Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-01-07
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE AFFAIR OF THE RED POCKET.
BOOK, r4-

The red portefeuille in Question vas
certain red morocco note-case. How. 4
cue rue &c Jerusalem, it became "an a
ialr was the story its owner told nj
And on this wise. - .----.S
IT was safe enough" Dick Langle
SAID, " in my inner breast pocket when
lett spa that morning; and it was saf
there too when | reached the Nord ter
minus that evening. But had not beel
hve minutes in my customary quarters a
the Grand before l discovered that m,
note-case was most ndubitably--rone-
looted quietly you know. The how wa
that clean cut through the bottom sean
OF the pocket; the where must have beer
IN the crowd at the station Just now.
u don't profess to be much of a iudg,
of this sort Of thing; but it struck me n
the time that the fellow who had Operated
on me must have been about the ton Of
his protession-so scarcely perceptible
was the solution of continuity in INV gar.
ment, so absolutely unconscious had
been of his propinquity. Still, had lost
some fifty thousand francs worth Of
french bank paper, not one sou whereof
was likely to see again. So that it was
with feelings of not wholly unadmixed
admiration that 1 was examining the
traces of the spoilers handiwork when
the door opened and some one came into
the room.
looked up, expecting to see We're
Lucinghsm. We're was Second Secretary
here then; an incorrigible .fdrceur, who
had, as such, difficulty with some vic.
timized native to settle next day (which
business had brought me up from the
Bad. But 1t was not We're on whom the
door had just closed.
1t was a slight, wiry little man, with
his black hair cut close to his bullet head
with sallow face shaved blue, and a
Keen, cool eye that took everything in the
room in at glance, and then rested upon
me as though l was precisely the person
ats owner wished and expected to behold.
In fact, fancied the little man muttered
as much to himself.
$50 asked him pointedly who he was
instead of what he wanted.
Dard, Agent of the Surete,' he an
swered.
81 had to ask him what he wanted.
then, you know. His reply to this was
curious.
"In the name of the law I arrest you,'
he said.
Might inquire why p I returned
You, Thompsonne, alias Walkerre,'
the little man pursued In short,
Thompsonne, with an infinity of aliases.
Why, for your last coup at Spa this
morning .- .-..
"He was perfectly in earnest, could
see; he meant every word he said. l
stared at him. His smile was particularly
irritating to me in my then state of mind.
The window was open; there was the
making of good fall outside. l admit
my first impulse was to dispose of my visi.
tor summarily that way
'C'est pas 10 peine,' he observed, mis-.
reading my eyes; you would only break
your neck
He was so perfectly cool that had
perforce to get myself in hand again.
"'That," said to him when l had done
1t: is the second mistake yeu have mad G.,
Monsieur
:" Dard,' he put in.
Monsieur Dard, since have had the
pleasure OF your society. 1t was not my
self that was tempted to toss out of that
window. And am not Thompson-'
English pickpocket,' this insufferable
Monsieur Dard put in here. 'Ah! you
are not Thompsonne, English pickpocket {?
"'Really not. Your last mistake is
rather CHASTITY one you will find, should
not wonder
"'Allons doncp he responded, shrug-
glng his shoulders.
My dear Monsieur Dard.' I went on.
grinning inwardly now, in spite of my
and in anticipation of Vere's
entry on the sccnce, to see how profoundly
convinced my interlocutor was that he had
arrested his Thompsonne, and how charm
lngly he misto0k my modest assurance for
the impudence of that hardened criminal !;
my dear Monster Dard, it SO happens that
IN a very few minutes / shall be able to
produce unimpeachable evidence of my
proper identity
=" Pray do not trouble yourself he de-
precated ironically.
| am not going to trouble myself at
all, l said my unimpeachable evidence
viii walk into this room of its own accord
IN, about a quarter Of an hour a
Ahal And he comes from where, your
unimpeachable evidenceY
From the British Embassy, NV dear
Monsieur Dard. You will, / presume,
admit, then, your mistake is the CHASTITY
mistake have ventured TO style il? You
WHY Very good. And as you have only
a quarter of an hour TO wait before YOU
admit this, and as any esdGndre would
hardly improve matters, do me the favor
to sit down, light one of these cigarettes,
and relieve my curiosity as to why, in
your wisdom, you have arrested me as
Thompson, English pickpocket, and what,
supposing am Thompson aforesaid, /
have been doing at Spa -
"Monsieur Dard looked at me harder.
shrugged his shoulders higher, smiled
more insuferably than he had looked and
shrugged and smiled yet. had, however,
SO far impressed him in some way that
when sat down and lit a little roll of
Pheresli tobacco he followed my example
Then he said,- EFtIEf
"' You were at the Redoute at Spa this
morning when play commenced q
~ admitted l was.
"'At the roulette-table in the smaller
SdNsf he continued.
/. "'Excuse me; you are wrong there. 1t
is well known never touch roulette.
was at the rente-et-quarantc table,
At the same table, pursued the i'm
passible Dard, was standing one Hippo
lyte Bourbon
"'Who Is he?'
( WHOM you must have noticed place
a red portefeuille-'
A red portefeuille - / repeated.
Containing, IL appears, in bank notes,
"' OF ffty-Odd thousand francs. sup
pose,' muttered, pensive at the reeollec-
ton of my own vanished paper, the result
Of that rgR upon the Rouge that morning.
No. Monsieur Dard returned sharp
ly not quite 90 much as that. About
forty thousand francs. A miscount, no
doubt ne added.
s'By Jovel' CALCULATED in the yer.
nacular, unheeding my friends sarcasm.
: This q, queer. A red portefeuiIle, you
sayl Moroco0g'
Year Penetration is perfect Mon
sieur Dard replied, with All ircnical bow.
"a red morocco portefeuille, Monsieur
Bourbon, as you noticed, placed II in the
inner bFeast-POcket Of his coat and