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

to the chateau. Since then nothing
mas been seen OF her.
'My Godl, cried the Marquis, now
thoroughly alarmed and agitated;
what does this mean?"
Then, without uttering another
word, he seized a candle from the
hand of one OF the attendants and
rushed to his wife's boudoir. Every
thing was quiet; nothing had
been disturbed. There as no
letter, not a scrap of
paper, not word to him to tell him
of her flights if such it had been.
Hastily decending the stairs he i'm
nediately summoned all the servants.
Had Madame left any message? No.
She had been seen walking in the
shrubbery with Mime. Merville in the
morning, but since then nothing had
been seen or heard of her. Had en-
quiries been made in the neighbor-
hood? No; Nine Merville had thought
perhaps madame, the Marquise had
taken train to Paris to surprise
Monsieur agreeably.
"Fools!" shouted the Marquis in q
voice hoarse with anxiety and agita-
ton. "Order out every horse in the
stable; mount, all ofyou. Come, Mer-
vile, you must help me in this search.
| can not understand this matter at
all. Something must be wrong. But
what-my God, what?" and the now
frantic husband dragged his wife's
cousin to the stable. In a moment
they were mounted on two of the
heetest steeds, and ten of the most
reliable servants were mounted almost
equally well. The country for miles
around was secured, but without
avail. No one had seen the beautiful
Marquise Leontine during either day or
night. The dull gray of early morn
ing had settled over the landscape
when the men returned from their
search. Tagged almost to death, Gre
goire flung himself into a chair in the
library and ate his heart out trying
to conceive or imagine some cause for
this disappearance. Surely he had
done nothing to make her false to him.
He had studied her every wish, graft
fed every desire. No, it could not be
that; there must be some treachery.
Suddenly he looked up at Merville,
who sat opposite to him, the picture
OF absolute despair. Risinghe walked
across the room to his companion,
and said sternly:
"Merville, you have been a guest un.
der my roof. / have noticed your
close attention to my wife, but have
passed it over because / believed her
too pure to do anything that would
iniure my honor. Answer me, as man
to man, can you give any reason for,
any clue to, this terrible mystery?"
For momeEt Merville seemed to
cover under his fierce gaze, but then,
recovering himself, answered bravely
enough:
Marquis Leontine, / answer you as
a man, nol | confess that | loved
Heloise dearly--as a cousin. We had
been together since childhood. But,
if you would insinuate that there was
anything wrong between US, answer
you no, no, no!'
Pardon me, Merville; / was mad to
think it" and with groan the mar.
quis sank back into his chair.
As soon as the sun had risen a rigid
search of the grounds was made. Not
a trace of the missing Heloise could be
found until on the shore of the little
artificiallake, at a point where the wa
ter was deepest, one of the maids found
a book-the one that Madame had
been reading that mornings volume
of the poems of De Thurset. Gregoire
seized it and covered it with kisses; it
cd 4 n vf saf ha
sonality OF his beloved. But still no
trace of the missing lady. By noon
time every inch of ground had been
explored, but without success. At
last Melville suggested that a detec-
tive should be sent for. At first the
Marquis was loath to do this, as he
was unwilling to make public what he
feared would prove his shame. Mel
vile reasoned, argued with him, and
finally he consented.
A telegram was dispatched to the
Prefect of Police at Paris, who chanc-
ed to be friend of the Marquis. and
at nightfall a quiet, business-like look
ing man presented himself at the
chateau. He bore letter from the
Prefect, recommending him as one of
his shrewdest officers, worthy of all
confidence. Perhaps it would be we'll
to let the detective tell his story in the
report submitted by him a week sub
sequent.
IN. LIE Perfect--In the matter OF
the disappearance of Mime. Heloise,
Marquise Leontine, would report
that Immediately upon my arrival at
the chateau proceeded to question the
Marquis, who appeared to be prostra-
ted with grief. He told me that he
and Madame had lived upon the
most friendly terms, and he could as
sign no reason for her departure. He
told me that the grounds had been
searched, and the only trace was
book which Madame was known to
have been reading the morning OF her
This book had been
found on the shore of an artificial lake
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