Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1909-04-23
Continued
CHAPTER XVII. ].
In Which Ii Is Proved That One
Does Not Always Think Of Every
thing. ..i

T~iRBAT excitement prevailed d
when Rouletabille had finished.
MI The courtroom became agitatz
~ ed with the murmurings #
suppressed applause. Maitre Henri
Robert called for an adjournment Of
the trial and was supported in his mo-,
ton by the public prosecutor himself.
The case was adjourned. The next
day NJ. Robert Darzac was released on,
bail, while Daddy Jacques received
the immediate benefit Of "a no cause
for action" Search was everywhere
made for Frederic Larsan, but in vain
NJ. Darzac finally escaped the awful.
calamity which at one time had threat
ened him. After a visit to Mile Stan
gerson he was led to hope that she
might by careful nursing one day re-
cover her reason.
,Rouletabille and Jlc Versailles to-
gether, after having dined at The
Dog That Smokes. In thr train l put.
a number of questions to him.
shy FRIEND" said, Il am still in
the dark as. to your reason for going
to America. When you left the Clan
der you had found out, if rightly I'M
derstand, all about Frederic Larsan.
You had discovered the exact way he
had attempted the murder?"
"Quite so. And you" he said, turn
ing the conversation, did you suspect
nothing?"
II don't see how I could have sus-
pected anything. You took great pains
to conceal your thoughts from me-
Had you already suspected Larsan
when you sent for me to bring the re-
volvers? p
''Yest had come to that conclusion
through the incident of the 'inexplica-
BILE gallery Larsan's return to Mile
Stangerson's room, however. had no
then been cleared up by the eyeglasses,
Ny suspicious were the outcome Of my
reasoning only, and the idea Of Larss \
being the murderer seemed so extraor-
binary that resolved to wait for
actual evidence before venturing to
act. Nevertheless the suspicion wor-
ried me, and / sometimes spoke to the.
detective in a way that ought to have
opened your eyes. I spoke disparag
ingly Of his methods. But until I
found the eyeglasses could but look
upon my suspicion of him in the light
of an absurd hypothesis only. You
can imagine my elation after l had ex-
planned Larsan's movements. re-
member well rushing into my room
like a mailman and crying to you: I'll
get the better of the great Fred! I'll
get the better Of him in way that
will make sensation!'
But one important point escaped us
both. 1t was one which ought tohave.
opened our eyes to Larsan Do you re-
member the bamboo cane? I was sur
Of that evidence against Robert OAR;
FAC. Had it not been purchased by a
man: whose description tailed exactly
with that Of Darzac? Well, just be-
fore I saw him off at the train after
the recess during the trial asked him
why he hadnt used the cane evidence.
He told me he had never had any In
tention Of doing so; that our discov-
cry of 1t in the little inn at Epinay.
had much embarrassed him. II you
will remember, he told us then that
the cane had been given him In Lon
don. Why did we not Immediately
say to ourselves: Fred is lying; he
could not have had this cane In Lon
don; he was not In London; he bought
1t in Paris !? Then you found out on
Inquiry at Cassette's that the cane had
been bought bysa person dressed very
Ike Robert Darzac, though, as we
learned later from Darzac himself. IL
was not he who had made the pur-5
chase. Couple this with the fact we
already knew from the letter at the
poste restante that there was actually.
& q man In Paris who was passing as.
4 Robert Darzac. Why did we not i'm.
( mediately fix on Fred himself?
sOf course his position was against
us, but when we saw the evident
eagerness on his part to find convict
( ing evidence against Darzac- nay, even
the passion he displayed in his pur.s
suit Of the man the lie about the cane
4 should have had q new meaning for
ms. If you ask why Larsan bought the.
5 gShHc IL LIZ t1Sft III lIilcAliOu VI manu-
{ featuring evidence against Darzac by.
4 means Of 1t, the answer Is quite sim
pie. He had been wounded in the
{ hand by Mile. stang..rson, SO that the
cane was useful to enable him to close
his hand in CARRYING It. You remem.
/ Der noticed that he always carr
sried 1t. SIS
All these details came back to my
mind when had once fixed on Larsans
4 as the criminal. But they were too
late then TO be Of any use to me- On
the evening when he pretended to be
drugged looked ait his hand and saw
{ p thin silk bandage covering the signs
sof q slight healing wound. Had we
taken d quicker Initiative at the time
Larsan told us that lie about the cane.
am certain he would have gone on
to avoid suspicion. All the same, We:
worried Larsan, Of Ballmeyer. without
II our knowing it,,