The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-11-30

| eNo Il PAOOOhNA w OC. l. OCll JOu lOul bOH
Luc is resolved to kill the little Henri.
The woman turned pale and looked
at me in CHASTITY terror.
"' believe you,' she said; l know
Luc is capable of any wickedness.'
'''I am worn out with watching the
child | returned, and | will not
promise you that / can save his life
again"
Here told her what had happened,
and though she had heard this before
from the child's imperfect speech, yet,
now that it came to her circumstantial-
ly, she trembled.
"'I will send the child to his fathers
friends tomorrow she cried, land
will delay no longer to make my will.
Luc shall gain nothing by his wicked
ness
60 Keep your own counsel as to that
| answered, and take care not to be-
tray what have said to your son. If
he discharges me you will have no
friend
"She knew this and fear made her
cautious.
"'What new whim is this of my
mother'sp asked Luc Leroy of me on
the next night, when he found the
child gone.
"' How can 1 tell?' l answered.
"Find out, them he retorted
What do pay you and give you drink
for, unless it is to be my spy?'
az You let your mother perceive too
clearly that you hate the boy l re-
turned; that has made her send him
out of your way
:" All, likely enough he said, 'and
| do hate him, and let me tell you that
when hate any one it is a bad thing
for him. | hated a fellow once, and
thought l should never get chance of
doing him an ill turn, but the chance
came
"'How, Monsieur? said I, in a
stupid way, as l filled my glass.
"' Never mind, found a knife of his
in the wood
"' And how could finding a knife
hurt him?' said l, with drunken
laugh.
'But l could get no more out of him
then.
"a few days after this 1t came some
: how to his knowledge that his mother
was going to make her will in his
brothers. favor. This made him re-
solve on desperate crime.
&c JEAN he said to me, you are q
good herbalist. Can't you gather me
something that would kill dog?'
!, "' Yes, Monsieur | answered. I
Z know where the hemlock and the
deadly nightshade grow; and if you
make decoction of either of these it
would kill man much less a dog
''' Gather me some tonight he
said.
"Instead of gathering them, | went
, to the Captain of the gendarmes, who
: was a keen, quiet man, and told him as
: much of the truth as | thought safe. |
!; did not confess my identity, but | let
: him know that Luc Leroy had con-
fessed to me the finding of knife in
the wood which an enemy of his had
lost, and he had also avowed that he
had drugged old Pere Martin on the
morning of his daughters death.
"This lastfact had escaped him when
talking to me of the night shade. He
tried to recall his words Immediately he
had spoken them, but seeing me stu
pid, careless and unheeding, he grew
at ease again and dropped the subject.
1.-The Captain of the gendarmes was
a keen-witted man, silent and cautious
He hid a detective in the farm house,
who by my aid crept about unseen like
a cat, and from chink in the wall
watched Luc Leroy as he brewed his
deadly drinks. He had, of course,
gathered the poisonous herbs himself,
and it was easy to see by the skill with
which he distilled them that he had
taught himself something of chemistry.
He tried the poison on dog and tame
rabbit; both died; and now, apparent
ly satisfied, he ceased his work, after
filling goodly-sized vial with the dead
ly water he had distilled.
"The detective and both thought
the wretched man aimed at his mother S
existence; therefore we protected her
life by every possible precaution
feigned illness, and never stirred from
my seat by the kitchen fire: where |
saw every meal cooked of which we
partook. AS for the policeman, he had
his own food, and no one suspected his
presence, hidden carefully as he was in
the lumber room.
"' Arrest him tonight was the Or
der given by his chief. I'VE must pre-
vent the crime he medtates.'
"Alas! we were too late! 1t was not
, preve nted.
Gas | sat that evening at my post by
, the fire messenger came running
7 eagerly from the little Henri's relative
| to Madame Leroy.
"'The poor little thing is i'll, desper-
| ately ill., cried the woman. Come at
oncen
d" Sick at heart and faint with fear, |
, followed the distracted mother as she
rushed from the house. The cottage
where the child was staying with his
grandmother was half a mile off, but
} we reached it in few minutes, and the
first glance l took at the little sufferer S
face told me he was dying-poisoned
"This was how his father died, said
old Madame Coupienne, as she seized
the hand of her daughter-in-law.
7 1.-The younger Madame Coupienne-
, or Leroy, as l have continued to call
her-sank down by the bedside sobbing.
3 All her heart was with the little Great
! ure, whose. arms now chung around
her in agony