Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-01-07

wrongp"
"'" Not yet, tell you. Ahl ca, you dc
not then understand meY"
"' AT last did. The Chiefs idea was
simple enough. "Falleix," he reasoned,
has been perfectly aware of the watch
we have kept upon him, and so has taken
very good care to avoid hetraying himself.
When he finds he is no longer fle, DE will
conclude he is no longer suspected And
then-well, then, you see, he may be less
careful SO l withdraw a useless surveil-
lance, and-l leave the rest to you"
The next day II was reported at the
Prefecture that had been sent on special
service across the Channel. But that day
and every day, in one disguise or another,
l dogged my man about Paris, patiently,
ruthlessly, as a hound follows trail. In
vain, however; in vain always
~ Had he recognized mer ] felt sure
he had not. Was he really guilty after ally
Yes; a thousand times yes. My instinct
If not my judgment told me had not de-
ceivcd myself | stuck doggedly TO the
trail. Admit, though Messieurs, that this
affair was assuming hopeless aspect
There appeared no limit to the time this
game of hide-and-seek between us might
last
al was thinking so two mornings ago
when, once more, my man. chase recon-
menced. In his usual lstless fashion Fal-
leix was strolling along the Quais Just suf-
hciently ahead to be kept well in sight.
1t seemed everybody's Dimanche but his
in his threadbare garments he looked more
miserably poverty. stricken than ever
then. Surely, he must allow himself to
draw on the red porteteuille soon tried
to hope.
"'An at once his listless mode of pro-
gression changed My fdnsur began
walking like man with some object in
view. | had to shorten the distance be-
tween us.
i" Across the Place, across the Boule-
ward, where was he going so straight
To the station in the Rue d d'Amsterdam, ii
presently. Tempted by the
the poor devil wanted to
breathe little country air. Wherep
go He waited his turn at the bureau of
the st. German line, His destination, l
concluded, then, was Asnieres. The
price of seat on the inperidte to that fa
vored locality would hardly be beyond his
means. But no. He was going further
too far, it struck me. He must have been
dittctls about the country air he breathed,
tor he asked for ticket for Chatou.
Did1le! Why Chatou, when we were
so poor that positively our whole available
capital could not compass the fare; and
but for the compassionate official who con-
sented to accept littln bon upon the Pre-
lecture in payment we could never have
gone at allP Why ChatouR
"'I tried to solve this question on our
way down; for, l need hardly tell you, l
also had business at Chatou that day.
ARRIVED there, Falleix strolled away,
listless as ever, from the station, follow
ing. l suppose we had about equally en-
joyed the country air for half an hour,
when the delusive sunshine faded it be-
gan to rain-to rain in torrents Impos-
sible to continue strolling about in this
deluge. We took shelter in a certain re-
staurant.
Positively ce mdlheur6up had no chance.
His little holiday was spoiled. Hour after
hour passed by -; the deluge only increased;
he had only to stare blanhly at the down
pour. He manifested melancholy resig-
nation-so touching that caught myself
almost pitying him at times.
"Toward dusk, when nothing remained
for him but to go home, the rain suddenly
ceased. He took immediate advantage of
the opportunity of reaching the station
with dry skin. / felt half Inclined to let
him go in peace. What could | learn by
simply dOgging him back againS
90 Yet why had he come here at all ?
Why here to Chatou in particular In a
moment had started after him as this
question REQUIRED to me-
"' He must have walked fast; he was
out of sight. No; caught glimpse of
him as he turned swiftly off the roadway
into the wood. Why, if he were so
pressed, that det0ur through the wood?
&c reached the place where he had dis
appeared. Screened securely by the
bushes, looked for him. There he was,
walking as though he had Just discovered
he had plenty of time to reach the station
before the coming train.
Had he suspected me2 Or had the
chance l had stupidly afforded
him enabled him 20 do what he had come
here to doS Had those two or three
minutes lost me the whole gamer
my eyes in the gathering dark
ness to see.
"And, suddenly, saw him swing
round, and glance sharply about him.
And then he seemed to lean against the
trunk of a tree beside him while one
might count slowly five. And then he
ounged on, this fGfleur, never looking
back. / let him go, now. L waited still
where was till had heard the train
pass, and stop, and start.
"Then in my turn l walked down that
and halted by that tree, and per-
ceiVed It's trunk was hollow. In that hol-
low, my instinct told me, lay the proof of
my little theory. Yet l paused a few
seconds before put in my hand.
"My hand pushed aside the dead
leaves and the moss and touched it, and
drew il forth--a small tin box In this
i'm box was the red morocco portefeuille
1f Monsieur Langley, bearing his initials.
In the red portefeuille were fifty y-one thou
sand two hundred francs in bank-notes of
.he Bank of France.
"' For more than three months that tin
box had lain where / found it, for more
han three months my Falleix had baffied
rs all. But the temptation to assure him
self of the safety of his 6utiR had in the
end proved too strong even for prudence
Ike his. He had come down that day to
Iouch it-only to touch it while one might
have counted slowly five
" Unfortunately for him 1t was who
az put the notes back into the porte
feuilie, the portfeuille into the tin box, the
tin box into the hollow trunk again. That
night made my report 10 the Chief Yes
terday Falleix was brought down 20
Chatou, and reproduced tin box, porte
teuille, bank notes, 10 eVerybody's salts
faction but his.
:" Poor devill He tainted.
"A And that is the end of the Affair of
the Red Portefeuille l trust Monsieur
Langley viii consider have made him
the Gn1ende honorable promised himH
"Well, you know" Dick concluded, ait
wasn't for me to say he hadntp-LOndOn
Society.
A GREAT natural curiosity is situated in
the Cascade Mountains, about seventy-fiVe
miles northeast Of Jacksonville, Oregon.