The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-04-30
He stopped Id IooI.ed At me.

lie stopped and looked at me.
II did not know there was a rec0g-
nized leader" remarked.
BE drew a large book from his desk.
Here, said he, " Is the full testimony
IN all five cases. Run your eye over it,
and you viii see that the general facts
all coincide. The small man gives di-
Eections and leads everybody"
q Probably some London cracksman. -
Belts nodded, winked, then leaned
forward, and whispered IN my ear, ''I
suspect it is a woman.
q Impossible no woman has the
nerve.
GA she-deviI, then-something in a
woman's form, at all events. The rest
of the gang are as free and easy With
each other as you please, yet no one ev-
er lays q finger on this little one, but
all draw back to let him pass. He gives
orders, exerts himself when ingenuity
is required, but when strength is needed
he looks on while the others fall to
work.
lyon have to jump at conclusions
sometimes, and find facts to suit. As
soon as 1 had mastered the details was
impressed by the conviction that one of
the thieves had been on the premises
before. At Mr. Stewards, for instance,
the safe is built into the wall, and a
false panel in the wainsc0t IS the only
opening to it; yet the first place the
burglars approached was that panel,
which the little fellow slid aside at once.
So 1 set to work looking for a suspicious
character in the house, and found all
satisfactory till I came to a French
governess who staid with them elk weeks
! last spring. Now, sir, IN each house
entered by these masked devils there
has been during the past twelve months
some similar transient inmate. At
| Warkwell's it was a French cook, In
white cap and apron; at the LeEises,
the young lady's page, a clever Buttons;
| at the Pratts', a protege of the children,
a handsome vagrant Italian boy, with a
violin. And now, Mr.. Powers" con-
/ tinued Belts, bringing his hand down
/ heavily upon my knee, 81 am ready to
/ swear that you have this dangerous in
mate under your own roof, in the charac-
| ter of your wife's maid"
| I started as if l had been shot.
BILE ="
"But truly, sir, impossible p "The
idea is monstrous. Marie is a sweet lit
tie girl, playful as a kitten.
But, Mr.. Powers, you are a man of
the world, and know that q woman is
not proved honest because she bewitches
you"
" But, Belts, admit that though I am
| an old fool my wife is a thorough wo-
man, and, as a rule, suspects all her own
sex, yet she is positively fond of Marie. "
Marie is a clever little puss. Wher-
ever she has lived, as a man or woman,
the whole family have adored her.
Has Marie shown an interest in these
burglaries p
There could be no doubt of her hav-
ing questioned me concerning them with
intense eagerness, and If [ spoke to my
wife about any apprehensiOns while she
was present Marie never lost a word.
Does she know about your silver
Has she any charge of your wife's dia-
monds?"
I started. That very morning I
had shown her my safes behind a
false bookcase in my study, and. asked
her opinion whether any one could mis-
trust those innocent1Ooking encyclope-
dias, or suspect the existence of a closet
six feet square between my room and
the library. I was ashamed of my own
greenness. but made clean breast of it
to Belts, who was good enOngh /
to refrain from expression of his opin- |
ion of my discretion.
"My word for Il, " he cried, :" she has
been waiting to find out that Secret, and
AON HAt0 Will 4GtAFC fOhA A4bNSE WAbLAAA
forty-eight hours. Her pretext will be
a reasonable one, and she will promise
TO return, but when she does return she
will bring her gang at her heels to rob
your house for you"
The idea of connecting our Mary
with such outrages filed me with hOr-
ror. I rejected it strenuously.
Believe or not, as you like" he re-
turned, with shrug, $50 long as you
only follow my advice. just out of Gu
riosity, take home little dog with you
and see if Marie does not set to work
to bewitch it at once. Then the mo-
ment she speaks of leaving your house
telegraph to me.
Our interview lasted another hour.
When I left him I went to a dog-fan-
cier's and bought little yelping black
and-tan spaniel, and carried him home
with me.
Whom did you see in town p in
quired my wife.
"Don't speak of it, said I, looking
fearfully about, as if the walls had ears, /
"but I was with Belts, the detective. !
You must not repeat what say, Marie. "
"Never, monsieur = cried Marie.
"The fact is, 1 proceeded, sinking |
nv voice into a sepulchFal whisper, /
''that gang of masked burglars have |
been traced to New Orleans, and may |
be arrested by this time"
"Then I hope, dear" said my wife, |
laughing, that you viii again sleep |
soundly in your bed. After you got up /
last night for the fomth time to prone |
made about, pistols in hand, L decided |
it might be better to eat off pewter and |
wear French gilt jewelry than to lead /
such q life.
1 too laughed, and stretched my legs
y - 7 - el1
like Christian hereafter; besides, L /
have brought home a dog"
GA dog !" exclaimed Marie, startled. |
yes" 1 turned and looked at her |
attentiveiy. "Don't you like dogs ?"
She protested vehemently that she |
loved dogs better than anything in the !
world.
That very day she received a letter !
from Madame De Sturges, her former /
mistress, asking her to come IN and |
pass a few hours with her before she
left for New Or cans. Marie carried |
the letter TO Mrs. Powers. 50 Madame |
wishes to talk to me about Mile. |
Helene" pleaded the girl, with tears in
her eyes. Tomorrow viii be the |
birthday of the pauvre ange, who lies
at the bottom of the cruel sea"
Poor Madame De Sturges," ex- /
claimed my wife, touched at the thought
of the sorrowing mother; "you must
spend tomorrow with her, Marie, Go
in at nine o'clock and come back at-five.
Marie was grateful, and told melting
stories about the pauvre ange-her
beauty, her piety, her intelligence
and nothing conld equal my wife's SYM
patby, and when the girl went into
town the next morning she actually car
ried a note to Madame De Sturges, I
written IN my wifa's very best French.
Meanwhile I had telegraphed Marie's
proposed movements to Belts, and now,
with some nervousness, awaited events.
The detective had warned me that she
would win TIE dogs affections that she
would leave the house, promising to re-
turn, but would not return. Two OF
these predictions were already verified
but if Marie came back I could laugh
at his suspicious, and regard them as
futile.
But Marie did not return at five
k,1arr-o-,, ,v=sv~n1 in hnr 81 cad