The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-24


"Am / already accused?" asked Oar
tin ironically.
M. Ginory was silent a moment; then
slowly taking from the drawer of hi
desk some paper upon which Dantil
could discern no writing this time bu
some figures, engraved in black-h
knew not what they were-the magis
trate held them between his fingers s.
as TO show them. He swung them Il
and fro, and the papers rustled like DIR,
leaves He seemed to attach great valu
to these papers, which the registra
looked at from corner of his eye, guess
ing that they were the photograph,
proofs which had been taken.
Il beg of you to examine thes,
proofs, said the magistrate to Dantin
He held them out to him, and Dantir
spread them on the table (there were
four of them). Then he put ON his eye
glasses in order to see better. "What il
that?" he asked.
Look carefully" replied the magis-
trate. Dantin bent over the proofs, ex.
amined them one by one, OWNED rather
than saw in the picture, which was q
little hazy, the portrait of a man, and
upon close examination began to see in
the specter vague resemblance.
do you not see that this picture
bears resemblance to your
This time Dantin seemed the prey of
some nightmare, and his eyes searched
M. Ginory's face with sort of agony.
The expression struck Ginory. One
would have said that a ghost had sud-
denly appeared to Dantin.
"You say that it resembles me?''
"Yes. Look carefully. At first the
portrait is vague. On closer examination
1T comes out from the halo which sur
rounds it, and the person who appears
there bears your air, your features, your
characteristics"-
1t is possible" said Dantin. "It
seems to resemble me. 1t seems as If I
were looking at myself in pocket mir.
Tor. But what does that signify?"
THAT signif- Oh, 1 am going to
astonish you. That Signifies M. Gil
nory turned toward his registrar. "You
saw the other evening, Favarel, the ex-
pertinent in which DIR. Oudin showed us
the heart and lungs performing their
functions in the thorax of living man,
made visible by the Roentgen rays.
Well. This is not any more miraculous.
These photographs" (he turned now to-
ward Dantin) "were taken of the reti-
ma of the dead mans eye. They are the
reflection, the reproduction of the i'm
age implanted there, the picture of the
last living being contemplated in the
agony, the last visual sensation which
the unfortunate man experienced. The
retlna has given to us-as witness
the image OF the living person seen by
the dead man for the last time.''
A deep silence fell upon the three
men In that little room, where one of
them alone lost his foothold at this
strange revelation. For the magistrate
1t was decisive moment, when all had |
been said, when the man, having been
questioned closely, jumps at the fore
gone conclusion. AS for the registrar,
however blase he may have become by |
these daily experiences, it was the de- |
cisive moment, the moment when the |
line drawn from the water the fish is |
landed, writing ON the hook.
Jacques Dantin, with an instructive I
movement, had rejected, pushed back
on the table those photographs which
burned his fingers, like the cards in
which some fortune teller has decipher-
ed the signs of death.
"Well?" asked M. Ginory.
We'll, repeated Dantin in stran-
gled tone. either not comprehending or
too much, struggling as
If under the oppression of nightmare.
"How do you explain how your face,
your shadow if you prefer, was found
reflected in Rovere's eyes, and that in
his agony this was probably what he
saw-yes, saw bending over him?''
Dantin cast frightened glance
around the room and asked himself If
he was not shut up in maniac's cell,
II the question was real, if the voice
he heard was not the voice of dream.
How can explain? But / cannot
explain, do not understand, do not
know-it is madness, it is frightful, it
is foolish''
but yet, insisted M. Ginory, "this
folly, as you call it, must have some ex-
planation.
"What do you wish to have me say?
do not understand; repeat, do not
-
What if you do not? You cannot
1eny your presence in the house at the
of Rovere's death'-
why cannot deny it?'' Dantin in.
corrupted.
Because the vision is there, hidden,
navy, in the retina; because this photo
graph, in which you recognize yourself,
lenounces, points out, your presence at
he moment of the last agony"
II was not therel 1 swear that was
lot thereP' Dantin fervently declared.
"Then explain, said the magistrate.
Dantin remained silent moment, as
f frightened. Then he stammered: az
I'm dreaming! am dreamingp' And
NJ. Ginory replied in calm tone:
"NOtice that / attribute no exapoerat.