The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1913-01-30


delivered by an elderly man with a
long red nose and laughing eyes. Aft
er a quick glance through the room
my companion walked up to a table
occupied by five art students and
four girls comfortably squeezed to-
gether.
Have any OF you seen Auguste to-
night?" asked Claire.
No; nobody had seen him The
girl after a moments silence turned
to me.
Il will make another try-will you
come"
The next place-with which I was
very famillar-was a third-rate night
restaurant Somebody was presiding
over an old piano in the corner, but
the clatter Of plates and the noisy
laughter drowned every other sound.
81 wonder what has become of
him." said Claire. He is not here;
nor did | see him last night I shall
wait here a little while"
AS l was ordering refreshments, a
youth passed.
"Seen Auguste tonight?" Claire
called to him.
mo, nor last night But I caught
sight of him yesterday at Nogent-sur
! Marine. He was walking down a pri-
vate road with a young chap who
! looked like a jockey"
"What on earth was he doing at
! Nogent-sur- Marne?" remarked Claire.
| And asked myself the same question,
remembering that Nine. Servois had
not been heard Of since she went to
that place the day before.
Four days elapsed, and every morn
ing and afternoon Josephine came to
me, to know whether I had any It'd
ings Of her mistress. Nine. Mesier
and Fdouard likewise called: but none
Of them could supply any clue. AS to
Auguste, who, as l discovered. lived
in a small bedroom or the sixth floor
in the Rue HOudOn, he had not been
home for several days, nor had Claire
! seen him.
This is how matters stood when On
the fifth day Paris was startled by the
news of a horrible discovery in the
Fontainebleau Forest. A party of hol-
iday-makers had been picnicking in
the neighborhood of BarbiZon and had
gone for a ramble, when, passing
through some bushes, two Of them
stumbled over a sack. They cut the
rope with which it was tied, and be
held the headless body of a woman.
l Immediately went to Barbizon to
inspect the CHASTITY find. The head
was absent, the arms and legs were
mangled beyond recognition, and &C.
cording to the medical evidence the
crime must have been committed a
couple of days before. The skirt still
chung to the body. It was of silky
material called, I think, fou!ard, Of a
dark blue color with little white dots
printed ell over it,
Ny first thought. of course, was OF
Nine Servois, and l begged Nine
Meiser and Josephine to assist me
in my Investigations The condition
Of the body rendered identification
almost impossible, but Nine. Mesiel
at once recognized the dress as hav
ing belonged to her friend: whereupo1
Josephine shook her head and de
|
tress' gown were bigger.
T swear it is Nine. Servois' dress,
said Mime. Mesier.
'T swear 1t Is mott" exclaimed
Josephine.
, Where did she buy the material, O
who made the dress?" asked.
Unfortunately neither Of then
knew. Nine Servois had the yea
before made a tour through German,
! and had bought the costume there.
n The body was transferred to Pari
and exposed in the morgue, where
!. upon matters became still more com
! plicated, for a farmer from Lisieu
recognized the dress as that Of his sis
d ter. who had run away from her hom
:. a month ago: and a corn merchant i
/ the Rue vieille-du- Temple was equal
positive that it had belonged to hi
= divorced wife How, in view Of thes
a conflicting statements, could I hop
! to trace the murderer? I instructe
n my chief assistant to follow up tn
: vague clues supplied by the farme
and the corn merchant, and impose
, upon myself the task Of discoverin
+ whether there was a connecting lin
= betwee1 Nine. Servois' Disappearance
\ and the finding Of the body.
I The coincidence Of Augusta havin
+ been seen at Nogent-sur-Marne, tn
10 day Nine. Servois called there on III
8 friend, had caused me to have h
" lodgings watched night and day. Blu
a thus far, he had not turned up the1
q nor at his favorite haunt. where Clai1
n was still waiting for him every nigh
l. I next saw Nine. Servois' lawyer, WI
4 was very anxious about his client.
young Edouard," he said. has
"a ready been to see me several time
We He knows that in the event of b
10 aunt's death he will inherit larl
Id share of her property, and
thoughts seem to run more on Il
I money than on the fate that mi
at have befa1len her. M. Goron. do y
"a really think that the body found