Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-17
DAILY SHORT STORY
Jean Teterault's Secret.
IOriginal.1

had acquired considerable means. Jean
not only observed a proper economy;
he descended to parsimony.
One night Jean was lying awake
thinking of some way to add to his
holdings. His. bed was so placed that
he could look out of a back window to-
ward a hill in the rear of his house.
He was surprised TO see a light just
beneath the hilltop moving about
among a clump of trees.
That's very strange" remarked
Jean to himself What can any one
be doing there?"
Jean suddenly formed a resolution
to go and find out what it meant; so.
jumping out of bed, he hastily donned
his clothes and. going out of the back
door, climbed the hill. When he came
near enough he stopped and watched.
But he was too late to discern what
had occurred. \ man and a woman
were just leaving the place. The man
held up lantern to remove its lamp
and blow out the light, and as he did
so Jean caught a glimpse of his face
and that of the woman as well. They
were Mr.. and Mrs. Pierre BraZeau,
whom he knew we'll by sight and repu-
tation, a wealthy young couple whose
country place was not far distant. As
soon as the light was eXtingu1shed
Jean could hear them moving away
through the bushes toward road, and
few moments later he heard the
closing of q carriage door and wheels
creaking on the stones.
Jean went home and to bed, but the
next morning he reaScended the hill TO
the place where he had seen the cou-
pie, and there, in a secluded spot III the
center of thick bushes, he came upon a
space four feet long and two feet wide
where the earth had been dug up and
the cavity refilled.
Jeans first impulse was to remove
the earth and see who or what was
buried there, but neighbOr whose
property adjOined the place came
along and prevented.
"Have you heard Of the good fortune
of the great people living below, the
Brazeaus?''- asked the man.
''No. What is it?"
''The only child of Brazeau's elder
brother, who inherited the most of
their fathers estate, is dead, and Pi-
ere Brazeau will now be twice as rich
| as formerly"
Jean made no reply to this announce
ment but he did a great deal Of think
| ing. 1t was plain to him that the little
heir had been put out of the way Ivy
those next of kin and buried at the
dead of night, when no eye except
Jean Teterault's was looking. Here
was an opportunity if properly fol-
| lowed up for a large accession to- his
| own fortune.
After much deliberatiOn he decided
not to run any risk in tampering with
the grave. What he did was to write
| Pierre Brazeau note informing him
| that he knew of the secret burial To
| this he received no reply. Then he
| wrote another note stating that he con-
| ceived it to be his duty to inform the
| authorities. To this Il reply came offer
| ing him a large sum of money to keep
| his mouth shut. Jean was delighted,
| but the sum offered was not large
| enough. He replied that his conscience
| would not admit of such Il thing.
| More correspondence followed, and at
| last Jean consented to meet Mr.. Bra
| Zeau mt the place of the grave to re-
ceive a sum far greater than he could
| have hoped as the price of silence
On the appointed night Jean went up
| the hill with light heart. He pro-
| posed as soon as he had received the
| hush money to go to France and live
to the end of his days in that sunny
| land. On approaching the place he
heard a cough, which guided him to
| Pierre BraZeau, who w3sS standing be
side the grave. Jean had no sooner
Joined him than Brazeau gave whis-
tie, and Immediately several persons
bearing dark lanterns came forward
from opposite directions. Jean was
| thunderstruck.
Mr.. Magistrate" said Brazeau to
one of them, Il have desired your pres
ence here to make confession and show
you the evidence of n crime. But for
this good man it might never have been
| known"
He motioned to one of the men who
bore a spade, and he began to dig.
| Presently the spade struck wood, and
an oblong box was removed. The lid
was unscrewed, and when it was lifted
off the box there bay the body of a
poodle with a pink ribbon around its
neck and the name Daisy inscribed
on it's collar.
Mr.. Magistrate" said BraZeau, 81
am Il murderer. My wife's pet dog
showed symptoms of hydrophobia and
poisoned it. Mrs. Brazeau and 1 Sc
cretly buried it here on these few
acres which we own. Mrs. Brazeau
shrank from attracting attention by
the honor she wished to do her pet she
so loved, and we buried it when we
supposed no one would see US. de-
sire. Mr.. Magistrate, to make a clean
breast Of this matter and give you all
the evidence, especially the record Of
this good mans conscientious efforts
in behalf Of justice"
He handed the magistrate batch Of
letters he had received from Teterault
| The magistrate glanced them through
by the light OF a lantern, then bent his