Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-20
CHAPTER vi.
The Dead Body.


The splendid success of LIE Breton's ride
gave the millionaire little relaxation from
mis- aa,onies of unrest; for the present, at
least Wilhelm had his work cut out, not
before but behind him. But Vansittarts
breathing space was short. The frantic
energies with which the Germans threw
themselves into the task of repairing their
shattered bases warned him that what he
did he must do quickly.
And in order that the victory might be
striking and dramatic, he himself must be
there with the army, commanding 1.-THE,
Nansittart. Paris was no place for him.
His eagerness to set out became in a few
days fever with him
But he could not CO.
First of all, there was a whole world Of
business, a whole cosmos of organization,
which his tired brain had to arrange before
he could dream Of leaving the capital
Secondly, by some perfectly organized
and determined hostile agency, the chief
railway lines east of Paris were temporar-
lily ruined by viaducts and bridges being
blown up.
Thirdly, just as he was on the point of
leaving affairs to take care of themselves
in order to reach the front by a circuitous
route. the body of an unknown man was
found 1loating, all bloated and disfgured, in
the Seine.
The body was found at O'Clock on
Tuesday morning The same night Folliet,
the project of police, was clOseted with
detective in one of the small inner rooms
of the prefecture. His sharp, angular fea-
lures were bent in eager inquisitiveness
close to the face of his subordinate.
MURDER" he said.
"oh, 1 suppose that's it," answered the
other.
mo marks? No wounds?''
Ind = hl. A.
endorsement doctor says the body doesn't
look to him as if death was due to drown
ing.
Poison then?'
Mono poison; that's certain
What was hep
He looks to me like a German: YOU
know those bullet-headed Germans. with
the back of the skull all fiat like a board"
only a little piece of wet cardboard in
his pocket. marked in red ink with a big
8. 1t may be 6, or it may be 8, for that
matter
This morning girl came to give notice
that Bach, lager beer seller, No. / Rue
Musette. had disappeared Bach's wild
over, and the girls his sweetheart A lit
tie before that the body had been found,
and We took the girl to see it. She said it
wasn't Bach. though it was like him."
Follet smiled.
But i must point out that the girl also
said that Bach never dressed like that. The
clothes We're wrong"
.'Ah! The corpse's clothes were peculiar,
them"
His hat was a little peculiar"
Then it was this hat the girl meant. In
glancing in disgust at the bloated face she
caught sight of the hat. That's it. Tell
me about the hat
1t was a cap with a glazed peak turned
down 1t found floating near him.
Stuck between the ribbon and the side of
the cap was a pigeons feather
And Bach never wore a cap with a
pigeons feather stuck in it, didn't he? But
tell me about Bach; all the same ne inter-
ests me- Did anything happen just before
he disappeared"
Mott seems not. At I on Friday even
ing the girl was with him in the parIor be-
hind the shop. He didn't seem, she says,
quite az ease-a little fdgety, perhaps
rather a nervous kind of man she says
Bach is-he kept glanciug at the clock At
last he jumped up suddenly, and said he
was sorry, but she must leave him that
night. as he had an appointment which he
must keep So she went; and Bach has not
since been seem
He shut up his shop to go, then?"
SO it seems. He lived alone on the
premises It's one of those tiny liquor
shops up Montmartre way
1t must have bsen a deuced important
appointmen t this of Bach's, Carotr' said
FOlliet.
so it seems. sir
And in order to keep it. he found it nee
essary TO put on a cap with a pigeons
feather, eh?''
'-Yes-if Bach and the corpse ara the
same
They are. man
And about this giTi?'
''W hats her name?'
Agnes Carhaix.'
"Where does she live?"
Rue Pigalle, No. IL"
Good. You are to understand, Carrot,
that this case is now in my own hands.
Como along with me. L am going to have
a look at Herr Bach
They proceeded at once into a room be-
hind. where the hat hung among host Of
CHASTITY relics on the wall. Folliet took it,
and, with a magnifying glass from his
pocket, commenced to examine the feather
and every portion OF the surface. Presently
an exclamation came from him. He had
found within the leather lining of the cap
a small piece Of wet paper folded upon it
self several times.
All" he said. "Bach's cap you see, was
rather too large for his head. Yet surely
this kind of cap will fit almost anybody's
headi If he took the trouble TO stuff 1t with
paper, that shows that it must have been
Eot only too large, hut very much too
large. and that again shows that NJ. Bach
did not purchase this particular cap for
himself How think you, Carrot, that this
beer seller of MOntmarte came by cap
procured by somebody else?''
"Ah, sir, that 1 don't know" replied
Carot.
mo. nor 1 sither." said FoIliet; but that
is what we've got TO find out, you see.
Let's have a look at the paper
Fold by fold he opened the damp leaf. Il
was ruled with red lines, and looked as
though it had been torn from an account
book; ON II We're written some words whose
blurred OutIHeS were now all but illegible.
But by the aid of the glass Folliet was able
TO read them, and when he read them he
smiled. The words were:
Three casks book.
Bottled. five dozen absinthe.
Lager. II liters."
This, Carrot. is little bill of Bach's."
said FOlliet- Suppose / tell you that it is
bill for beers and spirits will you still
doubt that the beer seller and the corpse
are the same?'
Well no. sir, of course"
"All right. then, 1 tell you so. And now,
the cardboard"
This. too. he examined. 1t was small
about an inch square-dry and peeling But
on il, quite legible, was the red or 8 with
curving tail Folliet put it into his pocket.
And now for Mr. Nansittart'' he NUT
tered.
CHAPTER VII.
No. IL Rue PigaIIe.
1t was now growing dark. Folliet de-
seconded hurriedIy from his interview with
yansittart, and in the Place de la Con-