aims at MARIA, who takes it away, and strikes him; he is
then reduced to the pick-axe, but she wrests this from him
too, and hits him in the face with it. He pulls her coat off,
and her hair down--but she escapes from him a third time--on
which he snatches up a pistol, and fires it._

_William_ (_with unreasonable surprise_). Great Evans! What 'ave I
done? I, am become a _Murderer_! The shot 'as taken effect! See,
she staggers this way! (_Which MARIA does, to die comfortably in
WILLIAM's arms_.) I 'ave slain the only woman who ever truly loved
me; and I know not whether I loved her most while living, or hate her
most now she's dead! (_The Curtain falls, leaving WILLIAM with this
nice point still unsolved, and the Audience profoundly unmoved by the
tragedy, and evidently longing for more of the Comic Countryman._)

ACT III.--_Interior of Old MARTIN's Cottage. He attempts to
forget his anxiety about his daughter--who he fears, with
only too much reason, has come to an untimely end--by going to
sleep in a highly uncomfortable position on a kitchen-chair.
The Murder is re-enacted in a vision, in dumb-show. The form
of MARIA appears in the tweed suit, and urges him to search
for her remains in the Red Barn._

_Old Martin_ (_awaking_). I have 'ad a fearful dream, and I am under
the impression that MARIA has been foully murdered in the Red Barn.

[_He calls the Comic Countryman to help him "to commence
a thorough investigation"--which he does, in a spirit of
rollicking fun befitting the occasion, as the Scene changes to
the Red Barn._