Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-06-06

ScAefC0. IneSe men must De met Wlt0
their own weapons, as l hope to prove
to Monsieur de Sartines before he Is
very much older. But go on, my poor
Irlend; you are a poet, u man of kind
~ heart, a gentleman OF the old knight
~ school; you do not understand these
tricksters in the least. Go on, and tell
me what happened then"
Il had decided" went on De Lussac,
that nothing could be done while
Monsieur de Richelieu was in the house.
! did not see him the whole morning:
he was engaged, it seems, with his Sec
rotary in his own apartments. But at
dejeuner he appeared. and you may
imagine my relief on hearing him order
his carriage to be got in readiness Inn
mediately after the meal to take him
to the Duo de Choiseul's. He was very
gay, and so filled with his own affairs
that he did not notice my
or want of appetite, and when he had
departed l went to the library. telling
the servants not to disturb me, ~ l
had some important work to do.
1T was after l o'clock; the house vas
as silent as the tomb; neither dog nor
man was there to oppose me. and 1
set to work"
The sweat started in beads on De
Lussac's forehead while he paused. as
II contemplating the terrible adventure
Of the day.
You must remember that at any
AShAAS, OA NiIS IN VI
even one of the servants who are 90
forgetful of orders might have opened
the door; and I had to open brewer
after drawer to its full extent, examine
each paper they contained, and replace
them. 1 have never felt afraid before.
but while carrying u this business 1
was filled with terror and stupefaction.
I worked mechanically. and like q man
working In a dream; had any one en-,
tered l should have run my sword
through his heart, replaced the papers
hidden my disgrace, and then destroyed
myself. 1t was this thought that gave
me courage.
"And among all these papers there
was not a sign Of the document; 1t WAS
by the merest accident / our II at
last"
You found it,"
"Wait-yes, l found it, behind a Sc
cret panel OF the top right hand drawer.
q panel the existence of which l dis
covered by q chance which seems mi
raculous.
The thing ought to belong to the
history of the world, SO that men might
see the depth of infamy that man can
| descend to.
1T contains the names of Sc corn
brokers, the amount OF corn each Of
these has delivered, the amount q
corn is signed by De Sartines. the re-
ceipt for the money by the master
broker.
All this corn has been bought, to be
sold at thrice it's purchased price to a
starved market and a starving people,"
But Monsieur de Richelieu-Why did
he hold the document?"
"He is the king"
1.-THE king?"
The kings intermediary; half Of the
money for the purchase of the corn has
been supplied by the king. De Richie
! IT,, &C. Ahn lr{,nu1a h,,0{rncc a In tho
affair; his watch dog over the rapac-
ity of De Sartines and Terray. who
was the inventor of the scheme"
Mon Dteu! n this document"
Wait l was seated with the open
drawer before me. the document in
amazed by the infamy Of these men,.
when, outside. suddenly sounded sharp
and clear the voice of nay cousin, De
| Richelieu. In a flash I folded the docu-
ment. placed it on top Of the papers
in the dra wer, closed the drawer, UNI
able to loci 1t bccause I had taken
the key from the lock. and. rising, was
In the act of taking a book from one
Of the shelves when III door opened
and the due entered. followed by Raffe.
bearing a pile of books and papers. De
Choiseul. it seems, had been away from
home; a you conceive such bad
luck? The u seemed still In splendid
humor, and. evidently, he suspected
nothing; ne rallied me for staying in
the house when the weather a SO
the shelves, book in hand, he passed
to the bureau and. sat down before 1t.
while Raffe spread its top with the
books and papers.
"'T'hese are my half yearly ac-
counts said the due. 'Raffe and ! are
it will take us till supper time. A
weary business, and ! fear we shall
disturb you in our reading
AT that my eye fell On the clock.
which stands on a little table near the
window. an / saw that 1t marked
appointment with you. l had for
| gotten it for a moment. l told my
kinsman that l would leave him to his
accounts. went to the stable, borrowed
a horse and killed him half a league
from Paris. I a the half league. l
had not spared the horse; my only ex-
cuse is that l did not spare myself"
And you have left this document
lying Upon the other documents in the
right hand top drawer Of Monsieur de
Richelieu's. bureau?"
Yes"
Why did you not thrust 1T into M
pocket?'
For answer, De L4ussac turned and
showed her the pockets of his coat,
pockets with heavily embroidered
maps. H1dkIi8 ~ b WOTk Ol OIIIfCully
even to insert mes hand.
THE drawer was open before me-"
said he; nothing was easier than to
place h paper in 1t and close It,"
And you have left the drawer IN
locked?"
Yes: 1 had no time to lock It,"
And Monsieur lie DUO is sitting there
now doing his accounts and at any mo-
ment he nay require some paper or
other. take his keys from his pocket,
8ncork Opo In tho l0olk. md find khaf Hho.