The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-12-15
rascals, and pointed them out by namn.

Gevro's assistant in the matter he had
now in hand was young. bnt, at the samA
time, one Of the most promising Of his staff
Keen as n razor, and loving the profession
he had adopted, he saw the one great fault
of his master, and never failed. when op-
portnnity offered. to take advantage Of it.
But Gevrol. on his side. regarded hi.
younger colleague with Jealous distlain.
This agents name was Loro1.
The commissary of police who was be-
ginning to feel uneasy at 'h" responsibility
Of his present position. rnreivcd the magis-
trate and the detective officers aa n captive
receives his liberatora. He gave them
rapid recapitulation of the fn":s. and read
the drpositions of the vnrions witnesses.
"All this is very satisfactory" said the
magistrate; "but there is one fact you have
omitted to ascertain"
"And what's that, sir?" inquired the COM
misaary.
aOn what day was the Widow Lerouge
last seen, and at what iimc?"
u was just ahont to inform you. sir.
She was met returning from Bongval on
the evening of Shrove Tuesday, with a
market-basket on her arm"
"Are you quite sure of the hourf" asked
Gevrol.
"Perfectly, and III give you the reason
why. Two witnesses, whose dispositions I
have taken-the woman Teller, and wine
cooper who lives close by-were getting out
of the omnibus that leaves MnrIy every
hour, when they saw the Widow 1eronge
crossing the road in front Of them. They
quickened their pace, and, joining her,
walked with her rs far as her door"
"And what had she in her basket7" asked
the magistrate.
"The witnesses can't say, They only saw
the necks Of two bottles of wine, each one
with red seal. She complained of bad
headache, and remarked that though it was
customary to entertain and keep it up on
Shrove Tuesday, she intended to go to bed
directly"
awe got it," suddenly interrupted the
chief detective.
"What7" snid the magistrate, eagerly.
"Why, it's clear "a the day. We must
find out the tall. dark, elderly man in the
blouse The widow expected him to sup
per-that explains the wine"
"Oh,' said the bligatier Of gendar,nerie,
with great disgust, "the widow was old and
uglyr'
Gevrol looked with an mir Of much con-
tempt at the simple hearted gendarme.
sYou don't know the world, my friend, or
you'd have known that r. woman with
money ia always young and beautiful"
"Perhaps you may be on the track" said
the magistrate, rp1ectiv"ly. "But what has
struck Inc the most were those words Of the
widow, If wished for more could have
it,"
" must own I WAS struck by those words
also," repeated the commi'Sary.
But C1evrol did not stay to listen. TIe WAS
on the scent. and wilS inspecting infinitely
every hole and corner in the room.
Suddenly he turned toward the commits
sary.
"Tve inst remembered" be cried. athat
there was Il change in the weather on Tues
day. 1t had been freezing for fortnight,
when it turned to rain. At what time did
the ruin commence herc3'
"At half-past ninn." answered the briga-
der. nd Just finished supper and was
going my rounds. when ! was caught i'll a
regular shower close ly the bridge. In less
than ten minutes half IN inch Of water had
fallen on the roadway"
"Very good" said Gevrol. "Now, if the
man naQ DpPl mere 1T Hall-lI'tst iniit, Ilo
boots would have bocn covered with mud,
unless he arrived earlier. You ought to
have been able to ascertain this, as the floor
is oaken, and has recently been waxed.
We're there any marks of footsteps when
you first enteredl'
"I'm sorry to say we never thought OF
looking"
"Ahr' grrmbled the detective; "what
pity-what a pityT'
"Wait moment" said the commissary.
ats not too late to gee the marks-not in
this room, but in the next. Nothing has
been touched there. My footprints and
those of the brgadier can be easily distin-
guished. Come along"
And so saying, he was opening the door
of the second room, when he was stopped
by Gevrol.
'aMay ask your permission, a;r," said he,
turning to the magistrate, "to be allowed to
examine everything before any one else is
allowed to enter7 1t is matter of great
importance to me-"
"Certainly-certainly," acquiesced M. Da-
bur1n.
Gevrol passed in frat, and all those be-
hind him paused on the threshold. Thus
he took In at one glance the scene before
him.