The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-11-14

| n.
Ing IDLY to the conversations aroand end
about him. Ho was OF duty. RESTING n
Jaded brain, yet the old habit of listening
and putting two and two together at eli
times and in oil places was so strong
upon him that his ear was on the alert
unconsciously. and his brain soon awak
encd to interest in the talk of swo men CT
: table near his own.
They were Of the Ecneur species both.
orc young. enc middle cgcd-mc1 who
knew their PariS, evidently
'Lore he comes. said the elder man.
looking down the boulevard toward the
Grand opera. IL felt sure he would pass
as before s o'clock; he is there every
night
mot every night, surelyS" said the
other
II have seen the piece at least half a
dozen times. and be was in the theatre
every time Men have told me the same
thing 1t is kind of mania-a diseased
vanity suppose He likes to see him
self on the stage-the central figure, the
cynosure Of every eye"
The man they spoke of approached and
passed toward the theatre Tall, slim.
well dressed. with light coat over
his evening suit, pale, with fixed look
about the eyes, a curious mobility about
the mouth
HE looks harassed ara ill.," said the
young man.
.'Overwork, brain pressure" said the
elder II should not be surprised If
were to hear within the next few months
that Marc Avalon had gone off his head.
Cauler rose and followed the great
chemist into the theatre, followed him to
the door of his avant-scene. and then went
round the other side of the house, and got
a stall from which he could observe the
face in the shadow of the curtain as well
as the lowered lights would allow
That idea of this prince of science being
on the verge of lunacy had started a Gu
rious train of thought in the brain of the
skilled detective. He had some time since
made up his mind that the murders of the
Rue Ste Marguerite, the Rue de la Vieille
Lanterne and the Rue des Feves were the
work of the same hand, and that the hand
OF homicidal maniac; but it had never
occurred to him that these CHASTITY, mo
uyeless, insane murders might be the re
production of something shown upon the
stage of a Partisan theatre Tonight, for
the first time, he, the busy worlingman.
whose hours were gold, saw the grisly
play which all the idlers of Paris had been
gioating upon for the last four or FIVE
months, and he also saw, or believed that
ne saw, the germ and suggestion of those
strange and bloody assassinations which
had convulsed the city.
Such play, acting upon the prepared
mind of an unrevealed lunatic, might IN.
spire sudden sanguinary impulse. an
itching .eagerness to taste those sensations
and emotions depicted in all their hideous.
ness by the actor. That which was an.
palling and revolving to sane minds might
exercise morbid fascination upon the
insane The higher the education and
the greater the refinement, the deeper
might be the descent into crime
Inc detective hung about the vestibule
TIL ne saw Marc Avalon leave the theatre.
and was able to keep him in sight without
to follow him An elderly man
who looked like doctor, accosted the
savant as he went out, and the two men
walked along the boulevard together IN
the clear, mild night as far as Tortoni's
where they went in. Cauler had followed
close enough to be able to overhear their
which was upon Indifferent
subjects. The chemists friend remarked |
upon his looking i'll and wearied. and |
with him for owe .agerness |
n hls scientific experiments.
You are trying to get quart of water
MO a pint bottle. he said nobody ever
in doing that yet Take care
'ou don't burst the bottle, There are
'ery few men of your age who have made
Is great mark upon the century as YOU
AVE. Can't you be content to rest upon
our laurels?''
am not overworking my brain"
avalon answered, doggedly. You talk
Q me as If | were an incipient lunatic.
20 You see any signs of overwork about
Yes, several-hurry, pallor, dry lips
nG tendency to laugh at things that
lahe olher men serious. am talking to
" MY dear Pignon, this is the common
~ when man devotes himself m his
RECESSION and succeeds a little better
IAN his fellow workers Overstrain.
rain work, incipient madnessl That IL
maj ms friends say about him. Kindly
cant, no doubt, but arrant twaddlel' !
They went into the cafe. came ont again
o quarter of an hour, when Avalon
liled cab !
Inc detective followed him in another.
ne ny deposited him at his own house IN :
g hue St. Guillaume. Cauler drove ia I
e end OF the street, dismissed his cab
ID went back to Marc Avalon's doorway :
loot. The house in which the chemist J.
red was fine old mansion in a ouad-
ngular court. dull, dignifed, respect. r
le. 1t was a moonless night, and the Z
urt yard was black as Erebus at this q
ur' save for one lamp which burned =
MY over the porte cochere. There was 4
snty OF cover for the detective. 4
de saw the light of lamp travel . {,
lWlY tllOuUb two ,oo,,. - =, u