The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-14
BY ROBERT BARR.

Copyright, 1896, by Robert Barr)
II you grind castor sugar with an
equal quantity of chlorate of potash.
the result is an. innocent looking white
compound, sweet to the taste, and
sometimes beneficial in the case of a
sore throat But if you dip a glass rod
in small quantity of sulphuric acid,
and merely touch the harmless ap-
pearing mixture with the wet end of
the rod, tine dish which contains it be-
comes instantly a roaring furnace of
fire. vomiting forth a fountain of burn
ing balls, and filling the room with
dense, black, sufIocating cloud of
smoke.
So strange a combination is that
mystery which we term human nature,
that a touch of adverse circumstance
may transform quiet, peaceable, law
aDlulhS cltlzen into a nalefactor whose
neart Is nlied with a desire for VEN
geance, stopping at nothing to accom-
plish it.
In a little narrow street off the broad
Hue de Rennes. near the great termin-
GUS OF AlonJ-P arnasse stood the clock
making shop OF the brothers Delore.
The window was filled with cheap
spring attached to the top of the door,
was a bell which rang when anyone
entered, for the brothers were work.
ing clock1nakerS, continually busy in
Inc room at the back of the shop, and
trade in the neighborhood as not brisk
enough to allow then 10 keep an as
slstant The brothers had worked
alnicably in this small room Tor twenty
years, and were reported by the deni-
nf hnf
enormously rich. They were certain
~ contented enough. and had plenty
OF money for their frugal wants, as
well as for their occasional exceeding
~ mild dlssipations at the neighboring
cafe They had always a little money
Tor the church, and a little money for
charity. and no one mad ever heard
either Of them speak a harsh word to
any living soul, and least of, all TO each
other When the sensitively adjusted
bell at the door announced the arrival
OF possible customer, Adolph LETT his
work and attended TO the shop while
Alphonse continued his task without
5N-elTuption. The former was sup
posed to be the better business man of
the two, while the latter was adj
mittedly the better workman They mad
room over the shop, and a small
kitchen over the work room at. the
back; but only one occupied the bed
room above, the other sleeping in the
shop, as it was supposed that the wares
there displayed must have formed an
almost irresistible temptation to any
thief DESTROYS of accommodating a guam
Flty of timepieces. The brothers took
week-about at guarding the treasures
below, but in all the twenty years no
thief had yet disturbed their slumbers
One evening. just as they We're about
to close the shop and adjourn together
TO the cafe, the bell rang. and Adolph
went forward to learn what was want
ed. He found waiting for him an I'M
kednpt individual of appearance SO dis
reputable that he at once made UP his
mind that here ait last was the thief
for whom they had waited so long in
VAIN The mans wild, rowing eye, that
seemed to search out every corner ana
Granny in the place and rest nowhere
for longer than a second at a time
added to Dolores suspicious. The un-
savory visitor was evidently spying out
the land, and Adolph felt contain he
would do no business with him at that
particular hour, whatever might hap
pen later.
The customer took from under his
coat, after a fuTtive glance at the door
or the back room, a small paper-cov-
cred parcel, and. untying the string,
somewhat hurriedly, displayed a crude
piece Of clockwork, made of brass
Handing it TO Adolph, he said. How
much would it cost to make a dozen like
that?"
Adolph took the piece Of machinery
in his hand and examined it, 1t was
slightly concaYe in shape, and among