Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-26

wish 20 keep your secret, and 1T is IA
claim which | do not admit"
81 repeat, NJ. le Juge, that the secret
is not mine"
1T is no longer a secret which can
remain sacred hero. A murder has been
committed. a murderer is to be found,
and everything you know you ought to
reveal to justice"
But if | give you my word of Eonor
that it has not the slightest bearing on
the mattcr--with the death of Rovere?'
81 shall tell my registrar to write
your very words III reply. Ho has done
it. | shall continue to question you,
precisely because you speak to me of a
secret which has been confided to you
and which you refuse to disclose to me.
Because you do rofuso?'
absolutely"
"1n spite Of what I have said to you?
1t is a warning, You know it we'll"
"ln spite of your warning
Take care" Nj. Ginory softly said.
His angry face had lost its wontcd ami
ability. Tho registrar quickly raised
his head. He felt that II decisive mo-
mont had come. The examining magis-
trato looked directly into Dantin's eyes
and slowly said, "You remember that
you were seen by the FORTRESS at tho
moment when Revere, standing with
you in front Of his open safe, showed
you some valuables?"
Dantin waited Il moment before he
replied, as if measuring these words
and searching to find out just what NJ.
Ginory was driving at. This silence,
short and mOmlcntouF, was dramatic.
Tho magistrate knew it well-that mo-
mcnt of agony when the question seems
like a cord, like a lasso suddenly
thrown and tightening around ones
neck. There was always in his cXami-
nation a tragic moment.
~ remember very well that | saw q
person whom / did not know enter the
room where | was with NJ Revere"
jacques Dantin replied at last.
"a person whom you did not know?
You knew her very well, since you had
more than ohce asked her il n. Revere
was at home. That person is Nine.
Monichc, who has made her deposition"
And what did she say in her deposit
tom"
The magistrate took a paper from tho
table III front Of him and read: "Nheu
| entered, NJ. Revere was standing he
fore his safe, and | noticed that the in
dividual of whom ! spoke the individu-
al is you cast upon the coupons a look
which made me cold. | thought to my
self, This ma looks as if he is meditat-
ing some bad deed.
"Tha, is to say, !" brusquoly said Dan
tin, who had listened with frowning
brows and with an angry expression,
that Hme. Moniche accuses me Of hav-
ing murdered NJ. Rovere!'
lyon are III too much haste. Nine.
Moniche has not said that precisely.
She was only surprised-surprised and
frightened-at your expression as you
looked at the deeds, bills and coupons. "
"Those coupons, " asked Dantin rather
anxiously-"Lave they, then, been stol-
en:''
"Ah, that we know nothing about!'
And the magistrate smiled. zone has
found in Rovere's safe in the neighbor-
hood of $50, 900 francs i'll coupons, city
u L uIlN DOIIilS. SlllIts III IlllllllS SUCIt-
ties, rent rolls, bit nothing to prove that
there was before the assassination more
than that sum-"
"Had it been forced opon?"
"No; but any one familiar with tbs
dead man, o friend who knew the secret
CT the combination of the safe, the foul
letters forming tho word, could have
opened it without trouble"
Among these words Dantin heard one
which struck him full III the face
friend" NJ. Ginory had pronounced
it i'll an ordinary tone, but Dautin hut
seized and read in it Il menace. For ;
moment the ma who was being queS
toned felt a peculiar sensation. i
seemed to him one day when he hat
been almost drowned during II boatin,
party that same agony had seized him
it seemed that he had fallen into som,
abyss, some icy pool, which was para.
lying him. Opposite to him the exam
ming magistrate experienced a contrary
feeling, The caster of Il hook and lin,
4, feels q similar sensation, but it was i'll
tcnsiticd Il hundred times in the magis
tratc, Il fisher Of truth, throwing tn,
line into Il human sea, the water pol
? luted, red with blood and mixed witt
mud.
= A friend! A friend could have abused
D the dead mans secret and opened tina
! safe. And that fricnd-what name die
he bear? Whom did NJ. Ginory wish t.
@ designate? Dantin, i'll spite of his san,
froid, experienced a violent temptation
n to ask the mau what he meant by thos
I words. But the strange sensation WhicI
: this interview caused him increased.
, seemed to him that he had been there
n long time-a very long time since Il
had crossed that thrcshold-and tina
q this little room, separated from tn
world like q monks cell, had wall
. thick enough to prevent any one from
q hearing anything outside. He felt as j
hypnoti2ed by that man, who at frs
had met him with q pleasant air, an,
who now bent upon him those har
Z eyes. Something doubtful, like vagu
danger, surrounded him, menaced him
and he mechanically followed the ges
ture which Nj. Ginory made as ne touch
ed the ivory button of an electric be
k as if N this gesture depended som
event of his life, a guard entered. NJ
Ginory said to him in a short tone
"Haye the notes been brought"
IN. Bernardet has just brought then
to me, NJ. L. Jugc."
HGivo thpm to mo - In thop o1dat