The Columbus journal., 1888-12-26

AOk10AkO W. ~ - hAV
Syne I'll be nae mons debtor.
William Lyle in Detroit Free Press
MYSTERY OF THE VALLEY,
About ten years ago business com
PEELED no 10 make frequent journey
from Lausanne { % Sentier. in the valley
Of Lake JOuy.
At first this mountain trip. which had
to be made in III ordinary diligence,
scen,sI to ne extremely tedious. Then,
Iit:ia Ii; little. I became familiar with
the mountain ways that | ~traverSed a
i, n ~,,reann. and at last | came to love
i,.csa. /: ta.el the austere melancholy
OF tie s,:l.isr horizons, the murmurlng
woods cr fiT. the pastures of long, thin
,T.!szi. a:ll9ay which the hardy yellow
ssa;;..rs crew. the isolated and silent
ciiale;s. and. above all. the lake, that
mys:cgiU...i lake which received many
stre:,r.:S and Lad no visible outlet, but
e.n;,;is,! the surplus Of its dark and slug.
gis;l w.tcr Tito s~ibterranean channels.
Ia.so. acquired an affection for the In
habitan;s of the region, who called thelI
valley the valley, as If there were nc
other in tie world. They were q sturdy
a C of mountainecrs, peasants and work
men, most Of them being engaged in the
manufacture of watches. They were
descendants Of a number of families OF
French refugees, had old fashioned man.
ners. were Intelligent. laborious, saving.
fairly well educated, scrupuiously hon.
est and devotedly piOus.
took the diligence at the station OF
iiomainmotiers about 4 O'Clock In the
afternoon, and by night it had conveyed
me TO Sentier. stopping at supper time at
tie principal inn of the village of Point.
There, after having partaken of q plate
of soup, l was served with one OF those
delicate trout which are the specially OF
the place, and with a bit of excellent
'vacherin." the SAVIOR cheese of the
country. The host saluted me, drank a
small glass of white wine with me, and
at my departure gave me his hand with
4 cordial ..au revoir."
Every time l stopped at this inn l saw
in one corner of the room, seated at q
table with glass of absinthe before him,
a Saunt old man, with q sallow complex
ion. He was negligently dressed and
was smoking his pipe and contemplating
his glass; he was continually absorbed,
apparently, in a drunken reverie OF in
memories of days long past. The inn
keeper, whom | finally questioned in re-
gard to his strange guest, said:
''That is NJ. Armand, who was tho syn
die of POnt in 1855, the year of the
crime"
The horn of tho diligence summoned
me before I had time to inquire concern
ing the details Of this crime, which was
called the crime. just as they spoke of
the valley.
On my next visit to this region, on
stopping at Pont cold, clear night in
October, l YVES informed that it would be
necessary to remain ut the place several
hours in order to repair the diligence to
which some accident had happened. I
was the only passenger, and the inn
keeper having gone to look after the
diligence. I found myself the only occu-
pant of the room, excepting that strange
old man, WHO sat there smoking before
his half empty glass. Curious to know
more of this strange character l took a
seat at the table next to his. / helped
myself to a glass of vermOuth while
waiting for my supper, and opening a
newspaper which lay near Dy l began to
klx1ilSO ~ u
He soon seemed to have the same curl
osity in regard to me that l had concern
ing him. Slowly lie raised his large
head, which had been nodding; his eyes,
which were usually half closed, were
opened sufficiently to fix their glance on
me: his lips moved as if he wished to
speak, and no coughed. Then with
a trembling hand he took his glass, rose
..,.<I ~, ,(fa~< oo ~ IN n <phln NJ
which he seated himself opposite me. I
laid down my paper and addressed some
words to him, which he did not seem to
hear. He lad resumed his accustomed
attitude; his eyes were half closed, his
head dropped, and I almost believed that
he was spellbound to eternal silence. Bis
presence became embarrassing to me l
began to feel uncomfortable, and that ]
might become more at my case before
this man, who seemed to take no notice
Of me, l again took up my newspaper,
when he suddenly stretched out toward
me his heavy bony hand, laid it upon my
arm, through which I could feel q ner-
vCus tremor run. and said:
do you not know tho history of the
crime::"
Twas astoaished, and signified my ig-
norance by shaking my head. He at
once resumed in Il hollow voice:
"Ah, well! l win tell it YOU"
And, without relaxing his hold on my
arm, which, for a moment, his strong
grasp panied, he began to speak in tho
measured accents of the people Of that
region. his face wearing 4 fixed express
sion, which never for a moment changed:
1T was II 1855" he said. Il was then
the syndic Of Polt. One morning old
Meylaa. the forest guard, came to sum-
:noa ne. lie was greatly aSitated. He
said: Lave you rot heard, II. Arnand?
Old Gathurin has been aSS2sSinated: his
body his been found lying in the road
near Lien. Come and see.'"
My strange companion paused for a
moznent and then said:
do o not know who Mathurin was2
He was a French peddler. He often
came TO the valley selling pens, paper,
pocketbooks, etc. 20 Lad been known
here for years.
"Ec had rot N enemy in the world.
He was 4 good. homes: fellow, a Protest
ant like ourselves. lie told stories to
the children and explained tho Bible 70
them. Only the day before he was killed
I hsd brought some l:ythu,gs from him
1of my utste girl
"WelI. I went with old Mey!an. All
the peop.e-the whole vilage-were on
the road. And poor old Mashurin-we
found him lying rigid in death and
white. Why, lie was rs white rs the
snow. If l should live q hundred years
I could never forget l.. Why. even now
lean e him IS plainly as I see you,
with his old wrinkled face and gray
locks. And he looked so peaceful-nat-
urally, for his soul was in heaven. At
Meylan's suggestion l put my hand ON
his breast to learn If his heart still beat,
but it did not. He was dead. He had
six stab wounds-here, here, here, here,
here and here"
He indicated on his owa breast the
places where the murdered man had
been stabbed; his forehead vas beaded
with perspuation and his words seemed
to stick in his throat. For a few mo-
ments he remained silent, apparently
contemplating the eorpseof old Mathurin
Photographed or his memory. Then, re-
Stunning his story, he said:
The governor Of the province asked