The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-02-04
The Crime of ''iEs:;; !: !
s.! ssIs the Boulevard

HWn nOtE@ DIR. Erwln responded
In a sharp tone. do you know what
happened? Knowing that he was dying,
the unhappy man went, urged by a
tragic impulse, to that portrait which
! represented to him all that was left,
concentrating In n image alone all
his life.n
Then II Is possible? II is possible? o.
Bernardet repeated.
II believe It," said the Dane. ''The
man Is dying, He has only one thought
Ito 90 directly to the one who, surviv-
ing him, guarded his secrets and his
life. He seized his portrait; he tore Il
from its hook with all his strength; he
devoured 1t with his eyes; he drank Il
In with a look, IL l may be allowed the
expression. To this picture OF the being
, whom he loved he spoke. He cried to
him, telling him his last wishes, dictat-
ing to him his thoughts OF vengeance.
At this supreme moment his energy
was increased a hundredfold. / know
not what Intensity of life was concen-
trated on this image, and gathering all
his falling forces In a last look the mar
who wished to live, the man weakened
by illness, dying, assassinated, put into
that last regard the electric force. the
fire which fixed the image CONFUSED,
no doubt, but recognizable since YOU
have traced h resemblance upon the
retina. A phantom, lie you wish, which
is reflected in the dead mans eye"
And" repeated Bernardet, who
wished to be perfectly assured in re-
gard to the question, 1T is not only the
image of a living being; II is, to use
your words, the phantom even OF a
painting which was retained on the
retina n" .. ....
II do not reply to you, THAT is pos
sible.' 1t is you who say to mo, I have
seen It, And you have seen 1t in truth,
and the form, vague though It may be.
the painted figure, permits you. to find
In q passerby the man whose picture
the retina had already shown you
"Oh. well. DOCTOR" said the little
Bernardet, II shall tell that, but they
will deny i. They win say that 1t is
impossible"
DIR. Erwin smiled. He seemed to be
looking with his deep blue eyes at some
invisible perspective not bounded by
the walls OF the little
"One has said" he began, that the
word impossible Is not French. 1t
would be nor exact to affirm that II
was not human. We attain a knowl-
edge of the ~unknowable. The myster-
ious is approachable. One must deny
nothing a priori; IN must believe all
things possible and not only a dream.
Search for the truth, the harsh truth.
as your Stendhal said. Well, the word
is wrong. One ought to say Justly the
exquisite truth, for IL is a joy for
those who search that daily life
where each movement marks a step
advanced, where the heart beats at
the thought OF a rendezvous OF love.
All, he is happy who has given his life
to science. He lives in a dream. 1t
Is the poetry I'm our times OF prose.
The dream" continued the young doc
tor as in an ecstasy, while Bernardet
listened, rayished, the dream is
everywhere. 1t is impossible to make
1t tangible. Thought, human thought,
can sometimes be deciphered like an
open book. An American physician
has asked to be permitted to try an
experiment upon the Uranium OF a
condemned man still living. Through
the Uranium he studied the mans
brain. Has not Edison undertaken to
give sight to the blind! 1t is the hour
Of miracles. But in order TO accom-
plish all these things II is necessary,
as in primitive times, to believe, to
believe always. The twentieth cen
fury will see many others"
"Ah. doctor, doctor" cried poor
little Bernardet, much moved, II do
not wish to be the ignoramus that I
am, the father OF a family, who has
mouths to feed, and / beg of tyou to
take me as a sweeper in your labora-
tory!'
He departed, enthused by the inter-
view. Henceforth he could say that
he, the ignorant n had, by his
seemingly foolish conviction, proved
the reality of an experiment which
had been abandoned for some years,
and the humble police officer had re-
opened the nearly closed door TO crimi-
nal instruction,
A scruple, moreover, came to him.
A doubt, a N agony, and he wished to
share II with NJ. Ginory.
All the same, with the admirable in
vention he had caused an innocent
man TO be arrested. This thought
made him very uneasy. He had pro-
duced a power which, instead of strik-
ing the guilty, had overthrow an I'M
happy man, and IL was this famous dis
covery OF DR.. Bourbon, persisted in by
him, which had resulted In this mis-
take. 8
1T must be" he thought, that man
may be fallible even IN the most mar
veIous discoveries. II is frightful! 1t
dent-prudent and modest"
Doubt now seized him. Must he
stop there in these famous experiments
which ended in this lie? Ought he
abandon all research on a road which
ended in a cuI-de-sac? And he con
fided that unhappy scrupie TO the ex-
amining magistrate. with whom the
chances of the service had put him in
sympathy. M. Ginory not only was in
terested in strange discoveries, but
he was always indulgent toward the
~riginal little Bernardet.