The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-02-04
The Crime of 's;:; 70
a Igsks the Boulevard

why not?" DR.. Erwin 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 one image alone all
his life"
Then 1t is possible? 1t is possible%"
Be:nardet repeated.
II believe it," said the Dan THE
man Is dying. He has only one thought
Ito go directly to the one who, surviv-
ing him, guarded his secrets and his
life. He seized his portrait; he tore it
from it's hook with all his strength; he
devonred 1t with his eyes; he drank it
In with a look. if I 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 m his energy
was increased Il h~undredfold. / know
not what intensity of life was concen-
trated on this image. and gathering all
his falling forces in a last look the man
who wished to live. the man weakened
by illness, dying, assassinatcd. put into
that last regard the electric force, the
fire which fixed the image confused,
no doubt. but recognizable since you
have traced the resemblance upon the
retila. A phantom, If you wish, which
- '>''' Y III tai'. htba lithI . NyC.
And" repeated Bernardet, who
wished to be perfectly assured in re-
gard to the question, lit is not only the
image of a living being; 1t is, to use
your words, the phantom even of a
painting which was retained on the
r%etina?'
II do not reply TO YOU, That is pos
sibie.' 1t is o who say to nc. I have
seen it, And YOU have seen it in truth,
and the form. vague though it may be.
the painted figure, permits you to find
In a passerbN the man whose picture
the retina had already shown you
ooh. we'll. DOCTOR said the little
Bernardet. II shall tell that, but they
will deny it. They will say that it is
impossible"
DR.. Erwin smiled. He seemed to be
looking with his deep blue eyes at some
invisible perspective not bounded by
the walls of the little room.
One has said," he began. that the
word impossible is not French. 1t
would be more exact to affirm that 1t
was not human. We attain a knowl-
edge of the unknowable. The myster-
ious Is approachable. One must deny
nothing 81 priori; n must believe III
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 it is a JOY for
SiASSS WIN oCaLSh lIldl daily NE
where each movement marks a step
advanced, where the hear 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 in u times of prose.
tor as in an ecstasy, while Bernardet
listened, ravished, the dream is
ff i tangible. 111fhoiaaghhp}.p 22S Hihas t. make
car 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
tho 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 it 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 ]
am. the father of a family, who has
mouths to feed. and I beg of you 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 one, had. by his
seemingly foolish conviction, proved
the reality of an experiment which
had been abandoned for some years,
n the humble police officer had re-
opened the nearly closed door to crimi-
nal Instruction.
A scruple, moreover. came to him.
A doubt, an agony. and he wished to
share. it with M. Ginory.
All the same, with the admirable in
vention he had caused an innocent
man to be arrested. This thought
made him very meas He had pro-
duced a power which. instead of strik-
ing the guilty, had overthrown an un-
happy man, and it was his famous dis
covery of DR.. Bourbon, persisted in by
him. which had resulted in this mis-
take.
ut must be-" he thought, that man
may be fallible even in the most mar
velous discoveries. 1t is frightful! 1t
is perhaps III to make us more pru-
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 cul-de-sac? And he cor
fded that unhappy scruple to the ex-
aiming magistrate. with whom the
chances of the service had put him in
sympathy. NJ. Ginory not only was in
terested in strange discoveries, but
he was always indulgent toward the
original little Bernardet.