The Iola register., 1902-03-28

thousand reasons which should have
made me distrustful."
"What reasopsT
IN Bertomy gambled. have known
Of his spending whole nights at the
gaming table and losing immense sums
of money. He was intimate with a
bad set. Once he was mixed up with
one of my clients, NJ. de Clameran, In
q scandalous gambling affair"
"You must confess, monsieur" inter-
rupted the judge, that you were very
imprudent, not to say culpable, to have
intrusted your safe to such a man."
"Ah, monsieur, Prosper was not al
ways thus. Until the past year he was
model of goodness. He was received
into my house as one Of my family.
He spent all OF his evenings with us
and was the bosom friend of my eldest
son. Lucien. Then suddenly he left
us and never came TO the house again.
Yet / had every reason to believe him
attached to my niece Madeleine"
"Then you can see no motive for
your cashiers conductT
The banker paused to reflect.
'It is impossible for me to account
for II. l have. however, always sup
posed that Prosper was led astray by a
young man whom he met at my house
about this time, NJ. Raoul de Lagors."
"Ah! And who is this young man"
"a relative of my wife, n charming
fellow, but somewhat wild, though
rich enough to pay his way"
Tho iu1on lictpnp1 OttppttVp1v tO
this, then wrote the name Lagors Mt
the bottom of an already long list OF
his memoranda.
"Now," he said, eve are coming to
the point. You are sure that the rob
berry was not committed by any in
your houseW
"Quite sure, monsieur"
"You always kept your key"
Usually / carried 1t about on my
person. and whenever l left II at home
/ put 1t in the secretary drawer in my
bed chamber"
"Where was it the evening of the
robberyT
'In my secretary"
"But them
"Pardon me for inter-upting you"
said NJ. Fauvel land permit me to tell
you that to n safe like mine the key
is Of no Importance. In the first place,
one must know the word upon which
the FIVE movable buttons turn. With
the word one can open it without the
key, but without the word"-
"And this word you never told to any
uneY
"To no one in the world, monsieur,
and sometimes | would have been puz-
zled to know myself with what word
the safe had been shut"
"IIad you forgotten it on the day of
the theftW
mo; the word had been changed the
day before, and its pecullarity struck
me-"
"What was it?"
"Gipsy-G-i-p-s-y," said the banker,
spelling the name.
NJ. Patrigent wrote down the name.
"One more question. monsieur. Were
you at home the evening before the
robberyp
"No; l dined and spent the evening
= with friend. When returned home
, about l o'clock. my wife was in bed,
, and l went to bed Immediately"
= "And you were ignorant Of what
sum there was in the safe?"
Absolutely. After my positive or
; ders could only suppose that a small
sum had been left there over night.
stated this fact to the commissary in
NJ. Bertomy's presence, and he ac-
, knowledged 1t to be the case"
: "That will do, monsieur"
y M. Patrigent was we'll informed OF
the high standing of the banker and
knew almost as much of his affairs as
did NJ. Fauvel himself.
He asked him to sign his testimony
y and then escorted him to the door OF
his office, n rare favor on his part.
Five o'clock struck before the list of
witnesses summoned for the day was
exhausted, but the task of NJ. Patrl-
a gent was not yet finished. He rang
for his balllff, who instantly appeared
! and said to him.
= "Go at once and bring Fanferlot
here"
1t was some time before the detec,
, tive answered the summons. Having
n met colleague on the gallery, he
y thought 1t his duty to treat him to O
drink, and the bailiff had found it nee
essary to bring him from the little inn
@ at the corner.
. How is 1t that you keep people
L Matlng?" said the judge.
Fanferlot bowed almost to the floor
Despite his smiling face, he was very
V uneasy. TO follow the Bertomy case
= alone 1t required a double play thai
might be discovered at any moment
= To manage at once the cause of jus
tice and his own ambition he tool