After reading one or two of the more coherent passages Henry recoiled
from the ever-darkening horror of the story. He closed the manuscript,
heartsick and exhausted, and threw himself on his bed to rest.
The door opened almost at the same moment. Lord Montbarry 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, Stephen; 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 am anxious to know whether the same impression is produced on both
of us.'
Before Lord Montbarry had got half-way 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.
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