Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1872-08-16

beautiful piece of workmanship, and wa
surprised to find it lady's. I presse
the spring. it few open; some letter
caught my eye, and I saw there was some
thing engraved on the inside [ held
closer and read, "Claude Mariette, an,
underneath, in different style of letters
"Un oubli." was too polite to inquir
into or remark anything about it, so
said /: Il will let you have the amount
but l must tell you first that | leave Pari
Tomorrow" He said: THAT makes bu
little difference; I cannot get money til
morning. but We can meet at noon at tht
Cafe de Londres, Rue du Faubourg St
Honore, if you will not leave before tha
hour" l mentioned that that would bt
agreeable. and gave him the money, put
ting the watch in my pocket.
He thanked me and went once more tc
the gaming table, while I joined my friend
and we sat down to watch the different
games around us. I did not mention the
loan had made to him, as he would have
said, no doubt, that I was fool. and
did not care to be laughed at; and be-
sides, I thought I had at least the worth
of my money.
We staid in the saloon until about four
o'clock. and1 parted from my friend out.
side. He was to leave for Egypt early in
the morning. He travelled for London
house, and we expected to meet again at
Paris in the Spring, to which place 1 ex-
pected to return.
L went home in good spirits. I had
nearly three hundred francs more in nv
pocket than when [ had left nv room
the five hundred I had lent the young man
not included. [ went to bed, but could
not sleep. [ took out my watch, and read
the inscription once more" Claude a
Mariette," 'On oubli," and wondered
what it could mean. Perhaps it might
have been present which had been re-
turned, [ thought; but alas could only
guess. fell asleep at length, and dream
ed about cards, watches, draEas, roulette.
&c.; and so l enjoyed myself in dream
land unt;... about eight o'clock, when |
Crossed, packed up my things, and went
out to restaurant near by and break
tasted. l afterwards strolled around un-
til half-past eleven. and then went up Rue
1u Faubourg St. Honore to the Cafe de
Londres, which entered, called for some
sHfeq 70 iPtss siF4 srT0uTu
come. | had been reading some time,
md now it wanted but five minutes to
noon. He did not arrive. l read till
Twelve o'clock still he did not I watt
ed until half past, then went to the pro-
prietor and told him if young man should
call for any one of my description, to tell
him he would find me at my rooms any
time up to three o'clock. He promised
me be would do as requested, and [ left
the cafe. .s.
could not understand this. Had I
been taken in by sharper? | thought
not; to make sure, however, Invent to
ieweler on the Boulevarde des Italiennes,
showed him the watch, and asked its val
ue. He examined it, and said: 1--WE sell
watches of that pattern at one thousand
francs each" l felt a little surprised. [
went to my rooms, thought the matter
over, but could not fathom the mystery.
Here was man who pledged his one
watch to me for five hun
dred, and did not come to claim it. There
was but one way of solving it, and this
was, that perhaps he had lost heavily, and
could not raise money enough to redeem
it. Perhaps he had forgotten our place
of meeting. I thought myself justly en-
titled to it until redeemed. I waited till
six o'clok at my rooms, and then went
back to the safe. He had not come there
to look for me since l had left it, so I
went once more to my rooms and decided
to leave.
I left that evening for Rouen, and hav-
ing some business, l decided to remain
there few days. I thought no more of
the watch, or of my friend who wore the
diamonds. until one morning, in reading
the paper, I saw column headed by the
words, "Atrocious Murder" | read it /;
it was this:
"On Tuesday evening. a canalman
noticed a body which had been left dry on
the bank of the Seine. near the Point
Neuf. He managed to get it into his
boat, and he nearly tainted at the awful
sight he beheld It was the body of a
young man, whose throat was cut from
ear to ear. He was elegantly dressed.
but his clothes were all torn. as if he had
struggled hard for life. His body now
lies at the morgue, but has not, as yet,
been recognized. Nothing was found on
his person but two letters, the contents oi
which, it is said, will, no doubt, give
some clue to enable the detectives to trace
the murderers and arrest them before
many days; until the arrest is made,
everything is kept secret. it is, however.
whispered that beautiful young woman
named Mariette Gaudoin has been arrest
ed as suspected accomplice of the mur
derer. We will keep our readers inform
ed, from time to time, as further develop
ments may present themselves"
laid the paper down. went to my room
and began to think calmly an what l ha'
read. First, Mariette was the name in
scribed on the watch and it was also tha
of the murderer's accomplice. Then
thoug hit of such characters, who usual
vnunp man who had Uivnn mo tho w,t,