Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-03

alacr1Cy. I1e stranger gave SoOpillo money W
pay for it. During her absence it seems that
he asked Mouton to look out and tell him
whether it still rained; the janitor complied,
going to the outer door, and SO leaving the
stranger alone II the room Cor, perhaps,
minute"
During which minute" observed Nj.
Blery. 'our man replaces Neissners key on
the rack -
-"No doubt. Well: Presently Sophie
Mouton returns with the wine; the stranger
sits down, fills glasses for Mouton and him
self. and chefs with the janitor for few
minutes lon@er. Suddenly he rises, saying
that he wishes to see whether the rain has
STONED. lie goes TO the outer door-and
never returns"
Precisely" said II. Blery; "never re-
turns. No: be has got what he came for.
And now, Nor eur, let me ask you if you
put any question 20 the janitor Mouton re-
gardiug that other foreigner of whom he was
reminded by his colnplaisant visitor"
seYes: IL occurred to me that this was sig
nifcant.7
"Adnlirable!' murmured NJ. Blery; ''admir-
ahlel he neglacts noehing-n1isses not a
single pointl a born detective!-Well, Mon
sielr"
'sThis other foreigner, Mouton informed
me. Lad been for long time, more than
wear. most csSduous il his visits to the old
us1rer. fIc was che of those unfortunates,
the isrlltor said, whom Meissner had 'fayed-'
At fit Re use1 to drive up to their door in a
cabriClet, or ride with groom following him;
but toward the end Of his acquaintance with
the Old Jew his clothes had become shabby;
and finally Meissner had given the order that
re was to be admitted DO more. It was more
than 81 year, Moutoa told me, since he Lad last
seen this man
monsieur attaches an evident Importance
to this ether foreigner. He thinks that there
may be some connection between him and
Moutons mysterious visitor OF two months
back
eyes. They were very like each other, the
janitor says-the same build, tie same cast
of features. the same accent IN their speech.
/ connect them with each other; connect
them also with the weapon used in the COM
mission Of the crime. The dagger is OF
Japaneso workmanship; the two foreigners
may bet is q mere surnliSe, but there Is at
least something in its favor-the two for
eigners may be japanese"
THAT is more than q surTnise, Monsieur-it
is an idea; an idea which has also occurred to
myself. And now as to the daggers-I take
from NJ Beauvaisl'
'No doubt, but I shall ask your attention
to one point regarding the daggers, which l
think Of consequence. l take no credit to
myself for this discovery; it was made by
the hsDr+est OF chances"
NJ Blary raused in his walk through the
room and listened very aJtentively.
"A japanese dagger Is found beside the
corpse Of Acissner; one exactly like it is
found in the collection of NJ. de st. Florent.
The chief characteristic of these daggers Is
their rarity; that OF the Passage de Mazarin,
before the discovery of the other, was pro-
nOuIced by connoisseurs to be unique. The
De ST. Fiorent dagger has a sheath shaped
Ike a closed f&n; presumably, that found IN
Meissner's room would have a similar sheath.
''AIeiss..er Obtained this dagger, which he
subsequently gave to his nephew, from rich
foreigner who was ore Of his clients. The
question we have TO deal with is this-can we
prove that Gisard's story is trues Can we
prove that lie really sold the weapon given
Kim by his uncle: Ina word, can we show
that there is a third dagger Of this kind in
existencea so, an we find it,
t'On each Of the daggers now at the pre-
lecture there IS craven the image OF flower.
On each, beside that flower, there is inscribed
single word The word On the De st. Florent
dagger means Evenescence; that On the other
Illusion.
Here is what [ find written in this book.
The book, [ may tell you, belongs to NJ.
Beauvais. II is in English, and is called
'The Buddhist Belef'-BUddhisn, need not
remind Ii. Blery, is the religion of the
Japanese. This book was given to my
friend Girard, by N. Boauvais, on the very
night Of tie murder, to be translated. Ever
since it he's lain in a corner of this room;
last night [ picked it Up, to return it TO It's
owner. I was idly lingering the pages,
thinking CT the visit | had Just paid to NJ.
BeauVais, and Of the information he had
given ne regarding the words craven on the
daggers and their meaning. Al at once it
flashed through my mind that here, in this
very book, / had seen sonnet hing-I could
not recall distinctly what, but still was sure,
i,ag-Eyaich connected itself in my
mind with tie words Eraaescence and IL
luSioa. ] searched through the book at last
found this paragraph, which [ translate
'TILAKUNA, TIE THREE SIGNS: There are
three Things on achjch the mind of the
AScetic ought to diceU forerer; Anityd.
EroneSccace; AnatDd, Illusion: DULha
Sorro3c These three Signs belong TO every
eciSting thing
''Eere, YOU will observe, are three words
taken from the sacred writings of the Bud
dhists-the mystic number Three. We find
the word for Evanescence inscribed on one
dagger-blade; the word for Illusion on an
other. What is the natural assumption? Is
it not that the smith Tokotaru in Yeddo
forged three daggers, on each of which he
chased one of these mystic wordss If Mon
sieur succeeds, as / do not doubt he will il
finding the dealer in curiosities to whom
Girard Sold his weapon, | venture TO predict
that he viii find craven beside the flower or
its blade therein ming sign of the three-ths
word for Sorrow"
Admirable.' said NJ. Blery again; ''A[on
sieur, this is more than ingenious; it is sub
tile. You cal Your discovery happy chance
doubtless, to . certain extent, it was SO. But
the inference You draw from it-ah, that il
quite another thingi 1t is, l repeat, adnira
bic; Monsieur should certainly haze been {
detectiyer"
diSclaimed the compliment; but NJ Blery
politely insisted that it was deserved, and as
sured me that, had only had the proper train
ing, might have reached a grade in the pro
tesslon scarcely second to his own.
1'N our discovery he said, supplies er
Important Ink in the chain of evidence Tn,
theory Of the crime which We have both O
us formed, each Independently of the other
determines the line of action 70 he followed
l shall begin today; before a week is over, /
our theory proves correct, l shall have laic
my hand on tie assassin"
/ gave II Blery little rel of notes; hat
contrived to borrow some money for thi
special purpose. When l apologized for TIN
sn2llness of the amount
do not speak Of II. =" said u. Blery: ''thi