The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-02-21

7,
brushing some dust off his coat, this is
not the point; you insinuate that l COM
mitted crime, perhaps you will tell me
what kind of crime?"
Murder" she replied, in a whisper.
"Oh, indeed" sneered CASTOR, coolly.
though his lips twitched little, 1.-The same
style of crime as your own? and whose
murder am 1 guilty of. prayT
Randolph Villiers."
"Who can prove it?'' he asked. con-
temptuously.
II camp
"Yor,- 18th a sneer, "a murderess?"
"Wh, IN prove | am a murderess?"
she erie wildly.
II can" he answered, with an ugly
look; land / viii il you don't keep a
quiet tongue"
Il will keep quiet no longer" boldly
rising and facing Vandeloup. with her
| hands clenched at her sides Il have tried
to shield you faithfully through all your
wickedness, but now that you accuse me
OF committing a crime, which accusation
you know is false. l accuse you, CASTOR
yandeloup, and your sccomplice, yonder."
wheeling round and pointing to Pierre,
who shrank away, 'of numbering Ran
dolph villiers, at the Black Hill, Ballarat,
for the sake of a nugget of gold he car
ried."
You are mad" said Vandeloup, in
cold voice; this is the raving of luna
tic; there is no proof of what you say
it was proven conclusively that myself
and Pierre were asleep at our hotel while
Mr.. Villiers was with Barty at two
o'clock in the morning"
Il know that it was proved" she re-
torted, land by some jugglery on your
part: but, nevertheless, 1 saw you and
him." pointing again to Pierre, murder
villiers.
You saw it," echoed vandeloup, with
disbelieving smile; tell me how"
| Al ~ she cried, taking a step forward
you do not believe me, but 1 tell you it
is true--yes, l know now who the tive
men were following Madame Midas as
| she drove away; one was her husband
who wished TO rob her, and the other was
| Pierre, who, acting upon your instruc-
| iioas was to get the gold from Villiers
should he succeed in getting it from Mad
anne. You left me few minutes after
wards but /, with my heart full of love
wretched woman that / was-followed
| you at a short distance, unwilling to lose
sight of you even for a little time.
climbed down among the rocks and saw
you seat yourself in a narrow part of the
| path. Pierre-that wretch that covers
| in the corner-came down the path and
You spoke to him in French. What was
said did not know, but guessed enough
, TO know you meditated some crime. Then
yilliers came down the path with the mug
ret in its box under his arm. l recog-
| nized the box as the one which Madame
Midas had brought to our house. When
Villiers came opposite yon you spoke to
| him: he tried TO pass on, and then Pierre
sprang out from behind the rock and the
| two men struggled together. while you
seized the box containing the gold which
viliers had let fall, and watched the
/ struggle. You saw that villiers. Animal
ed by despair, was gradually gaining the
| victory over Pierre and then you stepped
| in-yes; saw you snatch Pierre's knife
| from the back of his waist and stab Villiers
in the back. Then you put the knife into
Pierre's hand, all bloody, as Villiers fell
dead, and L fed away"
She stopped, breathless with her re-
cital, and Vandeloup, pale but composed,
would have answered her, when a cry
from Pierre startled them. He had come
close to them, and was looking straight
at Kitty.
Then !" he cried: II am innocentT"
"Your" shrieked Kitty, falling back on
her bed who are your"
The man pulled his hat off and came a
step nearer.
"I am Randolph villiersv
Kitty shrieked again and covered her
face with her hands, while Vandeloup
laughed in a mocking manner, though his
pale face and quivering lip told that his
mirth was assumed.
"Yes," said Villiers, throwing his hat
on the floor of the cell, "it was Pierre
Lemaire, and not I, who died. The strug-
gle took place as you have described, but
he" pointing to Vandeloup, wishing to
get rid of Pierre for reasons of his own,
stabbed him, and not me, in the back. He
thrust the knife into my hand, and I, in
my blind fury, thought that / had MUIR
dered the dumb man. / was afraid of be-
ing arrested for the murder, so, as sug-
gested by Vandeloup, / changed clothes
with the dead man and wrapped my own
up in a bundle. We hid the body and the
nugget in one of the old mining shafts
and then came down to Ballarat. l was
similar to Pierre in appearance, except
that my chin was shaven. l went down
TO the Waffle Tree Hotel as Pierre after
leaving my clothes outside the window OF
the bedroom which Vandeloup pointed out
to me. Then he went to the theater and
told me to rejoin him there as Villiers. l
got my own clothes into the room, dressed
again as myself; then, locking the door
so that the people of the hotel might sup
pose that Pierre slept, I jumped out OF
the window of the bedroom and went to
the theater. There l played my part as
you know, and while we were behind the
scenes Mr.. Wopples asked me to put out
the gas in his room. l did so, and took
from his dressing table a black beard, In
order to disguise myself as Pierre till
my beard had grown We went to supper
and then parted with Barty at 2 O'Clock
in the morning, and went back to the
hotel. where l climbed into the bedroom
through the window and reassumed
Pierre's dress forever. 1t was by Vande-
loups advice did not go to the Pactolus
where my wife would have recognized me-
linen Il, as tue SuppoScu icifcs was uiS
charged. as you know. Vandeloup, apins
friendship, drew the dead mans salarJ
and bought clothes and box for me. In
the middle of one night 1, still disguised
as Pierre, slipped out of the window and
went up to Black Hill where l found the
nugget and brought it down to my room
at the Waffle Tree Hotel. Then Vande-
loup brought in the box with my clothes
and we packed the nugget in 1t, together
with the suit | had worn at the time OF
the murder. Following his instructions,
came down to Melbourne, and there dis
posed of the nugget-no need to ask how
as there are always people ready to dc
things of that sort for payment When
| was paid for the nugget, and | only got
eight hundred pounds, the man who melt
ed it down taking the rest, had to give
six hundred to Vandeloup, as l was in
his power as thought, and dare not re
fuse in case he should denounce me for
the murder of Pierre Lemaire. And now
find that I have been innocent all the