The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-08
HinlseIf!''

1 you will be good enough to tell ms
where / can find your client"
Needless to say, was obliged to re-
| fuse this information. Nor need I de-
scribe the pressure of various kinds
brought to bear on me in the course
of the next hour to make me yield
my secret. In the end the President
was good enough to say:
well, I see that you are an honest
man, monsieur. One does not meet toe
many of them in politics. I must ap-
ply to my police to do me the service
which you have refused
I was not indiscreet enough to cast
a doubt as to the result of this ap-
plication.
On quitting the Elysee found my
self already under surveillance; and I
may say here that during the days
that followed I was obliged to put
forth all my powers to shake off the
sleuth hounds who were on my track.
I must be excused from indicating the
precise ruse which I employed on this
occasion, inasmuch as I still have to
resort to it from time to time and 7
have reason to know that these me-
moirs of mine are read with a good
deal of interest in the Rue de Jeru-
salem.
Punctually at half-past ten on the
morning after my interview with NJ
Casimir-Perier I presented myself in
the character of William Arbuthnot
at the little room on the Place de la
Sorbonne.
found my client reclining on the
bed exactly as I had left him more
than twelve hours before, placidly
smoking the last cigarette of the fifty
I had provided him with overnight
Apparently he had not once closed his
eyes. or rather he had closed them
only in that dangerous meditation of
which Asiatics possess the secret.
He scarcely opened them at my en-
trance, and he did not condescend to
ask me how I had Jared.
I was obliged to tell my story I'M
solicited, and it was received with the
most perfect apathy.
AT this moment" I wound up by
saying, every detective in France is
hunting for you high and low"
Il Informed you that that would be
the case" the Persian commented with
a slight sneer. well, will give them
a week These cigarettes suit me:
will you please buy me a thousand?'
BY the end of the week the French
police were in despair, was almost
worn out. and there were exactly |
twelve cigarettes left.
Whether my client had actually |
moved or slept during the interval / |
am unable to say. I only know that |
invariably found him in the same |
posture, and that 1 never saw him |
change it except to conceal himself |
when the door was opened.
AS had foreseen. the police paid me
q domiciliary visit. But the concierge
had evidently satisfied them as to the
character of her new tenant, and the
visit appeared to be merely matter
Of routine. A man in plain clothes
called just after the hour of dejeuner,
took stock of the supposed Arbuth-
not with single glance, and retired
without looking further.
I waited with some anxiety for the
next development. 1t was evident that
my nameless client had not yet done
with the President of the Republic,
nor with me.
On the seventh day, precisely at the
same hour as before. he deigned to
renew his instructions.
Tonight" he said, speaking in that
slow, assured tone which seemed to
bear down all possibility of contra
diction, tonight you will take anoth-
er message"
Knowing beforehand that it was USE
less to resist, I could only ask,
ITO the President again?"
The speaker lifted his eyebrows a
shade.
ITO Casimir-Perier''
What is the MESA ge?'
The Oriental seemed to consult his
memory before replying.
This time you will say to him:
The cord of the Plummet is worn
through
This second introduction of archi- |
tectural terms caused me to reflect.
1t could not be by chance that the |
unknown employed such language, and
| tried to see in it some clue to his |
and to the obscure links |
which evidently connected him with |
the French President
After mild protest for the salts |
faction of my professional pride |
agreed to carry the message-perhaps |
ought to call it the threat.
This time I had no difficulty in in |
terviewing NJ. Casin1ir- Perier On the |
contrary the household of the Eylsee |