Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-10-09

he saw a vehicle approaching. 1t was
the Paris diligence.
"Ah!" said he. Here is the dill
gence. I will take it,"
The words acted like a charm. The
coachman climbed to his seat again
wife. took De Maupeou by the arm.
Get in. monsieur" said he. II have
lost my wife. No matter. l will find
her again, and we can have 2 drink
at Paris. Wives are easily found. Be-
sides. she may have gone on to her
mother. who lives in the Rue de Bon
Sy: and ! have a bottle in the ea0r'0-
De Maupeou hesitated between the
choice OF Gaillard, who was undesir-
able. and the diligence. which was no
vehicle for the first magistrate of
France to be found In. He chose Gall
lard, stepped into the cabriolet. and
was lost.
Fol several miles they proceeded at
q rapid pace. and Gaillard. forget
ting his wife, forgetting his grievances,
forgetting everything but conviviality.
applied himself to the bottle and under
Its charms sang songs of q free and
volatile nature, and presently, losing
interest in music. fell asleep.
The horse. as though in sympathy
with the wearied reveler. ~slackened Its
pace. and the Paris diligence, which
had been following them and taking
their dust. passed them with a tinkling
of bells and a cry Of derision from the
driver.
De Maupeou looked at his watch. It
was after eight. He shouted to the
driver to hasten his speed and that in
dividual replied through the dusk that
was now gathering, and whipped up his
horse.
The speed increased for a quarter OF
a mile n then slackened gain, de-
spite the apparent efforts of the dri-
Yer. so that when the toll gate was
reached and DeMaupeou looked at his
watch he found that 1t pointed to. 20
minutes past 8. ~
The vehicle stopped at the toll gate
and the sergeant on duty came to the
window with a lantern. The lantern
was for the examination of the inter-
Tor of the cabriolet, for it was not yet
dark and De Maupeou could see the
~sergeant's face clearly in the dusk.
Gaillard. who had suddenly Weakened
from his sleep, put his hand under the
seat for his bottle. and pulled out in
stead a dead fowl. which he hastily
stuffed back.
But the sergeant had seer him.
In a moment De Maupeou and his
companion were hauled from the coach
and the sergeant, diving under the seat
gave a cry like the cry Of a hound.
The compartment beneath the seat
Was stuffed with contraband! ~
1t seemed to the luckless vice cham
cellor that he was in the midst of a
nightmare; dumb at his abominahe
position M not daring to give his
name before all the guards and those
loaferS who hung around the toll gates
of Paris. he let himself be led into the
guard room, which was fortunately
empty, and where he took his seat on
the bench beside Gaillard, whose
drunkenness had again descended on
him like a veil, and who now, relieved
from the clutches of the soldiers, sank
into a condition Of complete oblivion
despite the fact that while being LED
past the sergeant he had in a perfect
ly wide awake manner contrived to sir
into the hands Of the latter a piece OF
paper containing a short paper signed
"Rappelier."
De Maupeou, unable for a moment to
think or form a plan, looked at his
watch. 1t pointed to $3.50.
The sergeant and the soldiery did
not know him by sight; these men of
the guard houses had nothing to do
with h law courts or the palaces,
and the paper Of Rappelier disclosed
that neither Gaillard nor his com
panion We're smugglers, out that they
were to be held in custody till 10
o'clock and then discharged, and the
whole affair reported to Monsieur de
Sartfnes.
Gaillard, let us say at once, was Mon
sieur Marmortal. that plainclothes
agent of the palace police whose
humor n resourc In the case Of the
mysterious Mademoiselle M. form such
an amusing chapter in the memoirs OF
Monsieur de Condamine.