Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1892-09-24


his back upon him-from hauteur EVIL
IDENTIFY. In short he Immediately
agreed to give the twelve pounds, and
threw down five pound note on &C
count, on condition that the clock
should be that same evening installed
in his dining room at Ills house.
Who did not know Locard's house?
In less than an hour the clock should
be there.
sThis evening, friends" cried LO-
card (of course he did not include
Pierret, "we'll drink to my new piece
of furniture!"
cat what hour?"
stNine o'clock"
As soon as Plerret found himself
quite alone, he burned the bank-note
in the flame of candle. Then he
went into the room behind the shop,
and took up small box, on which
there were English labels pasted.
Returning. he opened the case of the
clock, no doubt to regulate the move.
ment.
Within the promised time it was
placed, prominently placed. amid the
rich furniture of Locard's dining
room.
Around the table, from which,
point upwards, a goodly array of bot
ties stand, Locard and his old friends
drink, laugh, and sing. Eleven o.
clock, the silver bell records the hour.
What a voice, a song rather! One
could listen to it through the whole
night. Midnight, the voice puts
forth all it's delightful power.
Attention! One! two! Light the
punch. The fame fits, goblin-like
over the surface of the bowl, tapping
it with upthrown tongues of yellow
and blue. The sugar frizzles. Now
put out the lamp. Huzzah! Hush!
the clock is going to strike.
No, it speaks.
jacques Locard! Jacques Lo-
card !"
"Eh? Who spoke? Who said
that ?"
Jacques Locard! Confess! con-
fess !"
''Locard! Locard! What jest is
this? How very pale you are!"
The voice sounds as if it came from
the cellar.
Jacques Locard, you are a MUIR
derer!"
1T is false! Who has dared to say
that?"
Jacques Locard, it is you who
killed old Pierret! Assassin!"
There are cries, groans. Locard
has risen to his feet-lost, mad. He
clutches at his cravat to tear it from
his strangled throat. The voice still
pitilessly continues-veiled, distant,
as if coming from tomb. It re-
peats, repeats, repeats the word ''as-
sassin."
Locard falls upon his knees, rises,
falls again.
II confess! I confess!" he cries.
eyes, it was l who killed the old
man, and robbed him; but let that
horrible voice cease"
1t did not stop, but went on re-
peating its dreadful denunciations
with the persistency of a machine in
motion.
cit is the clock that speaks!"
screamed Locard, seizing 1t, shaking
it. dragging it from its place, casting
it upon the floor. The works were
scattered, and in their midst was
seen a small cylinder covered with
metallic paper. Pierret, who had
heard all. sprang into the room
through the open window, and seized
Locard by the throat.
"You are all witnesses that this
man is the murderer of my father!"
he cried.
4 =
Murder will out; but men who take
the lives of their fellow men for
gain always think their cunning more
than a match for proverbial wisdom.
So thought Locard, and had not
seven years impunity justified his
estimate of his own cleverness? No;
it had only put him of the guard
which the murderer must never for a
moment cease to keep The police
had utterly failed to track him down
had not even associated him in any
way with the crime! yet there had
been detective at his heels, as he
now saw with horror.
A few years in the army do one of
two thlngs-sharpen or deaden the
wits of a soldier they sharpened
Pierret's. The failure of the police
left in his mind a deep and bitter
sense of disappointment His father
had been cruelty murdered and
robbed, almost in the light of day
. kindly but undemonstratiye man
respected by all his old townsmen;
who was never known to have made
an enemy; who had many friends
| Locard among the number. Who
but one Of his friends could have
known that he had, by the merest &C
cident of circumstances, the whole
savings of his life in his possession
that day, in view Of an advantageous
investment to be completed on the
morrow that never came for him? No
stranger could have known of this.
No stranger? That idea haunted
Dsarro<sc vv,inA How onA nS~h< n-.a