The daily gazette., 1882-04-10
4 TALE or THE THEATRE
By A DEFECTIVE.

Gaspard. Petite and graceful, her 1.-the,
elegent form was symmetry itself. She
had long black hair, and eyes so fathom-
LET'S, yet 30 soft and sad, that q glance
from them awOke involuntarlly pity In
ONES heart. She was a favorlte with
every one. The first glance Of the fairy
figure, the list movement of tho beaut :
iul creature ss she flashed along the
footllghts, was always attended by the
most hatteriDg applause from the crow
ded theatre. Boquets aud flowers, not
moIe beautiful than herself, we're literal
ly rained upou her; and the diamonds
and glltteriDg jewels given her attested
the popular admiration for the beautiful
actress. Bot no brilliant professional
triumph (and she had many ever iHcit-
ed ber to pride no ovation, and each
Oigbt tf heT.career was an ovation-could
bring TO her face sign Of joy; a sad, in
expresslbly weary look was ever in her
eyes. Whatever her life had been, q
sorrow was upon 1t. ALI respected her
many loved her; but the faclnations of
rank aud wealth had no power to tempt
her, nor cause her 10 forget The fever Of
unIest that bllgLted LIE lfe. Whatever
her cause Of sorrow, she did not reveal
IT. Secluded and retired, her only pub
lie appearance was At the theatre, where
she reigned an undisputed favorite. 1t
was not, therefore, surprising that she
was an object Cf constant remark, and
marvellous beauty secured her a uniyer-
sal interest.
She had been here several months, and
was IN The zenith Cf her professional tri-
umphs, when the aDnt uncement was
made, one morning, that she had been
murdered. A thrill of horror went
drought the community. No public
calamity could have stirred mems hearts
so, or made them feel more seUsibly the
fearful nature If the crime that had been
pefpetratsd.
1hs tun had scare ely risen before an
Immense crowd had assembled at her
residence. II was then that all the fear
fnl particulars of the homicide were re-
Vsaled.
She had retired at her usual hour.
Near daybreak struggle-a sound of q
falling body stifed moan II agony
was heard In her room. The inmates
OF The house awakened, went to ascer-
tain the cause Of the unusual disturb
ance. No wonder they shrank back
appalled, at the sight which met their
eyes.
dressed as she had coms from the
theater, the beautiful woman lay dead
on the floor. Still and cold was the sor-
rowful but Venus-llke face, stark and
stiff each supple limb. Even in death
she was beautiful; and her face shone
pallid and white beneath deep wound
in the forehead, from which her life.
blood welled profusely. The window
OF her room was open. 1t was q sheer
dt scent To the pavement If nearly twen-
ty feet. The murderer must have es-
capped that way. Whoever he was, no
trace remaiued of his identity. The
woman In whore house she stayed said
the ddnseuse bad bat one friend-a gen.
tleman-but the landlady neither knew
his name nor had ever seen his face. He
generally came with her from the thea
ter, aud lett btfJre it was light. Hus-
band or lover, his identity appeared in
scrutable.
The jewels Of the poor girl were gone,
her money, too, had disappeared. This |
caused many to think it was the deed of |
burglar. thought differently.
With this indefinite clew, and with
nothing but my own Impressions to |
guide me, / set out 10 search of the |
homicide. will not repeat to you how |
myself and assistant haunted that |
house, how fulilely our inquiries result |
ed. Yet our hearts were in the work,
and pre- fets sional pride, as we'll as human
sympathy, spurTed us on.
Among the jewels usually worn by |
The unfortunate girl was an antique |
ring. 1t was opal, heart-shaped, and
had attracted much attention. had |
never seen one like ii; no one else ever
had with whom talked. / instituted |
inquiries about the ing secret, but in. |
cessantly. i felt that If ever We bit |
upon clew this ring would afford the |
means. Imagine my surprise, had al
most said CONSERVATION, when one night |
saw ring Identical to this cleaning
on the jeweled band of woman in the |
theatre. My eyes never wandered from
it once during the evening". The blood |
almost burned along my veins % saw
that jewel fash In The gasllght, / need |
no proof to assure me that 1t was that |
once worn by the murdered girl,
Sitting by the side of the woman was
a young man, fashionably atLired, but |
wearing on his face the stamp of vice.
| knew him we'll. A swindler and ad-
venturer, he had been suspected of even
greater crimes. His companion, there
fore, could not be above suspicion. /
felt that was on the trail, and | ioeant
to follow 1t, as the sleuth-hoHnd follows
that of the deer.
Notwithstanding my anxiety, I felt
that my course must be cautious and
my movements stealthy as fate. One
false move, and all would be lost. No
pboi ographer ever put upon ivory more
lnt fTaceable impres sons than my mind
took Of those two faces. l watched
them as they left the theatre, nor did l
lose sight OF them until the door of their
residence shut behind them.
In less than an hour my assistant
and myself were again at the house.
We had formed plan, and, although
late, determined to put it into execu~
tion. We rung the bell, and when
the servant came, desired him to show
us to the room occupied by H and
the woman whom be had attended to
the theatre. He hesitated-began to
e. o-n,.an A,,k 49,, a.a;. &onk |