Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1901-10-17
left the club and crossed Lafayette
CHAPTER II.


At half after seven, the bell on tho
secretary's desk at the club jingled.
Nine. Deschanel raised the telephone
receiver,
A voice said: de L. came home
with me tonight, after losing every
thing this afternoon. His mood was
so black that dared not leave him.
I urged him to rest before dinner.
When he seemed to be asleep, left
the room for moment. He has shot
himself What is to be done p
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Nine.
Deschanel, is that you, Baronne?"
"Yes."
"I'll be there in ten minutes"
Scandal, exposure, ruin chased
through her brain as Nine. Deschanel
threw herself into the first of the
long line of hansoms stretching away
from the door. She gasped an address,
promising triple fare for haste.
Ten minutes later Baronne, in per-
son, ADMITTED her to his apartments.
Without word they entered bed
chamber. The large room was dimly
lighted. A single candle burned on
the mantel. The furtive glance of the
excited woman, as by instinct, sought
the canopied bed on the opposite side
of the room.
There lay De Lignac, deadly white.
He was still fully dressed. An out
stretched arm hung over the side of
the bed. Beneath it, on the floor, lay
the revolver, just as it had fallen from
his hand. The single glance read the
situation.
"Horrible!" "Horrible!" muttered
Nine. Deschanel. The pent panic
sought outlet. "A white-livered fool
like him should stay at home with his
mother! Coward! Execrable-why-
if one word of this escapes, my place
is ruined. The pleasure of hundreds
sacrificed to a child"
She turned fiercely upon Baronne.
'How much did he lose?"
"His annual allowance" answered
Baronne. A slight tremor touched his
voice. "And some hundreds, borrowed
from friends who CHANGED to be at the
club this afternoon"
"H'm!> as bad as that?" said Nine,
Deschanel in quieter tone.
Its nasty mess at. BEST"
A sudden idea reached her.
"Does anyone else know of this ;"
"No; my valet, the only person in the
place, happened to be in the wine cellar
at the moment"
Good! Very good!" The burrows
in the woman's brow smoothed per-
ceptibly. The cool, keen gambler sue
ceeded to the hysterical bundle of emo
tions.
"Now, them" she said, CURLY, II rely
upon you, Baronne, as man of honor
and gentleman, not to betray the
secret. Shortly after leave, you will
follow and not return until tomorrow,
when you will discover him."
A cloud Swallowed her brow as she
detected . possible flaw in her plan.
"Your valet-does he enter this
room?"
"Never, without summons" came the
laconic reply. r.
Tomorrow, you will discover the
sad affair. You understand?"
Eyes, but"
"I'll put these notes in his pocket"
Z Nine. Deschanel shivered slightly as
she tucked roll of bank ote into the
waistcoat pocket of the dead man. The
devil even dares not cross the chalk
line drawn by Death. Then she hurried
from the room.
'There," she added, at the door,
"want of money could not possibly have
been the motive of the suicide"
A quiet, self-complacent smile re-
lieved the haggard look of her face.
The thought that she had saved the
house of Deschanel cheered her more
leisurely drive back to the club.