Wichita eagle., 1888-06-03

newspaper reports over and over again. an1
could devise no measure which would be O
any advantage to my unhappy friend. In
deed, the best service could render him
SO far as it seemed just then-was to keep ou
OF the way. In trying to imag apossibl.
| examination, became aware tuat my eyi
| dence would not be in his favor.
This was by far the most wretched da,
l ever spent in my life This forced iuac.ioa
the cruel anxiety about my friend. The re
morse of my own copduct-which l psiatad
no doubt, in colors undnly dark-el thes,
| contributed to my misery. | lunched on
what remained eatable OF Magny's dinner
the dinner that had been ordf to celebrat.
the accepting Of the comedy and drank &
bottle Of wine. The day wore On with mad
deni2g tardiness; at length evening came
and again l sent out Pierre for Journal
| By this time, surely, the news of the arrest
must have been made public A glance a
the paper showed me that it had.
| The paragraph was headed Crime OF
| Christmas day: Arrest of the Assassin, i" anG
| ran thus:
An arrest has now been made in the cas-
| OF the Passage de Mazarin, and all the cir
cumstances point to the conclusion that ths
| police have laid their hands on the veritabls
| murderer. The individual arrested on sus
plclon Is a young man named Raoul Girerd
student of law, residing at No. % Rue
Dauphine, nephew of the murdered man
Further information is at present withheld
by the police. 1t may be stated, however
that the arrest was made at late hour last
night, and that the credit of it is entirely due
to the Agent of Police Ply. There is reason tc
believe that, but for the activity shown by
this skillful and energetic officer. Girard, who
was in hiding, would ere this have succeeded
in effecting his escape"
was reading this paragraph with feelings
that may be imagined, when 1 was startled
by knocking at the door. / say startled, =
because l was apprehensive at every
moment of visit from the agents of police.
This time, however, it was only Pierre
GA lady desires to see Monsieur, he said,
and ushered in Madame Dumaine the mother
of Gabrielle.
One glance at her face showed me that she
knew all.
IN. Marsal,n she said, ''come with me at
once! For PHYS sake don't refuse! said
that l would bring you-that / would not
come back without you. / beg-I implore OF
you to comei"
but whereof had a confused notion that
she wished me to go with her to Raoul-'.to
the house of detention:'
mo, no! 1t is Gabrielle who sent me to
bring you. Go to NJ Marsal,' she said. go,
dear mother, and say to him that Gabrielle
Dumaine is in distress, and must see him to-
nightr All, Monsieur, say that you will
comeln
II will cone, since Mademoiselle wishes it.
But"
That is enough" she said; let us not lose
moment. l was unwilling to leave her
even to come to you. The agents of police
were with Us this afternoon. All, it has been
ter1ible!"
l felt the poor lady s hand shake in mine as
led her down the dark stair. At the outer
door l gave her my arm; it was now freezing
hard, and the pavement was like glass.
Neither of US spoke another word; with the
thought that was in our minds, what, indeed,
could be said.
As we left the house, No. IS Rue Dauphine,
man who had been standing in the shadow
of a passage opposite crossed the street and
followed us | noticed this, and, taking the
chance of looking back at the street corners,
saw the man always behind us, keeping us in
view. Ho tool tho opposite SIC o. the Rue
when we res led MADAME Dumaine's door.
There he walked very slowl aim ST stop
ping. Evidently the police were taGirg an
Intelligent interest III my movements.
Madame Dunaino's shop was TO s Rue de
POdeon; overtEo door Was pa mt d in white
letters-''Glove Cleaner Madac was Of q
respectable family; her late husband, mer-
chant in the Faubourg St. Konore had met
with losses; ct his death his widow had found
herself poor. Obliged to earn livelihood in
some way, she had taken Il little shop in the
Rue de rOdeon, with parlor behind. and
had struggled hard TO form a connection as
glove cleaner. The struggle had not been
very successful; Madame Dumaine and her
daughter, neat-handed and industrious
as they were, had TO starve themselves
in order to pay tho rent. Then Ga
briele went on the stage. She was a singu-
larly beautiful girl, and believe might have
made almost great actress. Beginning with
soubrette parts in one of the Boulevard
theatres, she was earning a salary of % francs
week when first she met Raoul Girard be
hind the scenes. R-oul was writing theatrical
critics for LIE Drane, hence his presence
there. | think they fell in love with each
other at first sight; | know, at ell events,
that Raoul did. Gabrielle had many admir-
ers; but she was as good as she was beautiful,
and when she accepted Raoul she at once left
the stage. / know that Raoul had not asked
her to do this, as he said to me himself he had
no right to demand such sacrifice; it was
her womans instinct that led her TO make il.
They had been betrothed now for nearly two
years, and were to be married as soon as
Raoul had passed his final examination for
the bar, and was making an income that could
at all be depended on.
1t was familiar place to me. that little
shop in the Rue de rOdeon, with the rows of
gloves in the window and on the counter, and
the faint odor OF benzins that hung about it.
had spent many merry evenings, along with
Raoul, in the little parlor behind. Now all
was dark and silent, as if a sorrow worse
than death had entered there | entered the
room with extreme reluctance, for 1 cannot
bear of all things, TO see woman cry, and
expected to find Gabrielle In tears. But
was wrong.
She came forward to meet me without Civ
ing me her hand, and looked me straight in
the eyes. Her face was pale, but bore no
traces of weeping. She carried herself
proudly, Like queen; there was touch al
M Ifn| ~