The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-24
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 THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK=
By GASTON LER0UX, Author of "The Mystery c
 the Yellow Room"
Copyright, 1909, by Brentano's.

(Concluded.)

| 'face and his hand, and we saw that
 Larsan was dead
 Rouletabille pointed to a ring on the
 middle finger. The collet was open
 and showed a hollow cup which was
 empty. It must have contained a
 deadly poison.
 Arthur Rance put his head against
 the mans chest and assured us that
 all was over. And Rouletabille en-
 treated us to leave him alone in the
 square tower and to try to forget the
 terrible events which had passed there.
 ''I will charge myself with every thing" he asserted gravely. Here is the body too many No one will h. quire Into the disposition which may be made of it."
 And he gave an order to Walter which Arthur Rance translated into English.
 "Walter. bring me the sack which you found at the Castillon yesterday"
 Then he made a gesture to which we were all obedient-a. gesture of dis missal And we left the son face to face with the corpse of the father.
 The next moment we saw that M.
 
 obliged to carry him into Old Bob's sitting room. But it was only a pass- ing faintness. and soon he opened his eyes again and smiled at Mathilde when he saw her beautiful face bend ing over him with the look of dread in which we read the fear of losing her beloved husband at the very moment in which she had. through a chain of circumstances which still remained wrapped in mystery. found him again. He succeeded in convincing her that his life was not In any danger, and he added his entreaties to those of Mme. Edith that she would go away for a little while and try to get some rest. When the two women had left us, Ar thur Rance and myself turned over our attention to our friend. For how could a man whom all of us had be lieved to be dead and who had been, with the death rattle in his throat tied up In a sack and carried away have been able to rise again and step down living from the fateful panel? But when we had opened his shirt and discovered the bandage which hid the wound that he bore ID his breast we recognized that this injury was not very serious one. The ball which had struck Darzac in the midst of the say age fight which be had been obliged to make against Larsan had planted itself in the sternum. causing a bad external hemorrhnEe and weakening the entire organism. but fortunately suspending none of the vital functions
 As we finished the task of dressing f1~.-w ---nfIf dor and a strange nOise-the sound l that one hears when a body Is carried | away on stretcher. And thought | of Larsan and of the sack which was holding now for the second time ..the body too many"
 Leaving Arthur Rance to watch over l NJ. Darzac.. hurried to the window. I | had not been mistaken. beheld the sinister funeral cortege in the court | outside.
 It was nearly nightfall. A gathering rioom surrounded everything.
 Moving onward in the direction Of the oubiletfe. I saw RoulefabiIle and | Pere Jncques-two dark shadows bend- irg over another shadow-a shadow which l recognized and which on that other night of horror.I had believed to contain another dead body. The sack seemed heavy. The two men were scarcely able to lift It to the edge of the shaft. And could see that the little passageway was open-yes, the heavy wooden lid which ordinarily closed fl had been removed and was lying on the ground. RouIetabille Ieap- ed lightly over the edge of The oubI- lette and then made a step downward. He showed no hesitation. The way l to be familiar to him. In a few moments his figure vanished from sight Then Pere Jacques pushed the | sack Into the passageway and leaned li over the edge. apparently still holding on to his burden. which could no longer see.
 l left the square tower. went to l' my own room in the new castle. I stationed myself at the window. and f, my eyes lost themselves in the depths of the shadows which covered the sea. All at once far. very far on I fan cied that l could see in the narrow red band which was all that remained of the setting san something that seemed more unreal than a vision.
 Into that narrow red band an object entered It was the shadow of a fish, Ing smack. which glided over the wa ters as automatically as though 1t were propelled by machinery. and as its became slower aud I saw It emerging from the gloom I recog- nized the form of Rouletabllle. The oars ceased to move. and 1 saw my friend rise to his feet. l could recog- lt nize him and see everything which he did as clearly as if he had not been ten yards away from me. His gestures were outlined against the red back ground of the sunset with a fantastic precision.
 What he had to do did not take long. He leaned over and got up again. lift ing in his arms something which seeu-