Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-09-09

died, and the present marquis sue
cceded to the title and estates. he. the
last mentioned. was very poor and
very deeply in debt. Nothing but an
infant girl stood between him and a
vast funded property that would have
enabled him to Fay his debts and also
support his new rank with great mag
nificence. When he came down to the
Chateau De Glacie to superintend the
funeral of his brother and to take pos
session OF his estates. he pressed us to
remain his guests for so long a time rs
we might find IL agreeable TO do so. L,
though instinctively shrinking from
him, yet fading no rational cause for
my aversion, and. above all, magnet
lied to the spot that held my dear hus-
bands remains-for he was laid In the
family vault under the chapel attached
to the chateau-consented TO remain
for a while. Well. Monsieur. three
weeks after my child disappeared. un-
der circumstances that led every n
to the conclusion that she had been
drowned"
"Good heaven" exclaimed the cap
tain.
1T was lovely summer weather, and
she had been permitted TO walk out in
the grounds, attended by her nurse.
my poor Elise. They wandered down
toward a beautiful stream of wafer,
upon whose banks the strawberries
were very thick. The child rambled
about, pulling wild flowers, filling her
straw hat with them. and bringing and
emptying them in the lap of her nurse,
who remained seated under a tree. At
last the little one was gone longer
than usual. The nurse arose ard called
her, but she did not answer. ran and
looked for her but she did not ap-
pear. Elise became alarmed. and
rushed through and through the shrub
berries, crying aloud upon the name of
her nursing. But no response came
from the thick, green bushes. She ran
down the %strearl; the banks of the
stream were well protected by thick
gfowths Of interviewer bushes-tlIere
seemed not a possibility that the child
could have passed where a man would
have found great difficulty In breaking
through. And yet, down ore little
r.aCe the bushes We're lightly pressed
and broken, az IL something had rolled
down them TO the water; shreds of
black barege-such as had formed the
orphan's mourning dress-tiuttered up
on the twigs, as il rent I'm passing:
worse than all, her little straw hat.
with its black ribbons, was floating on
the water. Poor Elise was distracted
on the spot, and, rushing TO the house,
spread CONSERVATION and horror
through the family with the news that
little Astrea had tumbled into the
stream and was drowned
Here the lady paused and gasped for
breath, as if suffering under some
overwhelming memory.
Tie deepest sympathy is always
dumb. Tie captain could make no
comment. His impulse was to draw
her silently to his heart, as he would
have drawn his littt Daney in her
troubles, or his own child. had he pos
scssed one. But he did not dare. even
to take and press her hand; so his
sympathy seemed dead as well IS
dumb.
After a little while the lady contin-
ued:
II cannot-no, I cannot dwell upon
the distress that followed, You can
figure to yourself how all the house
hold rushed down to the stream: how
the peer little floating hat was picked
up from the spot where IL had lodged
against a ledge of rocks: how all the
neighborhood WIS reused; how the
stream was dragged for the body. and
no body found: how 1t was next, at
a great cost OF time and labor. drained,
and still no body found: and how at
last it was demonstrated. beyond all
manne of doubt, that nc body had
ever been drowned there: for. you see,
the stream was narrow and deep. and
the current strong: and below the
spot where the child was supposed TO
nave fallen i'm, the stream IN crossed
by a high ledge of rocks. against which
everything that was carried down by
the current lodged. IL the child had
fallen in. the body must have been
found, either at the bottom of the
stream, when IL was drained, or else
lodged against the ledge Of rocks. 1t
was found neither at one place or the
other; therefore, ii had never been in
the stream; and all the appearances OF
the shredded dress and the floating hat
lad been arranged for the purpose of
producing The impression that she had
been drowned. All these Investigations
had been made, and all these conclu-
sions arrived at without my assist,
ance, and while | was still FRUSTRATED
WIN Siitfs Dul uS A tttOftTtu lFOlu
the first shock of my great sorrow,
ard understood tie position of affairs,
! set On foot the most diligent inquiry.
i soon learned that a ~fair-haired child
had been seen In the possession of
some wandering gipsies on the road to
Calais. l followed them in person. I
traced them to Calais. thence to Dover.
thence to London; everywhere, when I
inquired, hearing of the fair-haired
child, with a gang of swarthy gipsies;
but In the wilderness of London | lost
Them
THAT is easily understood. Madame;
for the ki1nappers must have only
passed through and gone down imme-
diately to liverpool and taken passage
for America" said the captain.
"Yes, Monsieur, and that was the
reason why all my future efforts to
discover my child, efforts confined to
Europe alone, proved failures, so that
4 never even heard of her again until
! saw her portrait in the B~ouleyards.
des-Italienes. l never returned again
to the Chateau DE Glacie. / could not
endure the place. A strange conviction
had taken possession of my mind that
the Marquise De Glacie had instigat-
"a AL, sL~ck 49, -ltul a