The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-07-16

point was nearly ten feet deep. To-
gether we threw over our lines and
rowed about. We had been doing
this for some fifteen minutes when |
felt myhook catch in something at the
bottom of the lake. / instructed the
gardener to throw his line over by the
side of mine. He obeyed His hook
also caught Slowly we pulled, and in
few moments brought to the surface
the body of beautiful woman. The
gardener threw up his hands and cried
"'My God! it is madame!'
with difficulty / pulled the body
into the boat, and rowed toward the
shore. laid my burden upon the
grass. and was gtooping overit to dis
cover If thers were any marks OF vio-
lence, when heard deep groan and
heavy body fall at my side. 1t was
the Marquis, who had just arrived up
on the scene. My examination re-
vealed marks of fingers around the
| dead woman's throat and lacera-
tion at the back of the neck, as though
achain had been torn from it. Bear
| ing the body to the chateau, / at once
summoned commissary and stated
| to him all the facts L knew in the case
the evidence of a struggle on the shore,
and the suspicious marks upon the
throat and neck. When the Marquis be-
| came calmer we questioned him as to
whether his wife had been in the habit
of wearing chain or any other neck
ornament. He started violently, and
answered that his wife had invariably
worn g valuable locket enshrined IN
| Jewels and containing a portrait of
| himself on one side and lock of his
| hair on the other. Search was made
throughout the house, but the locket
could nowhere be found. Again /
searched the spot by the lake shore,
and at the end of an hour found the
locket in the grass some distance off.
Only the front portion oft, how
ever, remained-that containing the
portrait of the Marquis-the back
having been wrenched from it's hinges.
could find no trace of the lock of
hair. have pursued my investiga-
tions for week, but can find no solu-
ton of the mystery. There is a Mr..
! Henri Merville here, cousin of the
deceased. with whom she was said to
be very intimate, but as he was in
Paris with the Marquis the day
of the murder, if murder it was,
no suspicion can be attached to
him. His wife, a pleasant woman, but
somewhat commonplace, has been
confined to her bed with illness since
the finding of the body. The servants
are all above suspicion, and | can find
no clue to the revelation of the mys-
terry" FRANCOIS LALAGEs.
This was the detectives report, and
he returned to Paris, having accom-
plished virtually nothing.
In the meantime Heloise had been
buried with all the honors befitting
her rank and station and the Mar
quis was the victim of uncomfortable
grief. The Merviles still fingered at
the chateau, as Madame was so i'll
she could not leave her couch. AT the
end OF two weeks she was no better,
and one day the Marquis received
this note from the sick-room:
IN. lie Marquis: have something
important 20 communicate. Come TO
me instantly.
"BEATRICE MERviLLE.'
Listlessly Marquis Leontine went to
the sick chamber and entered. A ter
rlble change had come over her. Her
taee had the pallor OF death, and there
were black rings around her deeply
sunken eyes. The Marquis was mex
pressibly shocked. She beckoned him
to seat near the couch, and speaking
in a weak, tremulous voice, scarcely
above a whisper, and said:
"Gregoire, have not half an hour
to live. Before you entered this room
/ took poison" He started as though
to summon assistance. 'sNay, do not
STIR, she moaned, "before / have fin
ished you will wish that had died
long ago. Gregoire, it was who MUIR
dered Heloise.
The Marquis started up with look
of horror on his face.
mo, no; it is impossible What had
she ever done 30 you? This is but the
delirium of fever.
sIt is Gods truth, from the lips of
a dying womanl Listenl For months
I had watched her and Henri togeth-
er; had overheard their interchange
of loving words; and one day when
you were away from home had seen
him embrace her. From that day
lad thought, dreamed, only ofrevenge,
The day that you and my bastard
husband went to Paris gave me the
opportunity. / lured Heloise to the
lake, where / knew we would be free
from observation. / taxed her with
her guilt. She denied it, dragged the
locket from her neck-tore it open.
There, where you fondly thought your
lock of hair rested, was the portrait
of Henri Mervile Your wife my hus-
bands paramount Rage possessed me.
| seized her by the throat--that white
throat that had lured my husband
from lis wife. Revenge gave me the
power Of demon. With these two
hands strangled her until she ceased