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


"Tt is possible" soid DGntjn. at seems
10 resemble UC.'
very simple one. and you force me to
come to the end Of my task. You un-
derstand:'
"Pcrfcctly," said Jacques Dantin,
with the impulsiye anger Of q man VINO
stumbles over an article which he has
left there himself.
"You still refuse to roply?'
~ refuse, came here as 0switness.
/ have nothing to ~reproach myself with,
especially as | have nothing TO fear;
You must do whatever you choose to
do"
Il can, said the magistrate, "change
q citation for appearance to a citation
for retention. l will ask you once
more
ct is useless, " interrupted Dantin.
can assassin, /! What folly! Rovere's
murderer! 1t seems as if | were dream
ing. 1t is absurd, absurd, absurd!'
Provo to me that it is absurd in
truth. Do you not wish to reply?"
Il have told you all ] know"
"But you have said nothing of what
I have demanded of you"
1T is not my secret.
eyes; there is your system. 1t is fire..
Qucnt, it is common. 1t is that of all
the accused.
"Am 1 already accusod?" asked Dan
tin ironically.
Al I.t,,,y.- ,vH,- c. 1o,,L n ,,,an,or,t. tI,o,,
slowly taking from the drawer of his
desk some paper upon which Dantin
could discern no writing this time, but
some figures, engraved in black-he
knew not what they wcre-the magis-
trato held them between his fingers so
as to show them. IIo swung them to
and fro, and the papers rustlcd like dry
leaves. He seemed to attach great value
to these papers, which the registrar
looked at from a corner of hiseyc, guess
ing that they were the Photographic
proofs which had been taken.
Il beg Of YOU t. examine these
proofs, " said tho magistrate to Dantin.
He held them out to him, and Dantin
spread them on the table (there were
four of them). Then be put Oh his eye
glasses il order to see better. VIVA is
that:' he asked.
''Look carefully, replied the maSis-
tratc. Dantin bent over the proofs, eX-
amincd them N by one, OWNED rather
than saw III the picture, which was a
little hazy, the portrait of a man, and
upon close examination began to see in
the specter Il Vague resemblance.
"Do you not see that this picture
bears a resemblance to you?'
This time Dantin seemed tho prey of
some nightmare, and his eyes searched
NJ. GinOry's face with a sort Of aL-~
The expression struck Ginory, One
would have said hat q ghost had sud
denly appeared to Dantin.
"You say that it resembles me?"
eyes. Look carefully. At first the
portrait is vague. On closer examination
it ome 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 ]
wero looking at myself in a pocket mir,
lor. But what does that signify?"
THAT siguiti- Oh, | am going tC
astonish you. That signities''- Nj. Gil
nory turned toward his registrar. "You
saw the other evening, Favarel, the eX'
pertinent III which DR.. Oudin showed u:
the heart and lungs performing theil
functions in the thoraX of a living man,
made visible by the Roentgen rays
Well. This is not any moro miraculous
These photographs" Che turned now to
ward Dantin) were taken Of the rcti
ma of the d, I'd mans eve. They are TIT
reflection, tao reproduction Of the i'm
age implanted there, the picture Of TIT
last living being contemplated in thu
agony, the last visual sensation which
the unfortunate man experienced. Ih'
retina has given to us-as a witness
the imuge of tho living person seen b,
the dead man for the last time"
y deep silence fell upon the three
men in hat little room, where II o
them alone lost his foothold at thi
strange revelation. For the magistrate
it WAS Il decisive moment, when all hat
been said, when the man, having beel
questioned closely, Jumps at the fore
gone conclusion. AS for the registrar
however blase he may have become y
these daily experiences, it was the de
cisive moment, the moment when tn
line drawn from the water the fish i
landed, writing on the hook.
jacques Dantin, with an instinctiv
movement, had rejected, pushed b, i
III tho table those photographs whlcl
burned his fingers, like tho cards il
which some fortune teller has dccipher
ed tho signs Of death.
"Weliy" asked NJ, Ginory.
"Well," repeated Dantin in q stran
!, gled tone, either not compromising o
, comprchending too much, struggling Il
t if under the oppression of II nightmare
"How do you explain how your face
your shadow il you prefer, was foun
reflected in Roverc's eyes, and that /
lis agony this was probably what h
aW-yes, SAW bending over him?'
DGntin cast Il frightened glanc
FOUND the room and asked himself
@ was rot shut mp III IA maniac eel
the question was real, if the vote
~ heard WAS not the voice of IA dream.
"IIow can | explain? But | ann
splain, | do not understand, l do n(
uoW-is is madness, it is frightful,
s foolish"
"But yet, " insisted NJ. Ginory, "tht
4 IL. .. 49,, ,.I1 - ,ntrGt hay "A GAtnn "a,