Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-08-23
q r a n V | e

tA0u' anu tHey were the only two
persons IN the chateau except Nine. Rou-
petl herself who had not done so.
VIII assume for the purpose OF ar
gument that NJ. Jules Chabot is guilty"
he began, quietly talking to himself, as
IL ne were some second party Let me
hrSt see whether there is a sufficient mo-
tive for him to have committed this crime
which young Van Lith so strenuously de-
MES. In the first place, who knows
anything about Monsieur Chabot? I do
not, and the mayor does not, for I have
asked him. Assume him to be a fortune
hunter simply, and the motive grows
stronger. But why? Is it because he
Is paying attention TO the Mademoiselles
Weldon! Not entirely but because as
long as Madame Roupell Is alive, the
Mademoiselles Weldon do not succeed to
her fortune? Monsieur Chabot may have
Killed Madame Roupell in order to Sc
cure to himself the fortune he was after.
And he may have contrived to throw sus-
plclon upon Monsieur Van Lith, not only
Tor the purpose Of diVerting suspicion
from himself, but in order to rid himself
of a very dangerous rival. But why a
dangerous rival, when there are two young
ladies, and Monsieur Van Lith cannot
marry both? Because there must be some
provision in Madame Roupells will by
which the first of her nieces marrying
will have the larger share of the estate.
And if such provision exists, it is not I'M
likely that a sharp, shrewd fellow like
this Chabot would have made himself
master of its contents, for he IS an init
mate friend of the family: and his rela-
l.. -, VIZ
is q mere theory, of course" concluded
the project to himself; but in pursuance
| of it. let us see how Monsieur Chabot
| spent the hour which elapsed between his
| retiring and the time of the murder"
He again entered the chamber which
| had been occupied by Chabot, and with
| his new theory thus in his mind looked
| around him. He now sought to make
| each trifing incident reflect some suspi-
| cion against the late occupant of the
| chamber. He examined the bed clothes
| with greater care this time. 1t was evil
| dent that Chabot had not even lain
| down outside of them, He looked under
| the bedstead even, but espying nothing
| but bootjack directed his attention
| next to the toilette table He was about
| to despair, when his eye fell upon a small
| black object, not over quarter OF an
| inch in length. He picked it up, and
| found it was the broken point of a lead
| pencil NJ. Chabot had evidently passed
| the time in writing. The question was,
| how much of the time?
According to the mayors written notes
of his examination of the inmates of the
| chateau. an hour had certainly elapsed
| between the time of Nine. Roupells re
| firing and the sound of the pistol shot.
| At what precise period of that interval
| had the pencil point been broken? The
| accident to the pencil had not occurred
! at the time of the firing of the shot,
| for if it had been caused by reason of the
| writer's starting with surprise, he would
| not, naturally have taken time to put
| away his writing materials before going
| TO ascertain the cause of the noise. He
must therefore have been thus employed
| for only a portion of the interval. The
question now uppermost in Victor La
| blanche's mind was: How did Jules Cha
| bot consume the rest of his time? If he
! should fail to properly account for the
! whole hour. there would be strong reasons
| for holding him in custody.
Having revolved these matters in his
mind. the project of police arose from
| the easy chair into which he had thrown
| himself and approached the door leading
| from Jules Chabot's room to the cham
| her of Nine Roupell. Of course it was
! fastened, as by again referring to the
mavor's notes it transpired that Jules
| Cbabot had entered the chamber by an
| other way. Almost mechanically he seiz-
ell the handle and turned it. The door
was unlocked When he had made these
! discoveries he descended with a lighter
| heart than he would otherwise have done.
! Much would depend upon the evidence to
| be elected by himself and the testimony
| RI be taken before the judge of instruc-
ton.
He stroIied out on the terrace to com
| plete his official inspection of the prem
| ises He commenced his examination at
| the back of the chateau. He went into
| all the outhouses he visited the servants
| ofices-eyen the cellars and dairy. Then
| he emerged again into the open air and
| inspected the windows and searched
| among the flower beds beneath them for
the prints of feet Nothing, however, re
| warded this careful scrutiny. until cross
! ing the lawn he went through an ancient
| of the building. Then his quick eye de-
tected that a shrub had been brushed
| aside. and STOPPING on the graveled walk,
he discovered that a weed had been crush
ed beneath a heavy foot. little further
on he found further signs, and little
later stood looking down upon footprint
in the soft mold.
Following these footprints. he found
they led directly beneath the window OF
the chamber occupied by Harriet Weldon.
This puzzled him. He was nonplussed
for the moment. when he noticed that
the vines on the lattice seemed lately to
have been disturbed There was another
window below Miss Weldon's within easy
reach. He put up his hand. and it swung
open. Looking in he saw that 1t afforded
| access to a small pantry and the door of
the room was ajar. He took rule from
his pocket, and carefully measured the
footprints Then, after Illuminating for
few moments, he quickly re-entered the
house.
T.,