The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-16

| influence, to spread abroad reports of her nieces strange actions and then, by hrb- | ins a doctor completely under the infu- | ence of D'Aigrigny, to have her con | veyed to an asylum.
 From documents in her possession Adr- enne knew that Prince Djalma and tho l daughters of General Simon were her relatives, and learning that they were on thelr way to Paris, she had ordered one portion of the house then occupied | by her aunt, the Princess. to be pre- pared for the residence of the Prince, and another part for that of Blanche and Rose Simon. But before these orders could be executed she had been spirited 1 away to the asylum.
 On the ship from Batavia there had sailed with Djalma and East Indian. | Faringhea, whom the Prince not know l ing his antecedents, had taken into his personal service. This man was of the sect of the Stranglers. who kill for the love of killing. He had found on the corpse of one of hls victims certain letters which let him into the secret of Rodin's conspiracy against Djalma and, | outlawed in India and Java, was seeking
 Paris with the idea of seeing Rodin and | reaping some advantage to himself from | his knowledge of the conspiracy. ! DAigrigny had sent man to poison f Djalma, but the willy Indian had pre- | vented the ueeQ ana gwen the prince h l strong narcotic instead, which unless the antidote he himself alone knew was ap- | piled, would keep Djalma asleep until | after February 13. This he had done up- ] on their arrival in Paris and had re- l ported at once to Rodn, which was why D'Aigrgny had said to his secretary,
 'Djalma, as you know, will not trouble ! us" But on the morning of February IA of what avail were the brutal expedients by which DAigrigny had managed to | bridge over the preceding day? Nothing! | Worse than useless.
 ''rhe fool!" sneered Rodin But he has still some usefulness left in him before i! l destroy him
 |, Rodin worked quickly When he re- paired to the asylum where Adrienne was confined he took a magistrate with | him to whom he made a charge of con- spiracy against D'AigrIgny, the Princess | Sain- -Dzier and the doctor who kept the | institution.
 "Ah, mademoiselle," said he in his most toneyed tones '1 have been forced | through poverty long to remain in the employ of a most interruptions rascal, the Marquis d'Aigrigny But his machina- tlons against yourself were too much. | They decided me upon step which l 1 have long sought the courage to take. have left his employ and will, through Gods help, now attempt to undo some or the wrong m Wnlcn nave Deen an unwilling participant"
 The old rascal knew that his charge | against DAigrigny and the Princess could not be proved without his test- mony, and that testimony. of course. he | would never give. He knew, also. that if either of them dared to do anything ex- cept acquiesce in what he did he could
 ing charges against them which could be proved and utterly ruin them. And he knew that they knew it and would keep quiet.
 "And, my dear young lady" continued ] Rodn. "I wish also to make my work l of repentance more complete by restoring 1 to General Simon his two charming 1 daughters who are confined in the neigh 1 boring convent. I have therefore written 1 him to be here, where, with your per {! mission, this reunion will take place. l Utterly deceived by Rodln's words and | deeds Adrienne who at first had in- 1 stinctively feared and distrusted him, now
 hailed him as the deliverer and pre- ] server of her family. Rodin then visited the convent and returned. leading Rose and Blanche just as General Simon. who l upon his arrival in Paris had been dis tracted at the news of the loss of his daughters entered the room.
 | This happy group, amid their tears and | embraces. hailed Rodin as their liberator and confided to him in their gratitude the 1 ,.eepest secrets of their hearts.
 "Ah," sighed Rodin. that ever should have been the tool of that wicked D'Ai- grigny,"
 "D'Aigrfngy.' cried General Simon
 starting, that villain; I will have his life.'
 ..Yes in due time" thought Rodin as
 he saw his way clear to one removal. :.
 D'Aigrigny and General simon were old
 enemies Once, wounded and a prisoner
 m the field of battle, Simon, when tho
 emfgre marquis had demanded his sword
 had dragged himself to a Russian hussal