The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-02-21

! touched bell which summoned his
confidential clerk.
"Did you recognize the gentleman
who left the house a moment agoY'
he asked.
81 cannot be certain" answered the
clerk, ''but I fancy he is NJ. LIE Comte
Desnoettes, a nobleman who used to
visit us years ago in Paris.''
"Ah! Very likely. fancied I knew
the face. 1 Thought 1 had assisted at
the funeral of the gentleman's gay
career! He tells me he has joined IA
religious order. Those poor devils Of
| ten do when they are sold out. That
will do, Marot.'
Then the pawnbroker fell to examin-
| ing the trinket which Brother Antoine
had left with him. He even tried, by
slightly enlarging one of the holes in
the scroll work, to catch a glimpse of
| the small object which his sense of
hearing told him was concealed in the
cavity of the ring. But in this he was
quite unsuccessful. he could see moth
ing. All he could learn was, that if
a precious stone was inside, it must
have been wrapped in something to
deaden the sound Of rattling.
| THE SECRET REVEALED.
Not daring to break open the ring,
Lagrange waited thirty days with the
utmost impatience, hoping, almost
brother would find himself unable or
would neglect to redeem the trinket on
the appointed day, and thus suffer it
to become his property. He was con-
vinced that the superior Of the order
would not have taken the pains to con-
vey this ring to his brethren when
he was in such imminent peril unless
it contained something Of value.
Sometimes he felt as if he would give
half his fortune to cut the trinket
open.
One by one the days went by. I'm
luckily the month had 81 days. Mr..
Lagrange reviled the idiotic arrange
ment Of dividing the months Of the
year, and waited until the next day.
AS the afternoon drew to a close he
lbpecame more anxious, more eager to
possess the jewel and it's hidden Sc
crer. He could not sit at the window.
Every man that passed made his
heart beat with the fear that it was
Brother Antoine come for the ring.
At length Lagrange convinced him
self that 6 O'Clock had struck. He
locked and double-locked his door,
drew down his blinds, seized an ill.,
strument, and in the twinkling of an
eye had cut the ring in two.
A tiny pellet of paper tumbled out.
Carefully and slowly the pawn
broker unrolled it. 1t was a mOrsel
of very thin paper, closely covered
by writing so very fine that it had evil
IDENTIFY been written with the point of
l.. 4 Itch, 1N,,
l-the color of the blood when it is
jdried.
With the help of magnifying glass
Lagrange read the secret MESA ge
which the paper contained, written,
lof course, in French:
"My children, l die tomorrow, and
send you my blessing. The church
lplate is in the cistern of our own
house. which has a false bottom.
BHt our savings amounting to near
lly 100000 francs. L caused to be
buried in the rght-hand corner of
jacques .Guegan's house, in the Rue
st. Louis. He knows nothing of this.
Courage and hope! E. c."
I4agrange's fingers trembled so that
the paper fell from them on the desk
before him, and his face became
| PALE WITH EXCITEMENT.
Four million francs-f16O,OOO. La
grange looked at his watch, seized a
timetable, and turned over its pages
with feverish haste That night he
sailed for France.
He could easily understand that the
accumulated wealth of the Order of
ST. Simeon (Which numbered many
well-born men in its rslnks), should
lreach the sum of 100000 francs.
And nothing was more probable than
that the superior of the order should
have buried the money in the house OF
some obscure sympathizer at the time
of the siege of Paris. But the fear
that haunted Mr.. Lagrange's mind
during the tedious journey was: What
if the secret has leaked out? What if
the money has been accidentally dis
covered by someone who has had
brains enough to hold his tongue?
Once or twice the thought crossed his
mind that this treasure did not be-
long to him. The poverty into which
the Fathers of st. Simeon had fallen
was probably due to the loss of this
treasure, coupled with their expulsion
from French territory. But Lagrange
silenced his conscience with a growl.
He had not carried ON the trade of a
money lender for twenty years with
out being able to do that
Having arrived in Paris, Lagrange
lsought out the Rue st. Louis and
found Guegan's house without much
difficulty. 1t was a small, mean-look-
ing place, hardly bigger than a cot
tage- Guegan was a shoemaker in a
ismall way of business.
Lagrange paved the way diplomat
ically by ordering a pair of shoes and
then asked the shoemaker whether he
had any cellars to let.
THE EXPOSE COMES.
Cellars! my faith, no!' answered
the man of the lapstone. '"The only
cellar 1 have is paved with earth, but
two metres either way. How could l
let that? What do you want it for?''
Lagrange saw that he had made a
blunder.
II want it for a-a-store place.
But you are right. 1t is too small.
l should need the lower fiat also. Per-
haps you would let the house"
"Well-I have not thought of that, -
lsaid the shoemaker, with suspicious