The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-22


 ! you going mad again?''
 | Then, lifting his head again. he con | tinued:
 You ought to understand every ! thing better now. my dear M. Darzac. , both the strange coldness with which you were treated occasionally and also the fits of remorseful tenderness which in the doubt which filled her brain would impel Mime. DarZac to surround you with every evidence of attention and affection. l have fancied that you 7 must have discovered that whenever Mime. Darzac looked at you she could not in spite of herself chase from her ! mind the image of Larsan. and conse- quently it was not the belief that she would have known 1t which removed my suspicious. since in spite of her self she entertained the fear all the while that you and Larsan were one. No. no: my suspicious were removed by another cause"
 They might have been removed" exclaimed NJ. DarZac at once ironically and despairingly-"they might have been removed by the simple course of reasoning that if I had been Larsan. having her for my wife. I would have had every cause for making her believe in Larsan's death. And l would have never resuscitated myself. Was it not upon the day that Larsan returned to earth that lost MathIlde?"
 Pardon. monsieur. pardonr' replied Rouletabille. whose face had grown as white as a sheet. You are abandon ing now. If may say so. the directions of pure reason. The facts which you mentioned show us just the contrary of that which you believe we should see. For my part. it seems to me that when one has a wife who believes or who comes very near to believing that one is I.arsan one has every interest in showing her that Larsan exists out side of oneselfr'
 As Rouletabille uttered these words the Lady in Black. supporting herself by groping with her hands against the wall as she walked. came stum- blfngly to the side of Rouletabille and devoured with her eyes the face of Darzac. which had grown frightfuily harsh and strained. The young man imperturbably went on:
 And. if you had an interest in showing her that Larsan existed else where than in your body. there arose an exigency in which that interest was transformed into an immediate necessity. Imagine-I say Imagine. NJ Darzac. that you had really brought Larsan ' to life once-once only-in spite of yourself, in your own rooms. before the eyes of Professor Sanger sons daughter. and you will be. I re- peat. under the necessity of bringing hfrr1 fr, fin nH rof nrr ro fin Qrrf- side of yourself. in order to prove to your wife that the Larsan whom she has seen returned to life is not you! An. calm yourself. my dear NJ. Darzac. I entreat you. Have I not told you that my suspicion has been banished- completely banished? See. then. where am obliged to come in considering this hypothesis as realized Chese are the procedures of mathematics which you know better than I-you who are a scholarI-in considering. as said, as realized the hypothesis that you are the counterfeit Darzac. the one who hides Larsan. According to my req snnirg. then. ysu are Larsani And I asked myself what could have hap pened in the railway station at Bourg to make you appear in the form of Larsan before the eyes of your wife"
 He paused for a moment, but Darzac did not utter a word.
 N"As you were saying. NJ. Darzac." Rouletabllle went on. ''it was because of this apparition of Larsan that your cup of happiness was dashed empty to the ground. Therefore. If this res urrection should not have been volun- Nor f- xxra. fr. which 1t could have happened-through accident. And now just let us con slider how this latter supposition clears up the, eutire situation. Oh. l have spent lot of thought upon the incl dent at Bourg. You see. am sstill reasoning out the problem. You tthe you who Is Larsan. be 1t understood are at Bourg in the buffet. You be- lieve that your wife Is waiting for you somewhere in the station. as she told you she would do. After having finished your letters you wish to go to your compartment in the car in order to attend to some detail of your toilet or to cast a critical eye over your disguise to see if in any point 1t might be lacking. You think to your self, "A few more hours of this cvn. edy and we shall have passed the frontier. she will be all my own. en- tirely alone with me. and 1 will throw aside this mask You cast away your assumed character and your disguise. You relieve yourself of the false beard and the spectacles. and at that very moment the door of the section opens. Your wife. thrown into spnsm of terror at the sight of Larsan's smooth, beardless face in the glass. does not wait to make any further invesriga- ton and rushes out into the night. her screams drowned by the noise of an- other train. You comprehend the dan ger at once. You realize that every thing is lost unless you can immedi- ately arrange matters so that your wife shall see Darzac somewhere else. You quickly resume the mask: you hurry out of the compartment and reach the buffet by a shorter route