak enough yet to speak without stopping to think first. Still keeping his eyes on the Countess, he makes a quaintly insolent remark on what he has just heard. I have not hitherto been a religious man, but I feel myself on the way to it. Since your leadership has spoken to me, I believe in the devil. It is the Countess's interest to see the humorous side of this confession of faith. She takes no offense.  You are in danger of death.  Left alone, the courier seriously considers his position and decides. He rises with difficulty, writes a few lines on a leaf taken from his pocketbook, and with slow and faltering steps leaves the room. The Countess, returning at the expiration of the half-hour's interval, finds the room empty. While she is wandering, the courier opens the door. What has he been doing out of his bed? He answers, I have been protecting my own life, my lady, on the bare chance that I may recover from the bronchitis for the third time. If you or the Baron attempts to hurry me out of this world, or to deprive me of my thousand pounds reward, I shall tell the doctor where he will find a few lines of writing which describe your ladyship's plot. I may not have strength enough, in the case opposed, to betray you by making a complete confession with my own lips. But I can employ my last breath to speak the half-dozen words which will tell the doctor where he is to look. Those words it is needless to add will be addressed to your ladyship if I find your engagements toward me faithfully kept. With his audacious preface, he proceeds to state the conditions on which he will play his part in the conspiracy, and die, if he does die, worth a thousand pounds. Either the Countess or the Baron are to taste the food and drink, brought to his bedside in his presence, and even the medicines which the doctor may prescribe for him. As for the promised sum of money it is to be produced in one banknote, folded in a sheet of paper on which a line is to be written dictated by the courier. The two enclosures are then to be sealed up in an envelope addressed to his wife and stamped ready for the post. This done the letter is to be placed under his pillow, the Baron or the Countess being at liberty to satisfy themselves day by day at their own time that the letter remains in its place with the seal unbroken as long as the doctor has any hope of his patient's recovery. The last stipulation follows. The courier has a conscience, and with a view to keeping it easy insists that he shall be left in ignorance of that part of the plot which relates to the sequestration of my lord. Not that he cares particularly what becomes of his miserly master, but he does dislike taking other people's responsibilities on his own shoulders. These conditions being agreed to the Countess calls in the Baron who has been waiting events in the next room. He is informed that the courier has yielded to temptation, but he is still too cautious to make any compromising remarks. Keeping his back turned on the bed he shows a bottle to the Countess. It is labelled chloroform. She understands that my lord is to be removed from his room in a convenient state of insensibility. In what part of the palace is he to be hidden? As they open the door to go out, the Countess whispers that question to the Baron. The Baron whispers back. In the vaults. The curtain falls. End of chapter 27. Read by Ghandi of Badrak.com. Chapter 28 of The Haunted Hotel. The Slippervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Ghandi. The Haunted Hotel. A mystery of modern Venice by Wilkie Collins. Chapter 28 So the second act ended. Turning to the third act, Henry looked wearily at the pages as he let them slip through his fingers. Both in mind and body he began to feel the need of repose. In one important respect the later portion of the manuscript differed from the pages which he had just been reading. Signs of an overwrought brain showed themselves here and there as the outline of the play approached its end. The handwriting grew worse and worse. Some of the longer sentences were left unfinished. In the exchange of dialogue, questions and answers were not always attributed respectively to the right speaker. At certain intervals the writer's failing intelligence seemed to recover itself for a while only to relapse again and to lose the thread of the narrative more hopelessly than ever. After reading one or two of the more coherent passages Henry recoiled from the ever-darkening horror of the story. He closed the manuscript heart-sick and exhausted and threw himself on his bed to rest. The door opened almost at the same moment. Lord Montberry entered the room. We have just returned from the opera, he said, and we have heard the news of that miserable woman's death. They say you spoke to her in her last moments and I want to hear how it happened. You shall hear how it happened. Henry answered, and more than that, you are now the head of the family, Stefan, and I feel bound in the position which oppresses me to leave you to decide what ought to be done. With those introductory words he told his brother how the countess's play had come into his hands. Read the first few pages. He said, I'm anxious to know whether the same impression is produced on both of us. Before Lord Montberry had got halfway through the first act he stopped and looked at his brother. What does she mean by boasting of this as her own invention? He asked. Was she too crazy to remember that these things really happened? This was enough for Henry. The same impression had been produced on both of them. You will do as you please, he said, but if you will be guided by me, spare yourself the reading of those pages to come which describe our brother's terrible expiation of his heartless marriage. Have you read it all, Henry? Not all. I shrank from reading some of the latter part of it. Neither you nor I saw much of our elder brother after we left school, and for my part I felt and never scrupled to express my feeling that he behaved infamously to Agnes. But when I read that unconscious confession of the murderous conspiracy to which he fell a victim, I remembered with something like remorse that the same mother bore us.  Lord Montberry took his brother's hand.  Because some of this crazy creature's writing accidentally tells what we know to be the truth, does it follow that all the rest is to be relied on to the end? There is no possible doubt of it, Henry replied. No possible doubt, his brother repeated, I shall go on with my reading, Henry, and see what justification there may be for that confident conclusion of yours. He read on steadily until he had reached the end of the second act, then he looked up. Do you really believe that the mutilated remains which you discovered this morning are the remains of our brother? He asked. And do you believe it on such evidence as this? Henry answered silently by a sign in the affirmative. Lord Montberry checked himself, evidently on the appoint of entering an indignant protest. You acknowledge that you have not read the later scenes of the piece? He said. Don't be childish, Henry, if you persist in pinning your faith on such stuff as this, the least you can do is to make yourself thoroughly acquainted with it. Will you read the third act? No, and I shall read it to you. He turned to the third act and ran over those fragmentary passages which were clearly enough written and expressed to be intelligible to the mind of a stranger. Here is a scene in the vaults of the palace. He began. The victim of the conspiracy sleeping on his miserable bed and the Baron and the Countess are considering the position in which they stand. The Countess, as well as I can make it out, has raised the money that is wanted by borrowing on the security of her jewels at Frankfurt, and the courier upstairs is still declared by the Doctor to have a chance of recovery. What are the conspirators to do if the man does recover? The cautious Baron suggests setting the prisoner free.  On the other hand, if the courier dies, how is the sequestrated and unknown noblemen to be put out of the way? Passively, by letting him starve in his prison? No, the Baron is a man of refined tastes. He dislikes needless cruelty. The act of policy remains, say, assassination by the knife of a hired Bravo. The Baron objects to trusting and accomplice, also to spending money on anyone but himself. Shall they drop their prisoner into the canal? The Baron declines to trust water. Water will show him on the surface. Shall they set his bed on fire? An excellent idea, but the smoke might be seen. No, the circumstances being now entirely altered, poisoning him presents the easiest way out of it. He has simply become a superfluous person. The cheapest poison will do. Is it possible, Henry, that you believe this consultation really took place? Henry made no reply. The succession of the questions that had just been read to him exactly followed the succession of the dreams that had terrified Mrs. Norbury on the two nights which she had passed in the hotel. It was useless to point out this coincidence to his brother. He only said, go on. Lord Montberry turned the pages until he came to the next intelligible passage. Here he proceeded is a double scene on the stage so far as I can understand the sketch of it. The doctor is upstairs innocently writing his certificate of my Lord's disease by the dead courier's bedside. Down in the vaults the Baron stands by the corpse of the poisoned Lord preparing the strong chemical acids which are to reduce it to a heap of ashes. Surely it is not worthwhile to trouble ourselves with deciphering such melodramatic horrors as these. Let us get on, let us get on. He turned the leaves again, attempting vainly to discover the meaning of the confused scenes that followed. On the last page but one he found the last intelligible sentences. The third act seems to be divided, he said, into two parts of Tableau. I think I can read the writing at the beginning of the second part. The Baron and the Countess opened the scene. The Baron's hands are mysteriously concealed by gloves. He has reduced the body to ashes by his own system of cremation with the exception of the head. Henry interrupted his brother there. Don't read any more. He exclaimed. Let us do the Countess justice. Lord Montbury persisted. There are not half a dozen lines more that I can make out. The accidental breaking of his jar of acid has burnt the Baron's hands severely. He is still unable to proceed to the destruction of the head, and the Countess is woman enough, with all her wickedness, to shrink from attempting to take his place when the first news is received of the coming arrival of the commission of inquiry dispatched by the insurance offices. The Baron feels no alarm, inquires the commission may it is the natural death of the courier in my Lord's character that they are blindly investigating. The head not being destroyed, the obvious alternative is to hide it, and the Baron is equal to the occasion. His studies in the old library have informed him of a safe place of concealment in the palace. The Countess may recoil from handling the acids and watching the process of cremation, but she can surely sprinkle a little disinfecting powder. No more, Henry reiterated, no more. There is no more that can be read, my dear fellow. The last page looks like sheer delirium. She may well have told you that her invention had failed her. Face the truth honestly, Stefan, and say her memory. Lord Montbury rose from the table at which he had been sitting and looked at his brother with pitting eyes. Your nerves are out of order, Henry, he said, and no wonder, after that frightful discovery under the hearthstone. We won't dispute about it, we will wait a day or two until you are quite yourself again. In the meantime, let us understand each other, on one point at least. You leave the question of what is to be done with these pages of writing to me as the head of the family. I do. Lord Montbury quietly took up the manuscript and threw it into the fire. Let this rubbish be of some use, he said, holding the pages down with the poker. The room is getting chilly. The Countess's play will set some of these charred logs flaming again. He waited a little at the fireplace and returned to his brother. Now, Henry, I have a last word to say, and then I have done. I am ready to admit that you have stumbled by an unlucky chance on the proof of a crime committed in the old days of the palace. Nobody knows how long ago. With that one concession I dispute everything else. Rather than agree in the opinion you have formed, I won't believe anything that has happened. The supernatural influences that some of us felt when we first slept in this hotel, your loss of appetite, our sister's dreadful dreams, the smell that overpowered Francis, and the head that appeared to Agnes, I declare them all to be sheer delusions. I believe in nothing, nothing, nothing. He opened the door to go out and looked back into the room. Yes, he resumed, there is one thing I believe in. My wife has committed a breach of confidence. I believe Agnes will marry you. Good night, Henry. We leave Venice the first thing tomorrow morning. So Lord Montverry disposed of the mystery of the haunted hotel. A last chance of deciding the difference of opinion between the two brothers remained in Henry's possession. He had his own idea of the use to which he might put the false teeth as amines of inquiry when he and his fellow travellers returned to England. The only surviving depository of the domestic history of the family in past years was Agnes Lockwood's old nurse. Henry took his first opportunity of trying to revive her personal recollections of the deceased Lord Montverry. But the nurse had never forgiven the great man of the family for his desertion of Agnes. She flatly refused to consult her memory. Even the bare sight of my Lord when I last saw him in London, said the old woman, made my fingernails itch to set their mark on his face. I was sent on an errand by Miss Agnes, and I met him coming out of his dentist's door and thank God it's the last I ever saw of him. Thanks to the nurse's quick temper and quaint way of expressing herself, the object of Henry's inquiries was gained already. He ventured on asking if she had noticed the situation of the house. She had noticed and still remembered the situation. Did Master Henry suppose she had lost the use of her senses because she happened to be nigh on eighty years old? The same day he took the false teeth to the dentist and said all further doubt if doubt had still been possible at rest forever. The teeth had been made for the first Lord Montverry. Henry never revealed the existence of his last link in the chain of discovery to any living creature, his brother Stefan included. He carried his terrible secret with him to the grave. There was one other event in the memorable past on which he preserved the same compassionate silence. Little Mrs. Ferrari never knew that her husband had been, not as she supposed, the Countess's victim, but the Countess's accomplice. She still believed that the late Lord Montverry had sent her the thousand-pound note, and still recoiled for making use of a present which she persisted in declaring had the stain of her husband's blood on it. Agnes, with the widow's entire approval, took the money to the children's hospital and spent it in adding to the number of the beds. In the spring of the new year the marriage took place. At the special request of Agnes, the members of the family were the only persons present at the ceremony. There was no wedding breakfast, and the honeymoon was spent in the retirement of a cottage on the banks of the Thames. During the last few days of the residence of the newly married couple by the Riverside, Lady Montverry's children were invited to enjoy a day's play in the garden. The eldest girl overheard and reported to her mother a little conjugal dialogue which touched on the topic of the haunted hotel. Henry, I want you to give me a kiss. There it is, my dear. Now I am your wife. May I speak to you about something? What is it? Something that happened the day before we left Venice. You saw the countess during the last hours of her life. Won't you tell me whether she made any confession to you? No conscious confession, Agnes, and therefore no confession that I need to stress you by repeating. Did she say nothing about what she saw or heard on that dreadful night in my room? Nothing. We only know that her mind never recovered the terror of it. Agnes was not quite satisfied. The subject troubled her. Even her own brief intercourse with her miserable rival of other days suggested questions that perplexed her. She remembered the countess's prediction. You have to bring me to the day of discovery and to the punishment that is my doom. Had the prediction simply faded like other mortal prophecies, or had it been fulfilled on the terrible night when she had seen the apparition and when she had innocently tempted the countess to watch her in her room? Let it, however, be recorded among the other virtues of Mrs. Henry Westwick, that she never again attempted to persuade her husband into betraying his secrets. Other men's wives hearing of this extraordinary conduct and being trained in the modern schools of morals and manners naturally regarded her with compassionate contempt. This book of Agnes from that time forth has rather an old-fashioned person. Is that all? That is all. Is there no explanation of the mystery of the haunted hotel? Ask yourself if there is any explanation of the mystery of your own life and death. Farewell.


Welcome to Adventures in Small Business, a collaborative effort by the U.S. Small Business Administration Hawaii District Office, the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, the Mink Center for Business and Leadership, and the Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Pacific to showcase the stories of local entrepreneurs and small businesses. I'm Colleen McAluni from the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, and today we have Amber Tebow from Coco Moon, Hawaii. Welcome Amber. Thank you for having me. So happy to have you here today. Happy to be here. Yeah. So let's get started and have you tell us a little bit about your background and where you're from. Sure. So I was born and raised on the island of Maui. My family and I moved over here about five years ago. I've got two little boys, they're five and eight years old, and so they, my second one was born right around the time that Coco Moon was born, so that's been kind of a fun adventure to have together. Most definitely. Yeah. Having a young family and starting a business, very challenging. Yeah. I call Coco Moon my third baby, I'm sure. Okay. So tell us about how Coco Moon got started then. Sure. So as I mentioned, Coco Moon got started shortly after I had my second child, and leading up to that, I had really been super career driven and involved in different businesses, and I just found that I really loved that energy, and after starting my family, I did have the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, which I loved being able to take that time with my family, but I also found myself really missing that kind of other world and really that other piece of myself, you know, getting me able to use my brain, talking to adults and not just babies all day. So that was a big motivation for me, and then as I was exploring that part of myself and my goals, I discovered this other passion for creating high quality products for local families, and that was kind of the genesis behind it. I remember really vividly nursing my son in the middle of the night one night, and instead of reaching for a baby blanket, as I always did, I reached for a hot pink pudeo that I often used, and it just got me wondering, you know, why was I always choosing that over the baby blankets? What was it that was missing, and why couldn't there be baby blankets that everybody in the family loved, and that were also island inspired? So that's kind of the background that Coco Moon started. Oh, fantastic. And so when, what year was that? That was, I first got the idea in 2014, and then Coco Moon came to life in reality in 2015. Oh, fantastic. So just a year to get up and running with your ideas and everything like that. Yeah, it was kind of a crazy year because I did have a newborn at home, so often times I would stay up after the family went to sleep, and then when he would wake up to nurse at about two or three in the morning, that's when I would go back to bed. In the meantime, I was researching and googling and learning all that I could and researching all that I could. So it was kind of an exhausting time, filled with some new mom delirium for sure, but it was just really fun for me as well. Oh, congratulations. That's fantastic. Thank you. And so tell us about a day in your life as a mom of young ones and running your own business. Sure. So my typical day, if I'm really on my game, I'll wake up around five in the morning to get some exercise in, which I find is really crucial for my overall sanity. Then the kids are up. It's the preschool rush. And then once they're in school, I try to put my head down and focus and get as much done as possible before school pick up, then I'm in mom mode until bedtime, and then I usually work again for a few more hours in the evening. And I actually find that I'm most creative at night, and I don't know if that's because of those early days where I was forced to work from 10 to 2 in AM. But for better or for worse, that's a pattern I've settled into. Right. So you kind of get that second wind. Exactly. After you fall asleep telling bedtime stories, and then you get the second wind. Exactly. That's fantastic. Okay, great. So tell us about some of the challenges that you've faced in starting your own small business. And just to be clear, your business is based on Oahu? It is, yes. Oh, okay. Great. And so what are some of the challenges that you've faced? I think the biggest challenge has been twofold, really, I guess, versus mindset and kind of just having the confidence to pursue, even when things get challenging and not necessarily knock myself down for mistakes or not being able to overcome a challenge fast enough in my mind. And then operationally, I think the biggest challenge for us has been managing our inventory and our fulfillment process. It's just at the core of our business, and it's kind of surprised me how challenging that is to manage both in terms of planning our inventory so we're not running out of stock, which has been a challenge for us since we are a growing business. So it's kind of, quote-unquote, a good problem to have, but a frustrating one nonetheless. And then when our products are available, making sure that we're getting them out to our customers in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible. So each of those has their own kind of speed bumps and challenges that we're kind of constantly sorting through. Right, right. Well, congratulations in having that challenge. Thank you. Which is, that's an amazing feat, that's wonderful. And so are you, where your designs are concerned, can you tell us a little bit about how they're created or are they your inspiration? So most of them are my inspiration. So for example, when my boys were little, they are still little, but little-er, they were absolutely obsessed with sharks. So that was one of the first prints that I knew we had to do. And then beyond those, we really work with local artists on collaborative prints, which is a process that I absolutely love. So we've collaborated several times with Jana Lam, who's so amazingly talented. And it's so fun to see her prints on baby products. Also Lauren Roth. And we recently also collaborated with Kimiye Minor and Haku Collective to celebrate their Hawaiian lullaby album. So oftentimes we'll see kind of a print or an artist or an idea that we find inspiration in, and then we find the right people to help us bring it to life on the right products. And it's just a really fun process. Right. And collaborating with other women's small business owners is very fun to think of the word. It's just, it's heartwarming. It really is, it's nice and it feeds you, you feed each other. Absolutely. Yeah. With our ideas and being able to help support each other. It's really become my favorite part of the business. And it was kind of an unexpected favorite part. I didn't really realize how many women's small business owners I'd be able to connect with along this path. And it was actually great. I just went to a local market last weekend and I knew so many of the shop owners. And it was just really great to see them again and support them and kind of cheer them on, to see them grow and succeed has been really special. Right. Oh, how nice. That's fantastic. And so why don't you tell us a little bit about any, are there any specific challenges or issues that you've overcome in the last probably two years, I would say, in other than maybe your production or how about finding help or employees to help your growing business? Has that been a challenge for you? Yes and no. I feel like I've gotten really lucky in that respect. But because I am such a small business, I work out of my home. So finding support can be kind of tricky because essentially you're inviting someone into your home or you're trusting them to work remotely, which brings its own challenges. But I have a right-hand woman, really, she's become who actually lives in Illinois. She lived here originally. Her husband was in the military. And when he chose not to re-enlist, they moved back home to Illinois. But we've just stayed connected and she has just been a wonderful resource. She just is kind of the epitome of what I feel like all small business owners are looking for. Just a really easygoing, highly motivated, independent worker. And I just feel really lucky that I found her. And it's been a really great way for me to kind of develop company culture and operational procedures and systems on a one-on-one basis. So now when we're ready to hire the next person, we kind of have a good foundation. Oh, that's fantastic. That's wonderful. So let's talk a little bit about what makes Coco Moon Hawaii unique in the baby clothing and accessories market. Sure. So one of the things we hear over and over again from our customers is how incredibly soft our products are. One of the artists that we collaborated with actually is a master Hawaiian quilter, Patricia Leigh Murray. And when our product came to life, the first thing she did is she squeezed it and she brought it to her chest and she said, oh my gosh, it feels like an oolu hug. And it was just such a sweet moment and it really just kind of captured one of the things that customers are always telling us. And I got to witness it firsthand, which is really awesome. And then apart from the softness, we also hear feedback about how much our customers love our designs. You know, they're really unique and they have a really modern kind of island touch to them, which is kind of multi-generational. We have families that are buying it for their newborns, buying it for their toddlers, and even mamas and grandmas that are buying them for themselves because they just love the prints and the softness so much. Oh, how sweet. Oh, that's wonderful. So we actually didn't open with talking about what the products you carry. I know we're going to see some in a little bit, but tell us about your product line. Sure. So we make a range of buttery soft baby essentials. We make various types of blankets made out of a muslin fabric and also clothing and hooded towels. And our clothing ranges from newborn sizes all the way up to about 4T in most cases. And then we've recently started making some mommy and me matching items, including women's robes and throw blankets as well. Fantastic. That's wonderful. And then accessories. I know I was looking at your website and the thing that touched me the most was the Levy. That's so wonderful. So like a security blanket. Exactly. So once that little one kind of graduates out of the crib and starts walking around and they want to carry their favorite blanket with them everywhere, and sometimes a full-size swaddle blanket's a little cumbersome. So now it's really easy for them to always have their favorite blanket with them. Yes. Oh, that's so sweet. I just love that. That's great. And so I know that you have a giving back program at Cocoa Moon. So why don't you share that with us? Sure. We started our giving back program in 2017, and it has always been a goal of mine to weave a giving program into the fabric of the company. So I was so excited to be able to bring that to life. It's the 1% for Hawaii program, and it was loosely modeled after Patagonia's 1% for the planet program. So we were passionate about keeping our support within the Hawaii communities. So we donate 1% of our sales to local nonprofits. We've supported organizations geared toward the environment, specifically the ocean in most cases, since that's a personal passion of mine. And then we've also given to organizations that support families and mothers and children. And our most recent organization that we're donating to in quarter four is Capiliani Medical Center's Emergency Transport Program. Oh, how nice. Oh, that's so heartwarming, again, and just the fact that you have woven that into your business model is just amazing. That's fantastic. And it's changed a little bit. You're slowly morphing it. We're going to talk a little bit about the future of the program a little later, but so it's changed from a monthly giving to a quarterly giving? Exactly. So you have more impact. Exactly. I mean, I was really loved giving to so many different charities, but at the end of each month, I felt like I wanted to give more. So by switching it to a quarterly basis, it kind of allows us to deepen our impact with more specific groups. And I think the impact has been really positive. And the feedback from the organizations has been really positive as well. So I think we'll continue that trend. Oh, fantastic. So are you choosing the nonprofits or are they coming to you? Or have you got a system set up for that yet? Not quite yet. So basically, it's just been us choosing. And because of the network of mothers that we've been able to connect with, we often hear a lot of feedback about organizations that have supported them or that they have heard of, that they would like us to support as well. So it's been kind of a really open process. Yeah. And it's one that we look forward to kind of continuing to develop and home down a little bit more as well. Right. Right. Oh, that's fantastic. Well, we're going to take a break and we'll come back and we will see some Kokomun Hawaii products in person and some photos. And I'm very excited to continue the conversation with Amber. Hello. Hello. I'm Mufi Hanuman. I want to tell you about a great show that appears on Think Tech Hawaii. It's all about tourism. In fact, we call it Tourism 101, where we talk about the issues and challenges that faces our number one industry throughout the state. We'll have some interesting guests, very informative dialogue and allow you an opportunity to maybe learn a little bit more by why this industry is so important for our state. It's been great for us in the past. We need it today and especially going forward. That's Tourism 101 on Think Tech Hawaii. Mahalo. Hi, I am Yukari Kunisue, host of Konnichiwa Hawaii. Think Tech Hawaii is a Japanese program broadcasting every Monday from 2 p.m. I usually invite a guest in the Japanese language community. It does interesting things and I'd like to share stories with you guys. Please tune in and listen to Konnichiwa Hawaii. Welcome back to Adventures in Small Business. Today we have Amber Tebow from Kokomun, Hawaii with us. And we're going to take a look at some photos that she has of her products and some actual products that she's going to hold up and show us too. So maybe why don't we take a look at the quilt first. Okay, sure. So this, as you're seeing on the screen and also here in person, this is our first ever limited edition holiday release. And it is our second collaboration with Master Hawaiian quilter Patricia Lay Murray. And she modeled it after Christmas wreath. So you can see here in the middle, she actually physically wove a lay together with poinsettia and flowers that she gathered in her yard. And from that, she kind of included a red square around it to kind of really drive home that feeling of love during the Christmas season. And it just continues that soft. Yes. Oh my gosh, it's so soft. It's in our signature buttery soft fabric. And you know, it really just makes such a wonderful keepsake, whether it's for baby's first Christmas or just to remember a special time of year with your family. It's just a great piece for that. Oh, it is lovely. Thank you. So soft. You just have got to try to touch that. It is amazing. It is amazing. OK, let's see. Let's let's go ahead and go to slide two then if we can. Sure. So this is our mommy and me collection or pieces from it. You can see our mama robe, as well as a newborn lay-at-gown and headband and then a dress as well. And it's just such a fun way to remember those early days as a family. You can only match with your little ones for so long before they'll soon reject that idea. That's right. And we've gotten great feedback from our customers and how much they love it. I love seeing everyone's photos of them matching as well. Oh, wonderful. So how many prints do you have in the matching? Is it two rows? So right now we just have two robes, the plumeria, what you saw, and then a hibiscus as well. Oh, wonderful. And we'll be adding more prints next year as well as some more prints geared towards the boy moms as well. Oh, OK. OK. And then let's see. Can we see slide three? Oh, there we go. There's the boys. Yeah. So as a mother of two boys, I vividly remember being pregnant with my first son, finding out I was having a boy. And of course, I wanted to shop for him. So I went to my favorite local boutique, and I was just so disappointed because the girl's section was huge and super cute, and the boy's section was tiny and not so cute. So I'm just really trying to put a lot of love into specifically the boy's collection just because I know what a gap there is there and how disappointing it was for me. So that was our first little boy's aloha shirt. And it's made in our signature buttery soft fabric, which is actually a blend of bamboo and spandex. Oh, OK. Yeah. So it's different than the blanket fabric. It is. OK. It is. It still has our signature softness, but it's a slightly different composition, which is a little bit better for clothes, a little bit more durable. Oh, OK. But you know, thinking about little boys, I don't know about anyone else's little boys, but mine never wanted to wear clothes when they were that age, let alone a collared shirt. Especially here. Exactly. Exactly. So when I was making aloha shirt, I really wanted it to have that softness and that stretch. So it was still really easy to play in, really comfortable, but still cute as well. Oh, that's so nice. And then let's see. Did we have one more slide? Oh, there we go. So this includes, this picture includes two of our items. The first is a shark footy, which is great for pajamas or just wearing around outside when, now that it's getting a little bit chillier or if you're traveling to the mainland. And then he's sitting atop our Nalu quilt. And this is a watercolor design inspired by the ocean, which surrounds us, which as I mentioned, I just love. And it's just, again, that's our signature fabric, but instead of the two layers of our swaddle blankets, it's actually eight layers. So it's super plush, really luxurious, and gives you that extra bit of warmth when you need it on a chilly night, but it's also still really breathable as well. Oh, OK. So that one is a little thicker than, say, the regular blanket. Exactly. Oh, OK. Oh, how nice. Yeah. Oh, that's wonderful.  So when I first got the idea, we were still on Maui. And I feel really fortunate that actually one of my neighbors was a female small business owner. And I just ran the idea by her casually. And she just was so kind and supportive in letting me bounce ideas off of her. She invited me into her home, shared some of her experiences with me, and it was just really an open book. And I just appreciated that so much. And then as I got further down the road, the owner of Halle Zen, Lisa Payne, was really supportive as well in letting me bounce the idea off of her and then later becoming my first account and actually cheering me on as those first purchases were made in her store. So that's wonderful to have that kind of support from other women business owners. It was amazing. And I think it really laid this foundation for how to conduct yourself as a female business owner. They were just so warm and supportive. And I really try to carry that forward as much as possible as well, so it was great. Definitely. It's so nice to see current women lifting other women who have ideas and who would like to start a business and helping in supporting that. That's fantastic. It is. And I think that the Hawai'i community is just so special in that way. I really haven't run into anybody on the flip side of that. The women business owners that I've come into contact with have all been really wonderful. Oh, wonderful.  And as we know, Mauna Up is a small business accelerator. And can you share just a little bit about that and what you feel like you've gained from that? Sure. So I think prior to Mauna Up, Cocomoon had been growing really steadily. But Mauna Up stayed true to its purpose and really did help us to accelerate. And they just provided such an amazing group of resources, not only from the business side, but just also being able to connect with other business owners and having that network of support and being able to kind of commiserate on the valleys and celebrate the highs has been really awesome as well. Oh, I'm so glad. Congratulations on that, too, by the way. Fantastic. So tell us a little bit about your vision of the future of Cocomoon. I would love the future of Cocomoon to include families all over the world, whether they have an affinity for Hawaii or live in Hawaii now, to have Cocomoon be a part of their memories. We do make baby products, baby blankets, and clothes. But really, we're in the memory business and helping families create beautiful memories. So I think that I would love to see families continuing to make memories with us and also to be able to further develop our giving program. I think we've been able to make a great impact so far, but there's still so much to be done, so much that we can give. And I really want to kind of build that out and really, even potentially incorporate other businesses into that vision as well so that we can tighten our support of the community. Oh, that's a terrific vision. So the more you grow, the more you can give. Exactly. Exactly. That's a wonderful business model, definitely. And I understand that you don't realize it when you're in the thick of it, but you have hindsight in having three grown children that that is such a finite period of time in your child's life when they are young and that you have all those wonderful, little, warmy, lovely things to share with them. So I agree that's fantastic to have that as your vision for the future. That's wonderful. So let's see. Is there anything more specific about where you see yourself or your company in the next five or 10 years? Well, it's really crazy to think about how quickly time goes.  So I think at that point, I hope Kokomon is still a thriving business. I hope it's a global brand that has become a household name for people raising their families with Hawaii as an inspiration. We do have a great presence in Japan right now, and I'd love to continue to expand that and also expand to other countries around the world as well. And I would love to have more of a presence online as well. Our website, kokomoonhawaii.com, has been steadily growing, and I hope that that continues on that path as well. Oh, that's fantastic that you're already exporting. And so how long have you been exporting your product? Probably about two years now, or actually, this is our third year, excuse me, third year. Oh, amazing. That's great. And so are there any other countries that you specifically would like to target for your business or that orders already maybe a personal clients order from other countries? Well, I'd love to get into Australia and New Zealand. Those are kind of my big goals there. Oh, wonderful. Oh, terrific. That's a great vision for the future. And then maybe I can take a business trip there. Of course. Definitely. OK, and then are there any new products that you have that you want to mention that you're thinking of or that will be coming out next year or in the next couple of years that are different or new from your current product line? We have two new collaborations releasing early next year. We'll have our second collaboration with Kimi A. Minor and Haku Collective in celebration of their Hawaiian Lullaby album. So I'm really excited about that. And then we'll also be releasing a new collection of pieces with Jana Lam as well. And those pieces will include some of the mommy and me items, which will be really fun. Oh, that's something to look forward to, for sure. Are they new prints? And then the styles will remain basically the same, or do you have new styles coming up as well? We hopefully will have new styles, but it'll definitely be new prints. Oh, that's exciting. Very exciting for all of your loyal followers, for sure. Definitely. OK, so tell us one more time where we can find Coco Moon Hawaii. Sure, so you can find us on our website, cocomoonhawaii.com. And we're also in a handful of retailers across the state, which I just love because it makes it really easy to run out and grab that last-minute gift. So here on Island, some of our retailers include the Growing Kakey in Haleiva, Sand Kids in Kailua, and Owens & Company in Chinatown. But if you go to our website on our retailers page, you can find the entire list there. Oh, fantastic. That's great. And so now I wanted to talk a little bit about Shop Small Hawaii and to let everybody know that we actually have the Kailua Sippin Shop this evening at downtown Kailua. It's at a number of different locations. There's a stamp card where you can go and visit multiple retailers to get a stamp and then enter a Instagram giveaway. And Sand Kids is one of the participating retailers, so you can find some Coco Moon Hawaii products there. And then also to remember to remind everybody to support Shop Small Hawaii, we also do have a $1,000 Instagram giveaway if you take a photo of yourself in front of a small business and then post it to Shop Small Hawaii. And we would really love your support for that. So I'd like to thank Amber from Coco Moon Hawaii for being with us here today and wish you all the best of luck. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you.


Okay, folks, Larry Pesefeno setting in for TFNN today at my usual time. I'll be back tomorrow. Our guest will be Shane Smolian of WolfTrader.com. I'm going to be doing the show here in about an hour, but before we get to a catch-up with the markets, we're down quite a bit, several hundred points in the Dow, NASDAQ down a couple hundred, S&P down quite a bit. As you remember, folks, over the past five or six weeks here, we've had several major people here talking about the low due in late October, early November, starting with Norm Winsky, Stan Harley, Shane Smolian. I know I'm going to forget some. Bill Meridian, they're just a handful of them, five or six, this is where you want to look at because there's a strong seasonal for the market to bottom in late October, early November. Here we are, looking at early November is going to be coming in next Wednesday. So we're going to be looking at a pretty good bottom in here. Shane will be talking to us about this tomorrow, but remember, folks, we have a lunar eclipse, which is a full moon, it's going to be very, very interesting, so let's pay attention to that. That'll be coming in on the 28th, which is Saturday, and then, of course, we're coming in here Friday at the end of October. Boy, that's where you've got to be looking to be a buyer, folks, in my opinion. If you just look at the stocks, which are going to go through these coming up in the next segment, where we are, you can't get anybody to buy them when they're down, but when they're up, everybody wants to buy them. But that's a key to looking at this, is buy them when they're crying and sell them when they're yelling. And it's old Warren Buffett says, buy when there's blood in the street. And boy, there's getting close to be blood in the street on some of these because they've hit them pretty hard. We'll be covering Apple and we'll also be covering Tesla and also Amazon because these were stocks that they were interested over here in the UK. And when I gave my predictions, people thought I was a little off-center, but maybe I am, and they might be right, who knows. Anyway, we'll go over some of that stuff and look at it. Also, we've had a big move down in crude oil, and I'll tell you why that caused a slight problem. It's hard to get some people to short oil, folks, when they're in the oil business. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. But don't fret, folks, just whatever goes down usually bounces back up. And this time, it could be a real doozy. So let's stay tuned, see what we've got on store today. So live every day in an attitude of gratitude. May God bless and stay on for another 50 minutes. We'll have a lot of fun.