Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-06-12

ment vi IN" previous TWO Gays, lIat ne .
fell asleep the instant he lay down. lie .
was awakened by Il wild scream and u
heavy fall.
He raised himself up, still heavy and +
bewildered with sleep. At first he did
not remember where he was. Was he
in his prison cell; or had he been hanged,
and was this after death: In few mo-
ments be came to himself. The candle
was faring in the socket. The faint
gray of dawn was coming through the
dusty pancs Of the eastern window.
Who had screamed: The sick man, Of
course. k"ppel looked toward the bed;
it was vacant. What had happened? lie
got to his feet and made a step forward.
He trod upon something that yielded
beneath his weight. 1t was the body of
the invalid. E-coiling, ne fetched the
expiring candle and bent over it, The
mau's body was drawn together, lying
on its side. The hands were over the
face In the right hand was long
knife.
Evidently he had crawlcd from his bed
and stolen ON keppel with the intention of
stabbiug him, hut just before he could
accomplish Ills purpose the specter by
which he imagined himself haunted had
ntcrvencd. The man was dead. The
candle hicl;erad and died out. Kerpcl
made Il spring for The other candle, but
ramembcred that he had 40 matches.
lie could not stay with the body in the
darkness, - lac made his way to the
open air. The morning SKY was clear,
the eastern horizon Il pale yellow. lie
Iaced up and down before the house till
the sun rose, his mind full of gloomy
thoughts. Horror and misery pursue
him everywhere. lie had the revolver
in his pocket; why not use it on himself
and end all: lie paused, debating the
question: bat finally shook his head. He
had had 50 many escapes lately that he
persuaded himself he might have been
preserved for purpose. The unclouded
sun. rising over the blue verge of the
distant ocean, was an omen of hope. He
turned, ana reluctantly re-entered the
house
The sunlight fell upon the corpse as it
lay there. Keppcl set resolutely to work.
He straitened ont the arms and legs
and rolled up the body in u blanket from
the bed. lie tied it round with piece
of rope from the tishnet. 1t was now
ready for burial. But how was he to dig
a grave: lie had no spade. Yet the body
could not be left above the ground; it
might breed pestilence. This reflection
led to another. If the man had died of
yellow fever all his clothing must hold
the contagion and should be burned
Keppel resolved to do this at once. The
coat and trousers were lying on stool
st the head of the bed. He took them
up, and some papers slipped from the
pocket and fell on the floor. He ex-
amined them, at first indifcrently, then
with more interest. There was pass
port with several vises upon it, showing
journey through Egypt, India, AUS
tralia and Panama. There We're several
letters, apparently from persons Of high
authority in Paris, recommending the
bearer, Maurice Solange, to the good Of
fees Of foreign consuls II appeared,
moreover, that Maurice must have been
parsonage Of some Importance, or, at
any rate, that he had been intrusted
with an important mission. These let
tiers Of recommendation could have been
delivered only by the French emperor's
authority.
But the nature of the mission WIS not
specified in the papers, 1t even seemed
as if this non-specifcation had been care
fully intended, There was a reason
then, for keeping the thing secrets
secret of state.
Was it likely, however, that the poor
+.1 10 I ti,,r
burial, would murder a man for the sake
of a secret Of state? Nothing was les'
likely. What good could the secret dc
the murderer Was it a thing he could
sell? Some secrets We're salaUle, no doubt
But Maurice, an authorized agent on hi,
way to America, must have been coming
to impart the secret to the government
here; therefore no sale could have beer
contemplated, Besides, the dead MAJ
had said something about treasure
millions of money. That might hav,
been the mere rawlings Of insanity; bu
possibly it was not. A murder commit
ted for millions of money was compre
hensible, and this would account for tn,
murderers strange behavior. On tn
other hand, if those millions had beer
stolen, where We're they? Were the,
about RI premises:
keppei Darke had never heretofore re
garded money as "a supreme object 0
ambition. But things were changed
with him now. IIewas an outcaset from
society; mankind was hostile to him; B.
the unequal contest he was disposed t.
improve whatever advantages came il
his way, If, then, millions of none,
We're within his reach ne was not in
mood to let them escape.
Here Keppel gave short laugh. TIL
million, probably had no existence what
ever o@nept in the imagination of an in
sane man.
He turned over the papers once more
Among theu was one small document
folded square, that he did not remembe
noticing before. He was about to pas
it over, but an idle impulse caused hi1
10 change his mind and open it. I'll
odd aspect of its contents attracted hi
attention.
1t looked something like long sum il
alQebra There Nvere colurnnq and coD,