The Indianapolis journal., 1884-01-19
MY NIGHT AT AN INN.

Lyons paper; Recently, at hotel called La
Croix dor, in the town of La Tour-du-Pin, in the
southeast of France, traveller who had ar
rived in the evening was on the following morn
ing found dead in his bed. Medical assistonce
was Immediately summoned; the doctor pro
nounced that life had been extinct for several
hours and that the cause of death was apoplexy.
This report however, did not satisfy the police.
One of the most celebrated physicians and sur
geons of Lyons was sent for, and a strict inves-
tigation of the case set on foot. The Lyons doc
tor disagreed in toto with the opinion of his pro
vincial confreres, and held that, as the man was
tall, thin, and long gnecked, an apOplectic seiz-
ure was almost physical impossibility.
''The postmortem examination showed all the
vital organs to be healthy and minute analysis
of the contents of the stomach failed to detect
the least trace of poison; the face was purple and
swollen; the eyes were bloodshot and protrud-
ing, but there were no marks of violence about
the throat or neck to support the idea of strangu-
lation, which was suggested by this condition.
A small clot of blood was found upon the brain,
as though vessel had been ruptured, and all
agreed that this was the immediate cause OF death,
but how vessel came to be ruptured there was
no cause to show.
"A traveller who was staying at the hotel on
the evening when the deceased arrived, deposed
= 1t the latter had drunk freely of cognac before
ring to rest, and that he should judge him to
have been who habituay indulged In
stimulants; the slightly infamed state of the
coatings of the stomach supported this opinion.
Across both inSteps was indented, llvld line,
on either side of which the flesh was slightly
puffed; this mark did not extend to the back part
of the leg, but terminated abruptly upon the
ankle-bone
'"The doctors seem to attach considerable i'm
portance to this curious appearance, although
beyond the fact that it must have been produced
by pressure of some kind they have utterly
failed to find any explanation that Will account
for it. This completes the medical evidence; but
there are other suspicious circumstances con
nected with the case.
''The traveller whose testimony has been pre-
viously quoted states that the deceased informed
him that he had large sum of money in his
possession, yet only few francs were found
upon the body. The lock of his portmanteau
seems to have been tampered WITH and its con
tents, chiefly wearing apparel were in general
disorder, as though they had been huruedly
turned over and not properly replaced. NO card
or letter or paper of any kind can be found to
give clue to his name or address, both of which
are unknown. 1t is with extreme reluctance
that the authorities have had to assent to a YER
dict of death from natural causes. The greatest
excitement still prevails in the usually quiet
town, where all kinds of rumors are a1oat. 1t
may be mentioned, en- passant, that the host and
hostess of La CroiX dor do not stand very
high in the estimation of their fellow towns
people"
l read the above paragraph in the fragment of
weekly newspaper that had been wrapped
round something had brought home with me,
one winters night, as ] was sitting alone in my
bachelor chambers. had been walking against
a bitter nOrtheasterly wind for two or three
hours before dinner, and the reaction effected
by food, warmth wine, and tobacco had induced
such lethargic state of Incidence that even
reading was too great an eXertion, and all L felt
inclined to do was to puff out smoke and stare at
the blazing Goals Looking about for something
to light a fresh pipe picked up the aforesaid
fragment. | was about to screw it up when my
eye fell upon the words: "a Mysterious Story
After the first few lines l grew intensely in
terested and read on the end. There
nothing very extraordinary about the story,
but, somehow it seized upon my Imagination,
and all that evening l could think of nothing
else. Like the French doctors, the point that
struck me most was the mark across the lnsteps,
and racked my ingenuity to find some plausible
explanation of it. The man met his death by
foul means, and the secret lies in that mark,
my deliberate judgment.
Six years afterward, in the summer of 1856,
after having done pedestrian tour through the
southwest and west of France, found myself in
Normandy, on my way back to England. 1t was
the end of October, and the weather, which had
hitherto been delightfully."- genial, suddenly
changed to cold and by the time got to Yvetot
there were signs of general breakup. passed
the night at the dull little town which Beranger
has immortalized, and, to my chagrin, woke
up to pouring wet morning | was just medi-
tating whether it would not be better to bring
my journey to an end by jumping into the next
train for Dieppe, when, about II o'clock, the rain
ceased and some CLEANS of sunshine broke
through the gray sky. Under this more favor
able aspect my courage revived and | resumed
my pilgrimage. But it was task rather than
pleasure. The roads were heavy the atmos-
phere damp and cold the country uninter
estng. had not proceeded far when the sun
withdrew himself altogether behind the leaden
canopy. and about o'clock the black clouds be-
gan to discharge mixture of rain sleet and
snow, emphasized by a northwest wind that
promised to rise into a gale, a combination which
rendered pedestriansm anything but an eXhil-
arating exercise.
A church clock was Ginning the hour of when
l entered the town of -. Weary, wet and
hungry was only too glad to get into the first
hotel that offered accommodation. 1t was one of
those ancient houses, with pointed roof and
white pastered walls, curiously crossed with
black beams, so common in Normandy. Passing
beneath the low browed doorway [ descended
step into wide, rambling hall or passage, which
would have been in total darkness but for the
light that streamed through an open door near
the entrance The sound of my footsteps brought
forth pale, sour-looking woman with candle
in her hand, who eyed me from head to foot not
without surprise, L thought, as though
g guest was an unlooked-for occur
that my appearance, dripping with rain
as was, and as thickly bespattered with mud as
London omnibus on November day, did not
seem favorably to impress her yet the place
looked gloomy that hesitated whether I
should not go further on. A peep however into
the room she had just quilted, which was com
fortably furnished and lit up by bright wood
fire, indisposed me to turn out again into the
pitiless storm, and l requested to be shown to
the best bedroom that the house afforded. With
out word and, as | thought. rather reluctantlv
she led the way up a wide oak staircase INTO a
chamber upon the first floor, which, with its
white panels polished oak floor, perfect cleanli-
ness and comfortable and tasteful furniture
once expressed my determination to pitch my
tent there for the night
''We charge more for this room, monsieur"
she said, again eyeing me doubtfuily ~ can