Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-03-19
Lost his balancer' muttered Fits

s~~>
secretary seized Mr. Donoyan's ham
mer,, inserted The claw between the
lock and the catch and gave q power
full wrench. The lid fell back. crooked
and SCARED
The admiral put on his mandarin
spectacles With bis hands behind bis
back he bent and critically examined
the contents. Then. very carefully. be
extracted a packet Of papers, yellow
and old. bound with heavy cording
Beneath this packet was a medal OF
the Legion of Honor. some rose leaves
and small glove.
Know what I thinkT said the ad
miral. stilling the shake in bis voice
"This belonged to that mysterious
Frenchman who lived here eighty
years ago. III wager that medal cost
some blood. By cracky. what fnd?'
"And the poor little glove and the
rose leaves" murmured the girl In
pity. ut seems like a crime to dis.
turb them"
I'VE shan't. my child. Our midnight
friend wasn't digging yonder for fad
ed keepsakes These papers are the
things" The admiral cut the string
and opened one Of the documents.
HIN. Written in French. So is this"
looking at another. land this Here.
Laura. cast your eye over these and
ell us why some one was hunting for
hem "
Fitzgerald eyed Breitmann thought.
fully The whole countenance Of the
nan had changed Indeed. 1t resem'
bled another face he had seen some.
where. and 1, grew In his mind. slow
~ but surely. rs dawn grows. that
Breitrmnn was not wholly ignorant In
this affair He had not known who
had been working at night. but that
dizziness of the moment gone, tht
haste In opening the case. the eager
ness of the search last night-all these
to Fitzgerald's mind. pointed to one
thing -Breitmann knew.
u snail watcn nl6u.
Laura read the documents to herself
nrst. Here aud there was a word
which confused her. but she gathered
the full sense Of the remarkable story
her eyes sbone like winter stars.
Father" she cried, dropping the
papers and spreading out her arms
"Father, it's the greatest thing In the
world. A treasured"
whats that, LauraT' straining bis
ears.
"A treasure. hidden by the soldiers
of Napoleon. put together franc by
franc In the hope of some day rescu
ing the emperor from St Helena. II
is romance! A real treasure Of two
millions Of francs!" clapping bel
hands.
"WhereY 1t was Breitmann who
spoke. His voice was not clear.
"Corsica!'
"Corsica!' The admiral laughed like
a child. Right under his very nose all
these years and he cruising all otei
the chart. Laura. dear. there's nc
reuson In the world why we shouldn',
take the yacht aud 20 and dig up this
pretty sum"
NO reason In the world" But the
secretary did not pronounce these
words aloud.
"a telegram for you. SIR" said the
butler. handing the yellow envelope to
Fitzgerald.
will you pardon me?" he said
drawing Off to window.
"Go ahead" suid the admiral, finger
Inc the medal of the Legion of Honor
Fitzgerald read:
"Have made inquiries. Your man
never applied to any Of the metro
politan dailies. Few ever heard OF
him.
he jammed the message into pock'
ct ard returped to the group about the
case. Where should he begin? Brett
mann had lied.
The story itself was brief enough. but
there was plenty Of husk to the grain
The old expatriate was querulous.
long winded. not niggard with his ink
when h. cursed the English and damn
ed the PruSsians. and he obtained
much qualification in jabbing his quill
bodkin into what he termed the sniv'
cling nobility of the old regime. Dog
of dogs. Was he not himself noblef
Had not his parents and his brothers
gone to the guillotine with the rest
Of them? But he. thank God. had no
wooden mind. He could look progress
and change In the face and follow their
bent. And now all the crimes and her
oisms of the revolution. all the glo'
rious pagsantry of the empire. had
come TO nothing. A Bourbon. thick
skulled. sordid. worn out. again sat
upon the throne. while the great man
languished on a rock in the Atlantic.
Fools that the. had been net to have
hidden the little king OF Rome as
against this very dog! II was pitiful.
He never saw shower In June that
he did not hail curses upon 1t. TO
have lost Waterloo for bucketful Of
water! Thousand thunders. Could he
ever forget that terrible race back to
Paris? Could he ever forget the shame
of It, Grouchy for fool and Blucher
for blundering ass. Well. they would
soon tumble the Bourbons into oblivion
again.
A rambling desultory tale. Just q
little corporal from Corsica; think OF
It. And SO on. all keyed with tre-
mendous interest to the listeners and
to Laura herself. It was the golden
age of opportunity. Of reward. OF sud-
den generals and princes and dukes.
All gone. nothing left but few battle
Gags. England no longer shaking In
her boots. and the rest Of them divid.
Ing the spoils. No: there were some
left. and In their hands lay the splen'
did enterprise.
Quietly they had pieced together this
sum and that. till there was now stored
away 100000 francs. Two or three
frigates and q corvette or two: then
the work would 60 forward. Only a
little while to wait. and then they
would bring their beloved chief back
to France and to his own again. Had
he not written "Come for me. mon
brave. They say they have orders to
shoot me. Come. better carry my
corpse away than that | should rot
here for years to come" They would
cnmo Rut this year went by and an