Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-04-03

when put the question to him whether
his calling was likely to be kncvn to the
frequenters of the Grand Hotel he
laughed heartily. mot only" he said,
Gin the Central Hotel. but if any
where in Paris my occupation was
known. l should be no longer worth
retaining under Monsieur lie Chef. Ihave
been in England" he continued, "and
have seen in Scotland yard your detec-
tives. Ce sont de braces gems, but Ills nc con-
zdasse7at pas bur naetier-they are not up
to their work. Your authorities make
great mistake. They unite the person
who has to detect crime with the individ-
ual who has to arrest the criminal; with
us it is quite different. I have been
twenty-fi five years an employe in the Rue
de Jerusalem, but never arrested man
in my life. That is the work Of the SER
geants de vile, either in uniform or plain
clothes. Your detectives are nothing
more than sergeants de vile in plain
clothes. Why, as they walk along the
| streets les g0Dltns de LondYes call out,
There goes Sergeant Smith, that is Ser
geant JONES' And now, Monsieur, let me
hear in what way can be of any service
to you. Only before you begin, let me
beg of you to tell me everything-any
family difficulty, any scandal to be avoid
| ed, or whatever else may seem STUN
bling block in your road. On these con-
di;ions l may be able to assist you. But
if you keep back anything from me, it is
probable that l may injure instead of for
warding your interests"
| Our coffee finished we strolled out, and
while we were walking up and down the
| Boulevard DIES Capucins L told him the
whole story from first to last, of which
the reader has already had an outline. He
seemed to take in the whole affair at once,
and to recollect the most trivial details
respecting it. He told me that he knew
something Of Mr.. Nual and Monsieur
Treves, having had more than once to
''look up" the latter in the way Of bust
ness. In the work to be done he seemed
to determine at once what was the best
line of action. Of this mention will be
made presently. One of his plans in
volved change of costume and disguise,
upon which / remarked that rogues who
were ever on the alert would be pretty
sure to discover any attempt made by the
same individual to disguise himself in
more than one character. Upon this
Monsieur Bergnet laughed-like every
thing else he did, his laugh was genial,
but gentle and inoffensive-and said:
Look here, mon cher Monsieur, you other
| Englishmen are fond of betting. / will
| bet Monsieur one hundred francs that
within the next fOrty-eight hours,
although he has been warned of what |
am going to do, l will speak to Monsieur
| four times, and for at least five minutes
each time, and on every occasion in
different costume. If upon one of these
occasions Monsieur recognizes me then l
will forfeit my one hundred francs"
| AS a matter OF course smiled at what
III. Bergnet said, believing at first he was
merely joking, and afterward that he
was merely boasting of the faculties he
had in his own peculiar line. But he in
sisted upon holding to the bet, and for
the purpose of pleasing him, not for any
| other reason, agreed to stake the amount
he mentioned. At the Grand Hotel we
| parted, agreeing to meet the following
| evening and talk over matters.
| After NJ. Bergnet had left me, ] recol-
lected that | wanted tc purchase pair of
boots, my own being somewhat heavy for
the dry climate and clean streets of Paris
| therefore walked as far as the shop of a
shoemaker with whom | had dealt for
| merly in the Rue de Rivoli. It was get
| ting late, and the assistants were com
| mencing to put up the shutters. | did
| not, therefore, wait to get what I wanted,
but giving the number of my room at
the Grand Hotel, asked them to send me
half a dozen pairs of boots to select from
next morning, SO that | could try them
on before dressing.
The next morning, accordingly, before
L was out of bed, one of those male house
maids who do out the bedrooms of every
French hotel, knocked at my door and
told me that person from my bother had
20 InHy oh j
the day before. jumped up, pulled on
my dressing gown, and admitted the man.
lie was one of those very decidedly
French workmer that one only sees in
Paris; and wore one of those curl
Gus blue aprons coming up over
his chest that are, believe, speciality of
the French operative shoemaker. On
coming into the room he called my at
tentlon to the hour, $50, as indicated by
the tlme-piece on the chimney, remarking
that he believed the pendule was slow,
but that the pendule in hotels never went
| well. l then proceeded to try on the
boots, some of which were too large,
others too small, and at last the boot
| makers man advised me to have a pair
| made, and proceeded to measure me for
them. Altogether, he was about twenty
minutes IN the room, during which he
stood before me, moved here and there,
and gave me every opportunity of look
| ing at him sideways or full in the face.
When he had finished measuring me, and
had gathered the various boots and shoes
he had brought into the bag, he startled
me by asking me whether knew GER
tain Monsieur Bergnet Before / answer
ed, and before l had the slightest glim-
mering Of the truth, the man pulled off a
very natural-looking black wig, as well as
an equally natural looking short cropped
beard and mustache, and there stood my
friend, the employe of the po5ice secrete in
the civil department. He was amused at
the amazement depicted on nay counte-
nance, but merely said: eau revoir,
Monsieur; you will admit that have won
one point out of four toward gaining the
bet" Before could reply he had gone.
CHAPTER Y.-THE WAGER.
1t may be supposed that l was natural
~ somewhat out of temper with myself
for having allowed myself to be taken in
so soon after Bergnet had made the bet
with ne. / made very determined res
olution to look closely at every one that
should come near me for the next two
days. Not that wished to win NJ Berg
nets money, nor would have taken it if
| had found him out in his disguise. But
still no Englishman likes to get worsted
in a wager, more particularly when the
loss of it indicates that he is not so OBJ
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