Speaker 1: The devil takes a hand by ward, Stirling Tenant stopped
Speaker 1: outside the door of his wife's room and went over
Speaker 1: the details of his plan for the last time. The
Speaker 1: thing was so absurdly simple, he wondered why he had
Speaker 1: not thought of it months before. There was not the
Speaker 1: least chance of a failure. He had only to plant
Speaker 1: the idea in her diseased brain, and she, with cunning
Speaker 1: that all maniacs possess, would do the rest. Every one
Speaker 1: knew her suicidal mania. It had been brought out at
Speaker 1: the time of the hearing. No blame could possibly be
Speaker 1: attached to him for her death, had not the nurse
Speaker 1: frustrated her in a half a dozen attempts. Damn that
Speaker 1: fool nurse. Anyway, she had too exalted an idea of
Speaker 1: the importance of her position. But after all, it was
Speaker 1: possibly a good thing that she had been so vigilant.
Speaker 1: People couldn't say that it was carelessness. Then, he smiled
Speaker 1: to himself as he recalled the kind of things their
Speaker 1: friends had said when he refused to send his wife
Speaker 1: to an asylum after the court had pronounced her insane.
Speaker 1: They imagined that it was his great love that made
Speaker 1: him keep her with him. It was laughable how easily
Speaker 1: people could be fooled. How were they to know that
Speaker 1: he had made a careful investigation and found that too
Speaker 1: close a watch was kept on inmates of such institutions.
Speaker 1: There was a better chance of her making a successful
Speaker 1: attempt right here at home. Accidents are always liable to
Speaker 1: happen in private homes. In public institutions, people are paid
Speaker 1: to guard against such things. Curse the fool law that
Speaker 1: prohibited a man from getting a divorce from an insane wife.
Speaker 1: Such laws made a criminal of a person. Otherwise he
Speaker 1: could have married Helen a year ago. He must guard
Speaker 1: against him love for her being found out, It might
Speaker 1: cause someone to cast suspicion his way. Of course, they
Speaker 1: would never be able to confirm their conjectures. But his
Speaker 1: position in the community was too high to have even
Speaker 1: a finger of scorn pointed in his direction. It would
Speaker 1: never do for a deacon of the church and a
Speaker 1: prominent professional man to let people know that he was
Speaker 1: guilty of evil, even in thought. No, he must keep
Speaker 1: away from Helen until he had shown the proper amount
Speaker 1: of respect for his deceased wife, For he had begun
Speaker 1: to think of her as already dead. After a period
Speaker 1: of hypocritical mourning, they could be quietly married, and he
Speaker 1: would still retain the love and respect of his fellow townsmen.
Speaker 1: Of course, it met several months waiting. It would be hard,
Speaker 1: but they would have the rest of their lives together.
Speaker 1: And both of them were young, and there was a
Speaker 1: matter of Grace's inheritance to be considered too good thing.
Speaker 1: They had never had a child. It would be all
Speaker 1: his now, that is, after the proper formalities had been
Speaker 1: gone through. Naturally, he would erect an expensive headstone in
Speaker 1: her memory and give her an elaborate funeral. Some people
Speaker 1: measured a man's love for his wife by the amount
Speaker 1: of money he spent on her funeral. Yes, the scheme
Speaker 1: was simple, machiavellian in its magnitude, and with the requisite
Speaker 1: amount of attention paid to the details, there was not
Speaker 1: the least bit of danger. He turned the knob and
Speaker 1: entered the room with a tender kiss for the woman
Speaker 1: with lustless eyes, who sat mumbling to herself in a
Speaker 1: low wicker chair, nervously picking at the folds of her dress.
Speaker 1: He turned to the middle aged woman in the nurse's garb,
Speaker 1: who sat in the window near by. Take an hour's walk,
Speaker 1: miss Gorman, he said, kindly, you look tagged out. I'll
Speaker 1: look after missus Tenant until you return. The nurse rose wearily.
Speaker 1: It's awfully kind of you, mister Tenant. I am tired.
Speaker 1: She's been bad to day, she ended significantly. Tenant's face
Speaker 1: took on a worried look. She'll probably settle down after
Speaker 1: an hour or so, he responded. I've a little work
Speaker 1: to do. I can do it just as well in
Speaker 1: the other room and still keep an eye on my
Speaker 1: poor little girl. There's nothing around that she can get
Speaker 1: hold of, is there. He settled himself in the chair
Speaker 1: beside his wife and patted her white hand affectionately, with
Speaker 1: a tear in her kindly irish eyes. For the little,
Speaker 1: unobstantious display of love. Miss Gorman left the room, and
Speaker 1: a minute later Tenant, from his place in the window,
Speaker 1: saw her swinging down the street. The time was at
Speaker 1: hand you. Pressing his wife's hand tightly between his own,
Speaker 1: Tenant addressed her in the tone one uses to talk
Speaker 1: to a little child. I've often wondered, he said, quietly,
Speaker 1: why you didn't commit suicide? Grace? Of course, I know
Speaker 1: that you've tried it, but your methods have been all wrong.
Speaker 1: Do you understand what I am getting at? I want
Speaker 1: to help you. He looked at the woman keenly. He
Speaker 1: imagined that her dull eyes took on an added brightness
Speaker 1: that she was not plucking at the hem of her dress.
Speaker 1: So nervously, he hurried on, Now, I'm going to show
Speaker 1: you how to do it, sweetheart. Then when the nurse
Speaker 1: is out of the room some day for a few minutes,
Speaker 1: you can put one over on her. It'll be a
Speaker 1: good joke on her, won't it. Come on, I'll show
Speaker 1: you how to do it. Apathetically, she rose and followed
Speaker 1: him across the room to where the big, old fashioned
Speaker 1: bed stood in the distant corner. Now watch me, dearie,
Speaker 1: and see how I do it, he continued. The nurse
Speaker 1: thinks she's got you cheated by removing everything that you
Speaker 1: might use. But we'll show her, won't we. He removed
Speaker 1: the light counterpane from the bed and twisted it into
Speaker 1: a rope. See, girlie, how it's done. Just the right
Speaker 1: size to hang one's self with, isn't it. Now? Then
Speaker 1: we carry this chair across the room and put it
Speaker 1: under this chandelier. Get the idea. The demented woman made
Speaker 1: no answer, but Tenant knew that her suicidal mind was
Speaker 1: attracted by the scheme, that the seed planted in her
Speaker 1: brain was already sprouting. She followed close behind him, her dull,
Speaker 1: impassive eyes watching his every move. He stepped upon the
Speaker 1: chair and attached the improvised rope to the chandelier. See
Speaker 1: how easy it is, dear, he went on. Now, next,
Speaker 1: we make a noose in the rope like this. See
Speaker 1: is just as easy as rolling off a log. Then
Speaker 1: we put the noose over our head and pull it
Speaker 1: up tightly about our neck. Understand Now, all that's left
Speaker 1: is to kick the chair out from underneath, and the
Speaker 1: devil and all couldn't keep a person from choking to death,
Speaker 1: could he? From his height the top of the chair,
Speaker 1: he looked down upon the woman. She was gazing up
Speaker 1: at him, fascinated, her eyes burning brightly. Now the idea
Speaker 1: pleases you, doesn't it, sweetheart? He smiled. She nodded understandingly.
Speaker 1: Then suddenly she made a leap for the chair and
Speaker 1: tore it from beneath his feet with a frightened yell.
Speaker 1: The man dropped to the end of the rope, his
Speaker 1: toes almost but not quite touching the floor. The maniac
Speaker 1: stepped back with a shrill, little cry of delight, and
Speaker 1: watched him gyrate and whirl as the improvised rope twisted
Speaker 1: and untwisted itself. His mouth was open, his eyes bulged
Speaker 1: from their sockets, his tongue stuck out oddly. His breath
Speaker 1: came gurglingly, sobbingly, gaspingly. His face grew black and mottled.
Speaker 1: His arms and legs danced about curiously, twitchingly. His peculiar
Speaker 1: antics filled her with delight. She forgot her depression in
Speaker 1: her new found happiness. He was teaching her some new game.
Speaker 1: She clapped her hands together and shouted for more, And
Speaker 1: when he hung quietly, she seized him by the legs
Speaker 1: and swung him to and fro yelling joyously. And thus
Speaker 1: the nurse found them the living and the dead. An
Speaker 1: hour later, when she returned from her walk, The end
Speaker 1: of the Devil takes a hand