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

wayi but l had sscertained that my
Thompsonne had not arrived in Paris as
all, You see
al put this second supposition aside
the more readily because of something l
remembered suddenly.
remembered that that evening there
had been at the Paris terminus, waiting
the arrival Of the express at o o'clock, a
man who, the moment he beheld Monsieur
Langley, would he morally certain that in
a certain pocket of Monsieur Langley's
travelling coat was red portefeuille con-
, tanning some forty thousand francs in
bank notes, who would have special rea-
'onsfor watching Monsieur Langley closer
than anybody else, and who believed Mon
sieur Langley to be Thompsonne, the pick
pocket.
!" Remembering this, I quickly saw
how this man, with special reasons for
watching Monsieur Langley closely, might
have noticed him take the portefeuills
from his pocket, to get out his keys, say I;
how this man, who believed Monsieur
Langley to be Monsieur Thompsonne,
might have hardly calculated ON being
able to rob him with perfect impunity, in.
asmuch as, on the other hand, even If
Thompsonne caught him in fdgrdnte de-
Hctu, a word from one thief would make
the other only too glad to hold his
tonguel and, on the other hand, If Thomp-
some were not to perceive his loss at the
moment, he was to be arrested, 30 soon as
he was domiciled, by me, when, his deodlt-
Se~r naturally supposed, there was slight
chance of my prisoner proclaiming he had
been robbed of the most positive proofs
of his late operations at Spa.
In short saw in q very brief while
how this man might have robbed Monsieur
Langley, supposing him to be Thomp-
some. The more | reflected on the mat
ter the more certain did / become that
this man, and no other, was the actual
robber.
And he was-the agent who had been
ordered to filler" the supposed Thomp-
some on his arrival. The "tdiSeur" OF
the red portefeuille was this particular
agent, was finally convinced, and no one
else.
1.-THE conclusion had arrived at was q
very grave one. We are, we must be,
invariably above suspicion in our meter.
| But had arrived at this conclusion de-
| liberately, and l could arrive at this alone.
| laid my theory, therefore, before the
Chief, and more effectively than had
ventured to hope After some delibera-
tion the Chief decided that concidering
the importance of this matter to ourselves,
| should be allowed to clear it up if
could. AT the same time the consequences
of my failing to do so were plainly in
timated to me- But I did not think |
should fail. Armed with the Chefs carte
blanche lost no time in placing my "sus- |
pect under surveillance forthwith.
"' His name was Falliex Certain pro- |
lection had procured him admittance into |
the Brigade, where we knew unusually |
little of his antecedents; fact which had |
no doubt had Its influence in deciding the |
Chief in favor of an investigation.
"' In my unavoidable absence, at the last |
moment, Falliex, to whom all the details |
of the affair must have been well known,
was directed to await the arrival of the |
supposed Thompsonne by the express at |
nine o'clock, and in the event of my still
not having appeared, to Her that individu-
al quietly wherever he might go, our OBJ
ject being to make the acquaintance of
any confederates Thompsonne might have
in Paris, you understand | reached the
Care justas Monsieur Langley was driving
away to the Grand Hotel. Once there, l. |
as you will doubtless recollect, left Falliex |
outside the supposed Thompsonne's room,
entered it myself and arrested Monsieur |
Langley,-a deplorable error, for which |
have only forgiven myself since yester.
day.
"'Convinced by Monsieur Lucingham |
shortly afterward of this error, you will |
also recolleet signed to my aide that he
might withdraw: Which he did in the /
most tranquil manner possible, carrying |
off with him the red portefeuille and the |
fifty thousand francs of Monsieur Langley
with him. When, next day, informed
him of the JiascO, and the way in which
our supposed fdtseur had himself been
robbed, it pleased Monsieur Falleix to lift
his shoulders in his customary silent
fashion, and to smile disagreeably in my
face. l remembered that smile when the
notion that Monsieur Falleix, and none
but he, was the robber, began to grow
upon me- He had had time TO dispose of
his plunder, and had evidently so disposed
Of il as to feel quite safe. A7etA
allow? Where? Questions had to
answer, and questions very difficult to
answer; for the way in which he had
planned and performed this coup proved
Monsieur Falleix at once to be a person
of profound ability, who would never
have forgotten to take into his calcula-
tions the possibility, at any rate, of his
being suspected and watched, as meant
he should be.
+" No; Monsieur Langley's red porte
feuille,-I was of opinion, by the by, that
the portefeuille itself had not been de-
stroyed, either because Falleix would con-
slider its destruction immaterial when it
was no longer liable to be found in his
possession, or because he had had no
means of destroying it safely forthwith,
and had been too prudent to keep it about
him till he should have had these means,-I
Monsieur Langley's porteteuille, l say,
and its contents, the proof of Falleix's
guilt and the correctness OF my the,
ory, were only to be discovered
through Falleix's impotence or impru-
dence, Only this could give me clew; |
and this clew my Suspect" who now
began to live, as it were, under glass;
the minutest action, the most trifiing Incl I
dents of whose life were all henceforth !
known to me, seemed to have determined
/ should wait for eternally. The closest
watch upon him brought TO light-abso-
lutely nothing My suspect" continued |
to conduct himself in the most unsuspi- |
cious manner possible. This had anti
cipated he had taken il for granted he |
was surUeiHe of course. But the Chief
grew, or appeared TO grow inc-edulous.
was pushing my theory too far, he said
it was iadi3ae, this que diabei
WAS itS Was / mistakenf / did |
not wonder they thought was but |
never thought so, somehow, myself No; |
Falleix was even stronger than l had |
imagined; that was all. ..-..
"' He was poor, misersbly poor, among |
us who are not rich. Miserably poor. |
Yet could see on his debauchees face |
signs OF the vices that are costly. Those |
fifty thousand francs,--how could he resist |
the temptation of them? How could he |
hold himself back from them any longer |
Yet knew he had not spent sou; yet |
doubted If he had even once allowed him
self to ascertain if his treasure was still |
safe. Marvellous selfdeniall What was
he'wsiting fori A pretext to get quit of
us, and beyond our reach. Never beyond |
mine, used sometimes 10 say TO myself, |
If he went to.the end of the world.
a. / think he knew this. think he |
must have known tho incessant, terrible |