"This man confided to me that he had invented a machine for
perpetual motion, the chief difficulty of which was that it
accumulated energy so fast that it could not be controlled. He asked
me to invest in some of his schemes, which I refused to do."
The fate of the Count is still pending and he was led back to a
cell. He has been a week behind the bars. The "Countess" is in
tears.
"The Countess is me," she explained.
"Was he sent to prison?" I asked.
"Oh, no," she answered. "You see they really couldn't tell whether he
was a Count or not, so they had to let him go."
"He ought to be hung!" I cried.
"I really think he ought," she answered. "You see it is quite
embarrassing, because legally I have never been married at all, have I?"
"I don't know," I answered, lying like a gentleman. "Time enough to look
that up later."
"I found out afterwards," she said, apparently somewhat encouraged,
"that his first wife was a nurse maid in London."
"Yes," said I, "he told me so himself."
Just then there came a knock at my door and O'Toole appeared.
"How are you, Counsellor," he said with a grin. "You know Charley
Nevers, well, av all the pious frauds! Say, Counsellor, ain't he the
cute feller! What do you suppose, now? I got his record to-day. Cast yer
eye over it."