The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-09

tNIN ued on our lOuEucy hOuicta- HN bile related to me the remark able and adventurous story or his childhood. and l knew also why he dreaded nothing so much as that Mime. Darzac should penetrate the mystery which separated them.
 Rouletabille had fled from school at Flu like a thief. He had been accused of stealing
 Al the age of nine he had m ex- traordinary intelligence and could ar rive easily at the solution of perplex- iug problems. By logical deductions of au almost amazing kind be aston fshed his professor of mathematics He had never been able to learn his ] multiplica tion tables and always count ed upon his fugers. He would usually get the answers to the problems him. self. leaving the working out to De done by his fellow pupils But nrst | he would show them exactly how the ] example ought to be done. He applied | his admirable faculties of reasoning to hIs daily life as well as to his studies. using the rules both materially and | morally. For example. an act hao been committed In the school-l have forgotten whether it was of cheating | or talebearing-by one of ten persons
 whom he knew. and be picked out the right one with a divination which
 Epemed almost supernatural. simply by deduction. He later found in this ab- normal fashion a small sum of money | which had been stolen from the super | futendent. who refused to believe that the discovery was due only to the lads intelligence and eiearness of in-
 sight They tried to make him ac-
 knowledge his fault. He defended
 himself with such indignation and an-
 ger that it drew upon him severe
 punishment The principal held an in- yestfgation and trial. at which Jo- seph Josephin. as he was called. was accused by some of his youthful com rades in thai spirit of falsehood which + children sometimes possess. The fact II that the boy seemed to have no rela- II lives and that no one knew where be
 came from made him particularly like
 ly in that little world to be suspected
 of crime. Finally the superintendent told the lad that If he did not confess
 his guilt 1t was decided not to keep
 him in the school and that letter
 would be written to the lady who in-
 teresred herself in him to tell her to come after him.
 The child allowed himself to be talk
 en to his little room a prisoner. Upon
 the morrow he had disappeared. He
 had run awuy. He had felt that the
 principal was no longer his friend
 since he believed him guilty of theft
 And he could see no reason why the
 Lady in Black would not believe it
 too. To appear as thief in the sight
 of the Lady in Black He would
 rather die. So he climbed over the
 wall of the garden at night. He rush
 ed to the canal. with a prayer. uttered
 as much to the Lady In Black as to
 God himself. and threw himself in the
 water. Being good swimmer. be
 soon landed and led gypsy life as
 one of the .orange fishers" of the port
 of Marseilles. subsisting on fruits that
 fell overheard and sleeping where his
 fancy pleased.
 One day Joseph Josephin met a man who gave him a bright new hundred sou piece With his hundred sous he
 bought himself a fine new bootblack's 8
 box and installed himself in business opposite the Bregaillon. With the feeling of ownership which his box and his business had brought him.
 ambition had entered his mind He had received too good an education
 not to understand that if he did not
 himself finish what others had begun
 for him he would be deprived of the best chance which he had of making for himself a place in the world. : His customers grew interested in the . little bootblack. who always had on his box some work of history or math-
 ematics. and a harness maker became : attached to him and took him into his
 shop.
 Soon Rouletabille was promoted to the dignity of working in leather and was able to save. At the age of six s teen. having a little money. he took the train for Paris-to look for the
 Lady in Black.
 As soon as he reached the capital be looked up his benefactor. who was a newspaper man. and recalled himself
 to the latters memory. telling him that he had decided to become a jour- nulist.
 The editor tried to turn the youth from his project. At last. tired of his
 persistent requests. the editor said: | Well. my lad. since you have noth- . ing special to do just now. go and find : the left foot of the body in the Rue
 Oberkampf."
 , And with these strange words he ]. turned away. leaving poor Rouletabille with half a dozen young reporters tit- tering around him. But the boy was
 not daunted. He searched through the ! files aud found that the Epoch was of 2 farfng o I.r,ra rauard fin rhp nPrSOu