Having  completed  this  dastardly  murder,  Frank
wounds  his  own  body  and  contrives  to  tie  himself  to
a  tree,  where  he  calls  aloud  for  help.  His  father  and
old  Carter  enter  to  his  cry  ;  he  charges  the  crime  on
two  former  suitors  of  Carter's  daughter,  Somerton
and  Warbeck,  and  is  taken  back  to  Carter's  house  to
have  his  wounds  cured.  Winnifrede,  who  knows
nothing  of  his  guilt  in  this  last  fact,  follows  him  still
dressed  like  a  page,  and  in  his  sick-bed  he  is  waited
on  by  her  and  Susan's  sister,  Katharine,  another  fair
type  of  womanhood.  The  prolonged  dialogue,  which
constitutes  the  beauty  of  this  play,  rises  nowhere  to  a
higher  point  of  Euripidean  realism  than  in  a  scene
where  Frank  is  discovered  conscience-smitten,  feverish,
and  haunted  by  -delirious  fancies,  between  Katharine
and  Winnifrede.  The  ghost  of  Susan  stands  at  his
bedside.     He  cannot  distinguish  phantoms  from  reali-


THE  END   OF  FRANK.  477

ties.  For  a  while  he  strives  to  maintain  the  fiction  of
Susan's  murder  by  Somerton  and  Warbeck.  At  the
last  he  breaks  down,  and  reveals  the  truth  to  Winni-
frede.  Meantime,  the  two  women  surround  him  with
gentle  ministrations  and  consolatory  words,  going
about  their  work  with  heavy  hearts  indeed,  but  bent
on  helpful  service,  until  the  point  when  Katharine
discovers  a  bloody  knife  in  Frank's  coat  pocket,  jumps
at  once  to  the  conclusion  of  his  guilt,  and  hurries  out
to  warn  her  father.  The  play  runs  fast  to  its  con-
clusion now.  Frank  is,  of  course,  executed,  and,  of
course,  goes  manfully,  repentant,  to  his  death.  Very
touching  scenes  are  written  in  this  part  for  old  Thorney
and  for  Winnifrede,  who  grows  continually  upon  our
sympathy  :

Thor.  Daughter,  be  comforted.
