Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-13
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
III.
DIR. JAQUETS SECRET.

MI OOgBelts nome lay among WllQer-
ness of houses bordering upon the unfash-
ionable and unpicturesuue neighborhood of
the Old Kent road. He had q long stretch
to walk from Noting hill before he reached
his place by the chimney corner, but he
forgot all sense of weariness in his self
absorption over the discovery he had just
made.
Just as it had not occurred to Mr.. Web
Der to connect Madam Jaquet's runaway
husband with the eminent specialist 50 it
had never entered Doggett's mind to imagine
that q relationship might exist between the
great West End practitioner and the young
clerk at the Universal with whom he had
bowing acquaintance. There was nothing
in the circumstances of the case except the
mere identity of name, to connect them to-
gether in anyone's mind, and an identity OF
name offers a very precarious foundation on
which to erect sensational hypothesis.
But Mr.. Doggett had CLEANED enough
from Madam Jaquet's diary to know that
she had recognized her husband in the Har-
ley-street physician, and in this capacity
had been in the habit of receiving him at
her apartments in Cornwall road. He re-
quired an opportunity to adjust the focus Of
his mental vision to the facts he had discov-
cred, and his long walk home provided him
with the opportunity.
Theory after theory presented itselfto his
mind, by which the long separation that
had occurred between husband and WIFE
and Madam Jaquet's sudden death, might
be explained in a manner perfectly COM
patible with DR.. Jaquet's good faith. though
the trained instinct of the detective, who
was too sadly familiar with the seamy side
of life, prompted him to different conclu-
sion. 1t was just this very tendency to
think the worst of mankind that induced
him to beat about for some probable ex-
PLANTATION of the facts he was investigating
that would accord with the great physicians
innocence.
But though he turned the matter over this
way and that, exhausting every possibility
in turn, by the time that his feet were
planted on the steps leading to the front
door he had mentally determined in his
own phraseology that DR.. Jaquet was "a
bad lot" But this was point which, he
anticipated, further acquaintance with
Madam Jaquet's diaries would set at rest.
His daughter Jessie, in whose education
he had taken a great pride, would soon en-
able him to decide the question-Jessie,
who was good linguist, as he proudly re-
membered, and who knew French and Ger
man like a native. Accordingly, when the
door was opened by bright-eyed, comely
girl of 20, who threw her arms round his
neck, ana kissing MIN du6cLlOnaGely leo
him forward into the room-half sitting
room and half kitchen-where his supper
was spread waiting for him, he laid Madam
Jaquet's diaries down on the table, and
broached the matter that was on his mind
without delay.
"Some French for you, my dear. You
can begin and read it while have nv sup
per-" the detective said, after he had en-
braced his wife, who sat in the chimney
corner knitting.
Not tonight, dad!' exclaimed Jessie.
"Well, not all of it tonight" replied
Mr.. Doggett, looking doubtfully at the four
MS. volumes, which, if small and portable,
were nevertheless bulky. "But, at any rate
we can make a beginning, Jessie"
There was boiled leg of picked pork
and peas pudding, cold, a dish to which
Mr.. Doggttt was particularly partial, and
while the detective regaled himself on these
daintieS, Jessie began the story of Madam
Jaquet's life, as told by herself from the
time of her husbands flight.
The narrative, whichset forth its painful
facts with artless pathos, proved so interest
ing that long after Doggett had finished his
meal Jessie had grown so deeply fascinated
that she read on and on, while her father
sat smoking and her mother continued knit
ting, all of them unmindful of the flight of
time. 1t was the small hours of the morn
ing before Jessie had finished her task, and
though wearied with the exercise she de-
clared she was not in the least bit sleepy.
''That's what L call really exciting"
said Jessie, as she laid the last volume
down. Reads like a novel, doesn't it
dad?''
The diary had been commenced by Mad
am Jaquet after her arrival in England, ON
the day that she commenced her search for
her missing husband. 1t began with SIM
pie recital of the facts of her married life
down to the eventful days of the coup d.
etdt, and the various conjectures discussed
between herself and NJ. Benoit Cher father)
to account for Felix Jaquet's disappear
ance, including narrative of her reasons
for coming to England in quest of her hus-
band. Then it went on to describe the search
conducted by the firm Of private inquiry
agents In her behalf, and the more pathetic
and heartrending struggles to find him
which she conducted single-handed But
the passages that had the most interest for
Mr.. Doggett were contained in the later
pages, that recounted Madame Jaquet's ac-
cideatal recognition of DR.. Jaquet in the
park, and of their subsequent interviews at
Cornwall road.
Many passages in the earlier portion of
the story were deeply affecting in the
strains of tenderness and sadness with
which the gentle-hearted lady had mourned
the inexplicable riddle of her husbands
absence. 1t was absolutely pitiful to read
some sentences in which the writer ex-
pressed herself in alternate hope and fear
as her quest seemed approaching an end, or
receded further into the distance. Her joy
when they met at last, and when, as she de-
clared, she found her darling all that she
dared to hope, with an explanation ready
that would prevent the son being ashamed
of his father, was depicted in bright glow
ing colors. Thenceforward, though each
dav had its own little chronicle of Dr.
Jaouets daily visits, the entries grew
shorter and shorter. 1t seemed as if the
woman's heart was too full of love and Joy
over her restoration to her husbands society
to find expression. The notes-such as
thew were-were mainly confined to the
bare record of DR.. Jaquet's visits, her own
pleasure in them, how she thought her
husband looking, and the stage at which
the negotiations ior the disposal of the
house in Harley street, preparatory to their
return to Paris, had arrived.
There was not a sign of any flaw in her
perfect trust In the husband of her youth.
Just as through the long dark years that
had followed their separation her selfcom-
munings exhibited 8 settled resolve not to
face the possibility that her husband was
taithless and had deserted her (save only in
the reticence she observed to her SOM, 50,
after they had met, the suspicion that her
husband might be playing her false and
was alluring her to rest with entire conf
oence IN him, by specious promises that he
never meant IN f,1161 did not anDear to have