Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-04-29

AcdNcus IL udu Dttu UOO ldte! 4udU HAL WIZ
had stopped me as I fed from the house.
had not realized the truth at the time, nol
till nOw-that man was an agent of police
now that l thought Of it, he had said so
Already Raoul was arrested, and through
my fault Idespised myself; l execrated my
cOwardice; felt like the murderer of my
friend. At once, without moments hesita
ton, turned on my steps and fastened bacl
to the Rue Dauphine.,
"Here is the key of Monsieurl" criet
Pierre after me, as hurried past his door
IN. Girard has gone out"
"Gone out" repeated, mechanically.
Eyes. with gentleman who called for hin
"a stout gentleman, a friend of NJ. Girard's
he said. He was upstairs with M. Girard fol
some time; then they went out together, no
ten minutes ago"
did not need to hear more. Sad at hear
/ went upstairs and entered our garret-room
On the table stood the dinner from Magny's
the two bottles of wine untouched. Beside
the tray, just where had placed them, lay
the evening newspaper and the little pile OF
money. The drawers of the bureau l no
ticed were half pulled out. l looked into
them. Ny papers had been left; Raoul'.
were all taken away
The fire had gone out, but did not think
OF rekindling it. l did not want comforts
which Raoul ,Ould not share. For long I sat
at the table, prey to my wretched thoughts,
until the sudden leaping up of the expiring
candle warned me of the lapse of time. My
snOw-drenched clothes made me shiver in
every limb; l hastily undressed and threw
myself into bed. There, from sheer fatigue
Of mind and body, l must have slept; since
remember no more until the servant awoke
me next morning.
Pierre greeted me as usual: the news Of
Raouls arrest was, therefore, not yet pub
hshed. sent him, however, for newspaper,
that might learn the latest development Of
the case
The Figaro had a long paragraph, headed
as usual, 1.-The Crime of Christmas-dayn 1t
stated that no arrest had vet been made but
that tie police wer, understood to have found
a clew and to be nc " ON the track of the as
sassin. 1t commented on the mysterious
character of the crime. Zone of the chief
difficulties Of the case" said the writer, lis
the apparent want Of motive in the proceed
ings of the unknown murderer. Nodoubt the
deceased Joseph Meissner had a dangerous
for wealth; possibly, from the ma
ture of his business, he may have Lad enc
mics. But if plumber was the motive for the
deed, why did the assassin, who seems to have
been quite unhurried, leave behind him valu-
ables like those mentioned in the police in
ventOry-money, trinkets and jewels. which
could have been so easily carried away? On
the other hand, if revenge and not robbery
was the motive, why should the assassin ran
sack those lock-fast places, breaking into
some, opening others-overturning every
thing; and apparently taking nothings A
theory to explain this contradiction has yet
to be found"
Here was a point. / tried to think it out
calmly in connection with Raoul and his re]a-
tons, so far as l knew them, to the murdered
man. But all my pondering was in vain; l
could find no theory. Only the stern facts
confronted ME.
The paragraph in The Figaro next went on
to describe the articles exhibited at the
Morgue, which, it seemed, were still attract
ing public curiosity. These" it said, s'are
the real clew to the discovery of the criminal.
The police have to lay their hands upon the
individual who, on Monday night, dropped
from his wrist that ivory button in the room
Of Joseph Meissner. They have to find, if
possible, the other ivory button that makes
the pair. In brief, they have to find the
man G., the owner of the dagger with
which the crime was committed"
My hand SO shook at l read this terrible
that l could scarcely hold the pa
per. 1t was l who had been the first to find
that single ivory button at Raouls sleeve
and had left it there!-I, his friend! 1 had
lad it in my power to destroy the evidence
against him, and instead had preserved it.
Let him be guilty OF not, it was not my part
70 deliver him up to justice; yet that was
what l had done. l forced myself to read on
The dagger now being shown at the
Morgue," continued the writer, lis of SO
singular a kind that no one who has once seen
t could fail to identify it. 1t is Of japanese
manufacture, the steel being specially fine,
md the lacquering of the hilt being very rich
md artistic. On one side of the blade is an
inscription in the japanese character; on the
,ther side is the figure of a flower, with q
ingle word beside it, also in the japanese
character. This word is stated, by we'll
,nown Orientalist who has seen the weapon,
% mean Illusion, and to have a religious sig
lificance. NJ. de st. Florent, the well known
private collector, writes us that the dagger of
AO eSoStlSoC ut IL IlOU DIS uitS
'een stated in several of the journals. Mde St.
'lorent possesses weapon which is an exact
counterpart of the one found beside the corpse
# Joseph Meissner." The paragraph ended
With the statement that next day the funeral
# the murdered man was to take place from
he Morgue
l did not leave the house all that day: I
hrank from doing SO. III | went out, and if
he news OF Raoul's arrest were now gener-
lily known, as was possible, L should be as
allied with questions from the numerous
riends of both of us-questions which to me
would be torture. 1 could do nothing, at
east, L thought and thought, | read the
newspaper reports over and over again, and
ould devise no measure which would be of
ny advantage to my unhappy friend. In
eed, the best service l could render him
0 far as it seemed just then-was to keep out
f the way. In trying to imagine possible
Examination, l became aware that my evil
ence would not be in his favor.
This was by far the most wretched day
ever spent in my life. This forced inaction,
he cruel anxiety about my friend, the re-
morse of my own conduct | painted,
10 doubt, in colors unduly dark-all these
ontributed TO my misery. L lunched on
That remained eatable OF Magny's dinner
he dinner that had been ordered to celebrate
he accepting Of the comedy-and drank
ottle of wine. The day wore on with mad |
ening tardiness; at length evening came,
nd again l sent out Pierre for Journal. |
By this time, surely, the news of the arrest
aust have been made public. A glance at |
be paper showed me that it had
The o oJ -
'hristmas day: Arrest of the Assassin" and |
an thus:
An arrest has now been made in the case
the Passage de Mazarin, and all the cir
point to the conclusion that the
olice have laid their hands on the veritable
murderer. The individual arrested on sus-