The Iola register., 1902-04-25
CASE ll3
e. By.
Emile GAboriAu

Everybody wishes me to go awayr'
he cried. "Then there must be q con-
\ piracy against me-"
M. Verduret smiled with satisfaction.
AT last you begin to open your eyes.
ou begin to understand. Yes, there
re people who hate you because Of
he evil they have done you. There are
I'eople to whom your presence in Paris
perpetual menace and who will
not feel safe till they are rid of you"
But who are these people, mon
ieur? Tell me who presumes to send
this money!"
'Tf knew. my dear Prosper" said
lVerduret sadly, my task would be at
I'm end, for then ] would know who
committed this robbery of which you
/ re accused But l have finally pro-
cured evidence which will sooner or
fiater become convincing proof. have
heretofore only made deductions more
Tor less probable. l now possess knowl-
edge which proves that ! was mistak.
In. / walked in darkness; now have
y light to guide me. Now we must
Jake advantage of this evidence, gain
z d by the imprudence of our enemies.
{ We will begin with the porter"
\ He opened the door and called out:
! 81 say, my good man, please come
! lerer'
The porter entered. looking very
much surprised at the authority exer-
Used over his lodger by this stranger.
"Who gave you this letter." said NJ.
, Verduret.
"a messenger, who said hs,was paid
I or bringing it,"
"DO you know himW
( 'T know him well"
go and bring him here"
After the porter had gone NJ. Verdi
ret drew from his pocket his diary and
compared a page of it with the notes
which he had spread over the table.
"These notes were not sent by the
thief" he said.
"Do you think so, monsieur"
81 am sure of it-that is unless the
thief is endowed with extraordinary
penetration and forethought. One
thing Is certain-these notes are not
part of the $4,000 francs which was
stolen from the safe"
yet" said Prosper, who could not
Explain this certainty on the part of
his protector-"yet'-
"There is no yet about it. have the
numbers of all the stolen notes"
"What! When even did not have
them?"
"But the bank had. fortunately. When
4 we undertake an affair, we must an
i ticipate everything and forget nothing.
1t is no excuse for n man to say, 1
did not think of it when he commits
some oversight. l thought of the
bank"
I If In the beginning Prosper had felt
some repugnance about confiding in
his fathers friend. the feeling had now
disappeared.
He understood that alone, scarcely
master of himself, governed only by
the inspirations of his inexperience
never would he have the patient pen
etration of this singular nan.
Verduret continued talking to him
self. as If he had forgotten Prosper'i
presence:
'Then. as this package did not come
from the thief. 1t is plain that it car
only come from the other person whC
was near the safe at the time Of the
robbery. but could not prevent it, ant
now feels remorse. The probability o.
two persons assisting at the robbery, {
probability suggested by the scratch
is now changed into undeniabe Ger
tainty. Therefore | was right"
Prosper, listening attentively, triet
hard TO comprehend this mOnologue
which he dared not interrupt.
"Let us seek" went on the big man
''this second person whose conscience
pricks him and yet who dares not re
veal anything"
He read the letter over several times
scanning the sentences and weighing
the words.
= evidently this letter was composed
by a woman. Never would one mai
doing another man service and send
ing him money use the word 'succor
A man would have said loan, none.
or some other equivalent, but succor-
never. No one but woman ignoran
OF masculine susceptbilities woul
nave naturally made use of this wor
o express the idea 1t represents. A
to the sentence There is one heart
and so on, it could only have bee
written by a woman. Now let us Sc
If we can discover whence the printe
words were taken to compose thes
sentences"
He approached the window and bt
gan to study the pasted words with a
ne scrupulous attention which an ar
quarian would devote to an old, hal
.ffaced manuscript
Small type" he said, livery slende
and clear, well printed. The paper
hin and glossy. These words hav
not been cut from a newspaper or
periodicaL / have seen type like thi