The herald., 1896-03-22

JempCAJlOn or the ordeal before me,
and which worried me considerably.
The ball was a gay affair. and met
many delightful people there, among
them Mile. de Tascher, the Only daugh-
ter of our hostess. She was beauti-
full woman and brilliant talker.
During the course of our conversation
she inquired how long intended stay
ing in Paris, and when / informed her
that should stay but two days she
said she was afraid did not appreciate
the gay life of Paris. I then told her
my reason for hurrying back to Eng.
land, thinking che might be interested
in the rather romantic history of
Henry Desmon's life. tald her Of the
circumstance Of my having locked up
the diamonds in the old-fashioned safe,
and I even produced the key of the
safe and showed it to her; On action
which I had reason later to regret.
''Soon after leaving Mile. de Tascher
1 noticed her in earnest conversation
with a rather handsome young French
man, and, as they frequently glanced
in my direction, 4 concluded they must
be speaking of me. Later in the even
ing, as / was crossing the ballroom
with Feron, the same young man, in
attempting to pass, violently oollided
with ME, and in order to save himself
from fall grasped me about the waist.
Asking my pardon for his awkward
ness he passed on.
"Who was that clumsy fellow" in
quired Of Feron, rather angrily, for I
was greatly annoyed at the publicity
of the encounter.
"That is Mons. Claude Maubant," he
replied, :'who is to marry Mile. de
Tascher. Something of q gambler,
am told, and heavily in debt"
"Just then an acquaintance Of Fe-
ron's, and personal friend of Mons.
Maubant's-ss I learned afterwards
came up aud asked to be introduced to
me. He was an uninteresting talker,
but an incessant one, and be kept me
in conversation for considerable time
and when finally got rid of him it
was late and I determined to return
home. As Feron wished to stay longer
/ returned alone. Arrived home, /
thought l would take look at the
stones upon which SO much depended
and see that they we're all right. l put
my hand in the pocket in which bad
placed my key to the safe. 1t was not
there. Hurriedly searched all of my
pockets, although I was positive that
u6u puU IL III lJO AlotS OuG OVOlO AOL
find it. I rushed to the room where
| the safe stood and turned on the light.
The door of the safe was closed, but
the key stood in the lock. For mo-
ment l thought I had carelessly left it
there, and then 1 knew that that was
impossible Throwing wide the door /
| searched within, and was overjoyed to
find the casket safe. Whoever had un-
| locked the safe must have been fright
| ened off by my entrance, I thought.
But my joy was of shart duration. for
upon examination found that the
casket was empty.
"As the full realization of my loss
came upon me my blood turned cold,
and 1 fell into the nearest chair. For
some time sat as il stunned, but re-
covering myself, knew something
must be done as soon as possible to-
ward the capture of the thief and the
recovery Of the stones. But who was
the thief? There was but one person
in Paris to my knowledge who knew OF
the presence of the diamonds, and that
was Mile. de Tascher. had not even
told Feron for what purpose I had
wished to use the safe, as / had intend
ed telling him the whole story later.
That Mile. de Tascher WAS not the thief
I felt positive. She must have repeated