The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-18
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 =THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACKS
 E By GAST0N LEROUX, Author of 'The Mystery Of5 the Yellow Room" -
Copyright, 1909, by rrentanO'S.


promised to cs silent and had sworn us all te silence NJ. Rance repeated nervously: Why should we conceal anything? Why should we? We must | tell everything"
 All at once the reporter seemed to ! take a sudden resolution. He leaned toward Arthur Rance. whose right hand was resting on a cane. the head l carved of ivory by a famous cutter st Dieppe. Rouletabille took the cane in l his hand
 May look at itY' he asked. '1 am an amateur ivory carver myself. It is really very beautiful. It is q figure by Lambesse and there is no better work man on the Norman shore"
 The young man seemed to be entire ly engrossed in studying the cane. As he touched the carving the stick fell from his hand and rolled toward Oar zac. picked it up and returned 1t im- mediately to M. Rance. Rouletabille | cast a whitening look at me. and l read in that glance that somehow or other had shown myself an idiot Rouletabilie asked abruptly of Mrs. Rance:
 Well. madame. do you think we ought to inform the authorities?"
 'I think so more than ever," she re- piled. That which we are powerless to discover they would certainly find out. And I warn you of one thing. Nj. Rouletabille and that is that we may already be too late in seeking out the officers of justice. If we had told them of our fears at the very begin ming you would have been spared some long hours of watching and sleepless nights which have profited you nothing. since. as now appears. they did not prevent what you dread ed from coming to pass.''
 RouletabiIle motioned Mime. Edith to- chair and again picked up the cane which NJ. Rance had laid down upon a sofa. He replied sharply to Mime. Edith: e Madame. you are wrong in assert ing that all the precautions which l had taken for the safety of NJ. and Mime. Darzac have been useless. If 1 am obliged to acknowledge the unex- plainable presence of one body too many l am also compelled to refer to the absence-perhaps less inexplicable of one member of our own party"
 What is that?' inquired Mime. Edith. with a mocking smile. "In such cnse I fail to see how you find any mystery" giving n fiippant imitation of the reporters words-'a body too many on the one side. an unexplained absence on the other Everything is for the best Perhaps" rejoined Rouletabiile. i ''But the most, frightful thing of all is that the unexplained disappearance comes just at the right time to make known to us apparently the identity of the body too many Madame, I regret to tell you that the person we cannot find is none other than your uncle. Af. BOb."
 Y "Old Bob." screamed the young wo- man. ''0ld Bob has disappeared"
 ''Unfortunately it is true." said Rou- letabille
 And he let the cane drop to the ground.
 But the news of the sudden disap- pearance of Old Bob had so seized the Rances and the Darzacs that no one paid any attention to the cane as it fell.
 My dear Sainclair. will you be kind enough to pick up that cane:'' asked Rouletabille.
 I did as I was ordered. and quickly. too. but Rouletabille did not even deign to thank me. Mime. Edith turned like lioness upon Robert Darzac. who recoiled from her almost in fear as she shrieked:
 You have killed my uncler'
 Her husband and myself with difi- culty prevented her from flying at him. We entreated her to be calm and to remember that because her un- cle had absented himself from the peninsula did not necessarily mean that he had disappeared in the potato sack, and we reproached Rouletabille with his brutality in blurting out an idea which could only be, at the pres ent time, at all events, a hypothesis of his uneasy mind. But the young woman turned scornfully.
 "M. Sainclair. sincerely hope that my, uncle's absence from here will only be of short duration, for if it should turn out otherwise should ac- cuse you of being an accomplice in the most cowardly murder. As to you" turning to Rouletabille, "the mere idea that you dared compare Larsan with my uncle, the. kindliest soul and the greatest scholar of his time, forbids me to consider you as a friend. and l hope you will relieve me of your presence
 Madame" replied Rouletabille, 'T was just about to ask your permission to leave I have a journey of twenty four hours to take. I shall return to be of assistance to you in accounting for the disappearance of your uncle"
 If my uncle has not returned with in twenty-four hours I shall lodge a complaint in the hands of the police. monsieur"
 Tt is a good plan, madame, but first I advise you to question all the serv- ants in whom you have confidence, particularly Mattoni. Question him question him. An, before I take my departure allow me to leave with you this excellent and historical book"