The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-14

 girl was in prison, while her father had gone mad.
 He sooned gained Mile. Rigollete's ac- quaintance. When the pretty, hard-work- ing little thing felt assured that he was actuated by good motives she confided to him that he could find Francois Germain at Ferrands house, where he had ob- l tained employment
 Before he could act on this information l the seamstress received a letter from Ger , main telling her that the notary had caused his arrest on the trumped-up charge of stealing 1900 francs. At this news Rudolph began to wonder if Jaques Ferrand did not have a more or less guilty hand in the affair of La Goua- leuse, for whom he was feeling an eyer growing interest, as Madame Georges re- ports told him that she was winning the | love of all about her, while the old abbe of the village swore that at heart she was as pure and innocent as a child de- spite the ugly life into which she had | been thrown by an evil fate. Acting on the suspicion gained as the artisan M. Rudolph, the Grand Duke Ru- dolph surrounded the notary with skill full watchers and spies. They discovered that while Ferrand had won a reputation for great piety and virtue by his outward life, his career had been marked by the ruin of those who had trusted him. al- though in each case the notary had posed as the grief-stricken friend of his un- fortunate clients and had shown them that their disasters apparently had been caused by others with whom he had struggled in vain.
 Among other victims they found a starving woman, the Countess Fermont, who had entrusted 100000 crowns to him. Shortly afterward her brother was found dead shot through the head. In letter he confessed that he had drawn the money from Ferrand by virtue of his trusteeship of the funds and that he had lost it in speculation and was about to Kill himself in despair.
 The mass of proof convinced the Grand Duke that he had come by chance on the track of a man who had done immense wrongs and had left misery and wretched- ness in his path through many years. He determined to punish him by striking at that for whoch he had committed all his crimes-his wealth.
 Ignorant of the powerful hand that was preparing to grip him, Jaques Fer rand was gloating just then over his realized ambitions. At last he had amassed a million francs and he was preparing to leave Paris and enjoy his fortune in the vices and dissipations that he longed for all the more fiercely for having been forced to enjoy them sparely and in se- cret so many years.
 At this juncture Lody Sarah arrived on the scene again.
 She had married Scotch nobleman af- ter the annument of the mock marriage to the heir of Gerolstein Her husband had diedl and as soon as she was a widow the old eager dream of becoming the wife of reigning monarch came 10 her. @
 She resolved on a desperate expedient to induce Rudolph to marry her.
 As first step in her plot she called on Jacques Ferrand. They had a long, secret conversation, from which she re- tired baffled. But after she had gone he was white and trembling.
 Her next step was against La Goua- leuse. Her spies had told her of the beau tiful girl whom Rudolph had taken to his model farm. They had no trouble in finding out her past, and Sarah immedi- ately assumed that the Grand Duke was in love with her. She resolved to remove her from him and thrust her back Into the infamy from which she had been res cued.
 By strange chance she picked on Screech Owl to do the work. That charm ing woman went to the farm with an ac- complice and the two lay fin walt by road which the girl used every evening on her way to the old abbe.
 The Screech owl lured her to ths place