Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-02-24
DISAPPEARED.

James Bayle was q very pecuiiar
mar. don't think any onc under
stood him but myself. he was GER
tainly nore .opep with ethan with
any of his other friends or acquaintan-
ces. Itwas three, years ago, in No
vember, when he came MP to ILonion
to stay with me in this very house.
He used to go out on long walks by
himself every day, and l knew his es-
ject, for he had confi.led to me the fact
that he was going to marry a youns
girl, somewhat below him in station,
and he was looking up q hensein Loan
don, as he inten.ledto work on two or
three journals, to the staff of which he
had long been attached. 10 81 .naaE
The sort of house that he looked for
was, as you may believe, not n, very
dear one. He naturally wished for a
very quiet situation, amt, as he was a
man, Who had always lived IN the
country, and WAS very fond OF flowers,
he said ke weuld put MP with any in
convenience 80 long as he could have
a piece OF ground to himself. He told
me the sort of house he required, aud
told him the districts in which he
would most probably find one. ltwas
Oh Wednesday, remember; four days
after he had been with us. that he
went ont rather earlier than usual.
We never expected him to retun very
early; but when the tiifiner-beli Rang,
and we found he had not come in, we
felt little uneasy. He was very
shy man, as you know, and very par
ticular; the last thing he would he
very likely to do was to be pulposeIy
late for dinner without giving us any
warning. We waited twenty minutes
and then sat down without him. He
never came back at all that night, nor
the ne1t day, nor the next day after
tGat; in fact, as you all know, he
never came back at all.
We went to the police Office at once /;
and was very much amused at the
theories set hii by the excellent detec-
tives to account for the disappearance.
1 told them / believed it very likely
that he had been looking for a house,
or, if not, that be had gone to the
British Museum; but they got it into
their heads that he had been decoye,i
into the slums of st. Giles or West
minister, or that he had committed
suicide; and nothing would dissuade
them at first from these two ingenious
theories. IS - t go. ,.,,a,s - IL.
They asked me if he was not man
Of studious, solitary habits, and rather
eccentric. tis.z as., gbel.aeas
"Yes, certainly replied. s.,
"Then depend upon it, said the ser
geant, " he is in Regents Canal or the the
Thames" l.da go. "a, s.,,.,,.,,
The reasoning was so unanswerable
that / did not attempt to answer it
but determined to test ms own9theo
RI frst.ellis 5di Iigi ssGNis ,IsW +"
4 Hitherto we had been able to find
nobody who had seen him. HekhfW
very few people In 'Lundoil, and he
was not the sort o. man to- attr,tt at
tentioh- Z 1 began my ehdeasors tO Ills
coyer his mcyements in rather a uovel
nfAnner.Isis ~ aas Ia 81 hYgW q,
Istarted erery merning from my
own house at 1.-The same hourElie had
| done.rsI stood for aboat FIVE niuutes
In the street, and then set out in
whatever, direction chance suggested
to me. For eight days 1; walked al
most fifteen milesa day, looking every
where for any honest house to lei
which would have been likely to at
tract Bayle's attention, but l did no
get ans clue. l found several whicl
he had been to, but not on the da,
upon which he had disappeafed. o.
| the ninth day I started at the sam'
bddf. this day / ssIected d distric
| which Iiknew 10 contain one Or tw,
houses sncls as lie required. Iwalket
ON IN the same unprecedented man
nef, turning downany street as chairr'
led me- was very much dispirite,l
90 much 90 that + had forgotten I wa
hungry, ~heiI Ifonnd myself in a yer,
quiet part Of one Uf the westerii sii
burbs. 1 was just going totry aBt
Find some place where 1 couId lunch
which promised to bs-no easy matter