Evening star., 1907-10-13
All Rights Reserved.

was old one which had been a good
ideal shown in shop windows. much to
Ivor's disgust at about the time when
he returned from his great expedition
and published his really wonderful book
! | had seen II before / met him. and IL
must have been on sale In Paris well
as. London. 1t had been easy enough FOR
the newspaper people to get II. Then
There came the story OF the murder. built
iup dramatically Hating 1t. slckenrd by
1t, | yet read it all | knew where to GO
to find the house. and | knew that the
murder had been committed in a back
room on the top floor. Also | saw the
picture Of the window with the balcony
lvor was supposed according to Girard
the detectiVe-to have tried in vain To
iescape by way OF this high balcony. on
hearing sounds outside the door while
busy in searching the dad mans room.
IGirard said that he had seen him first.
by the light of Il huil's-eye lantern. which
he-Girard-carried. standing at hay In
the open window. There was "A photo
graph of this window. taken from outside.
There was the balcony. and there was the
balcony of another window with another
balcony just like II. on the adjoining
house. | looked at the picture. and
Judged that there would not be more
ithau two feet of distance between the
lrailings of those two balconies.
That would be my way to get there
Iif can get there at all | said 10 my
self But there was hardly any IF left
| BY this time II after @ clock 1
left the Duval restaurant and again took
a cab. The first thing did 10 send
a petit bleu to Aunt Lillian. saying that
she wasn't To worry about me. I'd been
hipped and nervous and had gone out To
see a friend who was-Id just found out
staying In Paris. Perhaps 1 should stop
with the friend to dinner. but at latest
l should be back by or 10 O'Clock Thai
would save a bother at the hotel Gor
Aunt Lillian knew | had heaps OF Ameri-
can friends who came every year to
Parfs). yet one would know where to
search for me. even If they were In
clined.
! Next I drove to a street near the Rue
de la File Salvage and dismissed my
cab. l asked for no directions. but after
one or two mistakes, found the street I
wanted. Instead of going to the house
| OF the murder l passed on to the next
house the left-the house of the bal
cony almost adjoining the dead mans.
| l rang the bell for the concierge. and
asked him IL there were any rooms to let
in the house. I knew already that there
were. for I could see the advertisement
of "chambres louer." staring me I'm the
| face, but l spoke French badly as I
could. making three mistakes to every
sentence, and begged the man to talk
slowly in answering me.
There were several rooms to be had. IL
appeared, but II would have been too good
! to be true that the one I wanted should
| be empty. After We had Jabbered awhile.
| / made the concierge understand that I
was a young American journalist EN-
ployed by a New York paper. l wanted
| to write up the murder of last night,
according to my own ideas. and as. OF
course the police wouldn't let me go into
the room where 1t happened, the next best
Thing would be to take the room close to
it, in the house adjoining. / wanted to
|be there only long enough to get the
emotion, the sensation" 1 explained. %
I., 10. ia. faI. antl n
Would the people who Occupied that room
let 1t to me for few hours Long be-
IfOre bedtime they could have it back
Iagain. If got on we'll with my writing.
| The concierge, to whom L gave ten
francs as a kind of retaining fee. was
almost sure the occupants of the room
Ian old man and his wice) would will
/ lingly agree to such q proposal, IL L paid
them well enough for their trouble In
turning out.
Would three louis be enough? / asked
The coneierge-whose eyes frightened
thought that ii would. L knew by his
look he would take a large commission
for managing the affair. he quickly
offered to do, but that didn't matter to
me.
| He confirmed my idea that it would
have been hopeless to try and get into
the room of the murder itself, even II /
could have borne it, saying that the door,
and window too, had been sealed by the
from curiosity seekers, but he added that
L could see the shut window from the
balcony of the room l was going to hire.
| 1 waited for him. and played with his
very unattractiveN baby. while he went
upstairs to make inquiri IS. He was gone
| for some time. explaining to the people.
but at last, when my patience was al
most too far strained, he came back to
| say that Monsieur and Madame Nissot
had consented to go out OF their room
for the evening. They were dining at the
moment, however. and mademoiselle must
be pleased to wait a few moments until
they finished the meal, and gathered up
la few things which they could carry to .
lneighbor's-books and work for their
hours Of absence, the concierge politely
suggested. But that was to save my
feelings. no doubt. for I was sure the
husband and wife meant to make q par
eel OF any valuables which could possibly
be carried of by an INSCRIPTIONS Amer-
can journalist. Also, they stipulated that
payment must be made Ia advance. This
L agreed willingly. And then-I waited.
waited. 1t was tedious, but after all, the
tediousness didn't matter much when l
/ came to think Of it. Ii would be tmpos-
sible to do the thing l had made up my
mind to do till after dark.
CTo be continued next Sunday