The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-11-05

L w IGLGHCu DONelH at Id NlGllC--d IN
derer armed to the teeth. 1t was Ber-
nardet who, without arms--as all those
agents--caught the famous bandit. the
noted Taureau de la Glaciere, a foreign
Hercules who had strangled his mis-
tress. Bernardet arrested him by hold
ing to his temple the cold neck of a
bottle and saying, Hands up or I fret
Now what the bandit took for the cold
muzzle Of n pistol was a vial containing
some medicine which Bernardet had
purchased of a pharmacist for his liver.
Deeds OF valor against thieves, male
factors and insurrectionists abounded in
B~ernardet's life, and M. emory had just
discovered In this man, whom he be-
lieved simply endowed with the activity
2 keenness ri !! hunting dog. an in.
telligence singnlarly watchful, deep and
complicated. Bernardet, who had moth
ing more to do until the body should
be taken to the morgue left the house
directly after the magistrates.
Where are you going?" asked Paul
Rodler, the reporter.
"Home-a few steps from here"
May I go along with your" asked
the journalist.
ITO find an occasion to make me
speak? But I know nothing. 1 suspect
nothing, I shall say nothing"
do you believe hat 1t is the work
of a thief or revenge?" ~. 5
IT am certain that It was no thief.
Nothing In the apartment was touched.
as for the rest, who knows?"
IN. B~ernardet," laughingly said the
reporter as he walked along by the
officers side. you do not wish to
speak"
What good will that do?" Bernardet
replied, also la~ughingly. ut will not
prevent you from publishing an inter-
Eva, ll-I. A. . ..-
hurry and make my copy. And your"
IT? A photograph"
They separated. and Bernardet en-
tered his house. His daughters had
grieved over his sudden departure on
Sunday his fete day. They met him
with Joyous shouts when he appeared
and threw themselves upon him. "Papal
Here is papai"
Nine. Bernardet was also happy.
They could go then to the garden and
finish the picture. But their joy sub
sided; night had fallen, and Bernar-
Diet, preoccupied, wished to shut him
self UP so that he might reflect on all
that had happened, and perhaps to
work d little, even today.
ut is thy fete day, Bernardet. Wilt
thou not rest today?" 8
1T can rest at dinner, dear. Until
then I must use the time reading over
a mass of evidence"
''Then thou wilt need a lamp" asked
Nine. Bernardet.
"Yes.' my dear. Light the lamp"
Next to their bedchamber M. Ber-
nardet had fitted up a little room for
his private use. II was a tiny den, in
which was a mahogany table loaded
with books and papers, and at which
he worked when he had time, reading,
annotattng. copying from the papers
and collecting extracts for hours al a
time. No one vas allowed to enter this
room, filed with old papers. Nine.
Bernardet well called 1T "a nest OF mi
crobes.'' Bernardet found pleasure in
this sporadic place, which in summer
was sitting. In winter he worked with
Nine. Bernardet was unhappy as she
saw that their holiday was spoiled. But
she very well knew that when her
husband was devoured with curiosity,
carried away by a desire to elucidate a
puzzle, there was nothing to be said.
He listened to no remonstrances, and
the daughters knew that when they
asked II their father was not coming
to renew his games with them they
were obliged to content themselves with
the excuse which they knew so well
from having heard it so often, Papa is
studying out a crime"
Bernardet was anxious to read over
his notes, the v~erilcation of his hopes.
of those so-called certainties Of today.
That is why he wished to be alone. As
soon as he had closed the door he at
once. from among the enormou piles of
dust laden books and files of old news
papers, with the unnering instinct Of
the habitual searcher who rummages
through bookstalls, drew forth a gray
covered pamphlet in which he had read,
with feYerish establishment, the expert
rnanfc and 1.annrf nf mr. unn.At -
the application of photography In Grim
inal researches. He quickly seated him
self, and with trembling fingers eagerly
turned over h leaves OF the book SO
often read and studied and came to the
report of the member of the academy
OF medicine. He compared 1t with the
proof submitted by DR.. Bourbon OF the
medical society, in which 1t was stated
that the o learned savants had seen
nothing.
Seen nothing or wished to see moth
ing perhaps" he murmured.
The light fell upon the photograph
which had been sent a long time before
to the society, m Bernardet set him
self to study out the old crime with the
most careful attention, with the pas
sion of a photographer deciphering a
palimpsest. This poor devil OF a police
officer, In his ardent desire to solve the
Vexing problem, brought to IL the same
ardor n the same faith as a biblio-
phile. He went over and over with the
method of an examining magistrate all
that old forgotten affair, and in the
solitude and silence of his little room,
the last reflections of the setting sun
falling on his papers and making pale
the light of his lamp, he set himself the
task of solving, like a mathematical
problem, that question which he had
studied, but which he wished to know
from the very beginning, without any
doubts, before seeing M, Ginory again
at the morgue beside the body of M.
Revere. He took then his pamphlet
and read: THE photograph sent to the
society of medical Jurisprudence by DR.,
Bourbon, taken upon the retina of the
eye of a woman who had been muir
dered the 14th of June, 1868, represents
the moment when the assassin. after
having strSFk the mother, kills the in
FAINT, and the dog belonging to the
house leaps toward the unfortunate lit.
tie victim to ave it,"
Then, studying turn by turn the pho.
tograph yellowed by time and the ar,
ticle which described it, Bernardet sat.
isied himself and learned the history
by heart.
NJ. Gallard, general secretary Of the
society, after having carefully bidder