The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-01-14
CHAPTER xIII.-(continued.,
Prades answered..

0ut into the street.
One would nave taken NJ. Bernardet
for a happy little bourgeois. going
home from some theater through the
deserted street and repeating a verse
from come vaudeville. rather than a
police Spy who had juEe secured q prize.
He walked quickly. he WALKED gayly.
He reached his home. where Nine. Ber-
awaited him and where his three lit
tie girls were sleeping. He felt that
like h Roman emperor. he had not
lost his day.
He again hummed the quatrain. n
sounded like q far off fanfare OF VIC
tory IN h gray fog OF this Paris
night.
CHAPTER XIV.
nj. Ginory was not without uneasi-
ness when he thought of the detention
Of jacques Dantin. Without doubt the
prisoners. oil accused persons. are rett-
cent. They try to hide their guilt under
voluntary silence. They do not speak
because they have sworn not to. They
ore bound, one knows not by whom. by
m oath which they cannot break. 1t Is
the ordinary system OF the guilty who
seems 20 them safety.
But Dantin. intimately acquainted
with ROvere's life. might be acquainted
with some secret which he could not
disclose and which did not pertain TO
him at all. What secret? Had not an
examining magistrate g right to know
everything? Had not an accused man
4 right to speak? Either Dantin had
nothing to reveal and he was playing
q comedy n was guilty, or IL by II few
words. by q confidence made to the
magistrate, he could escape an accusa-
tlon. recover his liberty. without doubt
he would speak after having kept an
1ncxplfcable silence. How could one
snppose that an innocent man would
hold for Q long time to this mute sys-
tenn?
The discovery of the portrait in
Mime. C0lard's shop ought, naturally. to
give to h affair a new turn. The arr
rest OF Charles Prades brought an im-
portant element to these researches. He
would be examined by M. GinOry the
next morning. after having been ques-
toned by the commissary of police.
Rernardet, spruce freshly shaven,
waMs there and seemed In his well
sbrushed redingote like a little able
come to assist at some curious cere-
o
On the contrary, PradeG, after a
sleepless night, q night of agony, paler
than Intervening before, his face fierce
and fte muscles contracted, had q hag-
gard expression. and he blinked his
eyes like q night bird suddenly
brought into glaring sunlight. He re-
pented before the examining magistrate
What he had said to the brigadier. But
mis- voice. vibrant a few hours before.
had become heavy, almost raucous, as
the naughty expression OF his face
had become sullen and tragic.
The examining magistrate had cited
Nine. Colard, h shopkeeper. to appear
before him. She Instantly recognized
In this Pradea h fna who had sold
her h little panel by Pau Baudry.
what they were talking. He had never
aeon this woman. He knew nothing
about any portrait.
1T belonged to M. Revere" the
magtstrate repliedIM. Revere. the
murdered man: NJ. Royerc. who was
consul at Rueno Ayres, and o spoke
yesterday OF Buenos Ayres in the ex-
animation at the station house in the
Rue de la ROcl,efoucauid."
IN. Roveref Ruenos Ayres? - repeat
ed h u man. rolling his SOM
brero round his fingers.
He repeated that he did not know
the ex-cOnsul. that he had never been
In South America. that he had come
from Sydney.
BernardetSat this moment interrupt
ed him by taking his hat from him
without saying a word, and Prades
cast R very angry look at the little
man.
II. Glnory understood Bernardet's
~ n1OV0 WIFI q. lSEll1Ss he
looked In the inside OF the sombrero
which Bernardet handed to him.
The hat bore: the address OF Gordon
Smithson & Co, Berner street, London
HI after all.'' thought the magis-
trnte. .'Buenos Ayres is one OF the mar
kets FOR. English goods"
Thn IN q hat bought at Sydney
Prades tisho had understood) ex-
planned.
Before the hold. decided. almost vio-
lent a~firrnnt1ons which Nine. Colard
made that was certainly the seller
OF tho portrait the young man los,
20 q little. He kept saying
over and over: you deceive yourself
Madame, i have spoken to YOU.
have NJ seen you"
When y. Ginory asked her It she
still persisted In saying that this wa.
the man who had sold her the picture
she! said:
DO / stll persist !? with my necl
under the guiiiotine I would persist
she kept repeating: Il am sure OF
This preliminary examination brough,
about nj decisive result. It was Ger.
ie this portrait had been in the
possession Of this young man and beer
sold by hin, n he lCharles Prades)
was an accomplish of Dantin's, IL no
tho author OF the crime. They ought
then..sStosssbc brought face to face, anC
possibly this might bring about an I'm
mediate result. And why o have thi.
meeting take place at once. before
Prades was sent where Dantin was. a
Mazas?
n. Ginory. who had uttered thfs
word stMazas." noticed the expression
Of terror which flashed across and sud
denly TRANSPORTED the young man.
face.
Prades stammerel:
Then--you-Will hold me? Then,
am not free??s
4 M. Ginory did not reply. He gave az
order that this Prades should be guard.
ca until b arrival OF Dantin from
Naxas.
IN Maxas. inthat walled prison, ii
Il the cell which had already made hin
gu jacques Danttn sat. This man witt
tho trooper's air seemed almost to be II
. state Of collapse. When the Ruarg
came to hla cell. he drew himself M
ind endenvored % scollect NIL his energy
STAnd when ttlo door was opened and h,
called he appeared quite like him.
sSlel. When he saw the prison wagol
SSN 4lch had brought him to Masas ant
S86M awaited to take him 20 the Palali
lklsAJ ustice. he lnstinctivoly recoiledl