William (coming out of a corner).  ’Ere, MARIA, ’ere! (Aside.) Now to ’url my victim to an early grave! (Aloud.) ’Ave you obeyed my instructions and avoided notice?

Maria.  I have.  Whenever I saw anyone approaching, I hid behind a hedge and ducked in the ditch.

William (with sombre approval).  That was most discreet on your part, MARIA.  No one saw you come in, and no one will ever see you go out.  Be’old your open grave!

[After some pleading from MARIA, a desperate struggle takes place—­that is, they catch one another’s wrists, and walk up and down together.  MARIA calls upon her Mother’s spirit, whereupon a very youthful Angel is seen floating above the couple.

The Female S. (triumphantly).  Theer now—­theer ain’t bin no murder yet, and theer’s th’ Gho-ast sure enough!

Swain (who is not going to own that he is mistaken).  That ain’t naw Gho-ast!

Female S. What is it, then?

Swain. Why, it’s the “De-cep-ti-o Vissus,” as was wrote up outside.

[The Guardian Angel vanishes; WILLIAM gets a spade, and 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.

Old M. (finding the spade).  What’s this?  A spade—­and, by its appearance, it ’as recently been used, for there are marks of blood upon it!  I now begin to be afraid my dream will come true.