The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-01-06
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE AFFAIR OF THE RED POCKET.
BOOK.

certain red morocco note case How, il
the Rue de Jerusalem, it became "an af
fair was the story its owner told us
And on this wise
:" 1t was safe enough" Dick Langle,
said, in my inner breast pocket when
left Spa that morning; and it was safe
there too when | reached the Nord ter
minus that evening. But had not beer
tive minutes in my customary quarters a
the Grand before | discovered that my
note-case was most dubitably-gone-
looted quietly, you know. The how was
that clean cut through the bottom seam
of the pocket the where must have been
IN the crowd at the station just now
az don't profess to be much of a Judge
of this sort of thing; but it struck me at
the time that the fellow W ho had operated
on me must have been about the top OF
his profession-so scarcely perceptible
was the solution of continuity in my 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 l likely to see again. So that il 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.
q looked up, expecting to see We're
Lucingham We're was Second Secretary
here then; an incorrigible .farceur, who
had, as such, a difficulty with some vic
timized native to settle next day (which
business had brought me up from the
Bad. But it was not We're on whom the
door had just closed.
Ii was 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 rs though was precisely the person
its owner wished and expected to behold.
In fact, fan-ied the little man muttered
as much TO himself.
so | asked him pointedly who he was
instead of what he wanted
Dard, Agent of the Surete, he an
swered.
Il had to ask him what he wanted,
then, you know. His reply to this was
curious
"'In the name of the law arrest you,
he said
"'Might inquire why 2 returned
90 You, Thompsonne, alias Walkerre,
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.
stared at him. Ills smile was particularly
irritating to me in my then state of mind.
The window was Open there was the
making Of good fall outside. | admit
my first impulse was to dispose of my visi
tor summarlly that way.
"'C'est pas lie peine,' he observed, mis-
reading my eyes; you would only break
your neck
He was 50 perfectly cool that / had
perforce to get myself in hand again.
THAT" | said to him when had done
il. is the second mistake ysu have mad c
Monsieur
80 Dard,' he put in.
"MOnsieur Dard, since | have had tn,
pleasure of your society. 1t was not my
self that was tempted to toss out Of that
window. And | am not Thompson
'" English piekpocket,' this insufrerablt
Monsieur Dard put in here. 'Ah. you
are not Thompsonne, English pickpOckct
Really:
Really not Your last mistake i.
rather CHASTITY one you will find, l shoulC
not wonder
Gallons dOncr he responded, shrug
gIng his shoulders.
&" Nv dear Monsieur Dard,' | went on
grinning inwardly now In spite of my
annoyance, and in anticipation of We're
entry on the sccnce, ~ see how profoundly
convinced my interlocutOr was that he hat
arrested his ThOmpsOlne, and how charm
ingly he mist0Ok my modest assurance fO
the impudence of that hardened criminal
my dear Monster Dard, it so happens tha
in a very few minutes | shall be able I,
produce unimpeachabie evidence of my
proper identity
- Pray do not trouble yourself he de
prccated ironically
"'I am not going to trouble myself a
ALL said my unimpeachable evidenc
will walk into this room of its own accor
in about quarter Of an hour
AHA And he comes from where, you
unimpeachable evidence?'
"'From the British Embassy, my dea
Monsieur Dard. You will, / presume
admit, then, your mistake is the ghastl,
mistake have ventured to style it? Yo
will ? Very good. And as you have onl
quarter of an hour to wait before yol
admit this, and as any esclandre woul
hardly improve matters, do me the favo
TO sit down, light one Of these cigarettes
and relieve my curiosity as To why, i
your wisdom, you have arrested me q
Thompson, English pickpocket, and what
suppOsing | am Thompson aforesaid,
have been doing at Spa:'
"Monsieur Dard looked at me harder
shrugged his shoulders higher, smile
more insufferably than he had looked an
shrugged and smiled yet. had, howeve
so far impressed him in some way tina
when sat down and liz little roll {
Phcresli tobacco he followed my exampl,
Then he said,-
"' You were at the Redoute at Spa til
morning when play commenccdy
81 admitted was
"' At the rOulette-table in the smallC
saHeP' he continued.
Excuse me; you are wrong there.
is well known never touch roulette.
was at the trente- -et-quarantc table,
"' At the same table, pursued the in
passible Dard. was standing one Hipp'
lyte Bourbon
Who is he
"Whom you must have noticed plac
ared portefeuille-'
" A red portefeuille p / repeated.
Containing, it appears, in bank note
the sum Of
vi htty-odd thousand francs, l SUI
pose, l muttered, pensive at the recolle'
tion oi my own vanished paper, the resu
oil that run upon the Rouge that mornin,
No, Monsieur Dard returned sba-,
lY, not quite so much as that Ahor
forty thousand francs. A miscount n
doubt he added
BY Jovep | eJaculated in the ve,
nacular, unheeding my friends sarcasn
1hls IS queer. A red portefeuille. yo
say? Morocco?
our penetration is perfect MOI
sieur Dard replied, with an ironical boy
"A red morocco portefeuille, Monsiet
Bourbon, as you noticed, placed it in ii
inner breast-pocket of his coat and