The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-11-12

You saw It, too" I pointed out, "as
soon as mentioned it,"
Yes; but you mentioned it in q way
which made its Importance manifest.
couldn't help seeting it. And / believe
that we have both arrived at practical
ly the same conclusions. Here they
are, and he checked them off on his
fingers, THE cabinet contains a. Sec
ret drawer. This is inevitable, If Il
tespan. Any cabinet made for he1
would be certain to have a secret
draWer-she would require it, just as
she would require lace on her under
wear or jeweled buttons on her gloves
mat drawer, since it was, perhaps, to
contain such priceless documents as
the love letters of q king-even more
SO, If the love letters were from an
other man!-must be adequately
guarded, and, therefore, a mechanism
was devised to stab the person at
to open it and to inject into
lhe wound a poison SO powerful as to
cause instant death. Am 1 right so
far?"
Wonderfully right" I nodded. 81
had not put it SO clearly. even to my
self. Go ahead"
we come to the conclusion, them
continued Godfrey, that the business
OF this unknown Frenchman with Van
tlne In some way concerned this cabi-
net"
"vantine himself thought So"
broke In. He told me afterwards that
1t was because he thought SO he con-
sented to see him."
Good! would seem to indicate
mat we are on the right track. The
trenchman's business, then, had some
thing to do with this cabinet, and with
TINS secret drawer. Left to himself, he
discovered the cabinet in the room ad-
Joining the ante-room, ATTEMPTED to
open the drawer and was killed"
Yes agreed; "and now how about
Vantine?"
"Vantine's death isn't SO simply ex-
planned. Presumably the unknown
woman also called on business relating
to the cabinet. She, also, wanted to
open the secret drawer, in order to Sc
cure its contents-that seems fairly
certain from her connection with the
first caller"
You still think it was her photo
graph he carried in his watch?"
L am sure Of it. But how did 1t
happen that 1t was Vantine who was
killed? Did the woman, warned by the
tate or the man. deliberately set Van
tIne to open the drawer in order that
she might run no risk? Or was she also
ignorant Of the mechanism? Above all,
did she succeed in getting away with
the contents Of the drawer?"
What was the contents of the
drawer?" I demanded.
"Ah, if we only knew,"
Perhaps the woman had nothing to
do with it. Vantine himself told me
that he was going to make a careful
examination of the cabinet. No doubt
that is exactly what he was doing when
the Woman's arrival interrupted him.
He might have let her out Of the house
himself and then, returning to the
cabinet, stumbled upon the secret
drawer after she had gone"
Yes; that that is quite possible, too.
AT any rate. you agree with me that
both men were killed In some such way
as | have describedH"
Absolutely. I think there can be no
doubt of it."
There are objections-and rather
weighty ones. The theory explains the
Two deaths, 1t explains the similarity
OF the wounds, 1T explains how both
should be on the right hand just above
the k%nuckles, it explains why both
bodies were found In the same place
since both men started to summon
help. But, in the first place, If the
Frenchman got the drawer open, who
closed it?"
Perhaps it closed itself when he let
go of it."
opened it?"
yes"
1T would take a very clever mechan-
ism to do that"
But at least It's possible"
Oh, yes it's possible. And we must
remember that the poisoners of those
days We're very ingenious. That was
the heydey Of La Vois1n and the Mar
quise de Brinvilliers, Of Enxi, and
heavens knows how many other ex-
perts who had followed Catherine de
Medici to France. So that's all quite
possible. But there is one thing that
isn't possible, and that Is that a poison
which, If 1t Is administered as we think
it is, must be a liquid. could remain In
that cabinet fresh and ready for use for
more thar 800 years. 1t would have
dried up centuries ago. Nor would the
mechanism stay in order SO long. It
Therefore, it would have to be oiled and
overhauled from time to time. If it
is worked by a spring and I
don't see how else it car be worked
the spring would have to be renewed
and wound up"
"Well?" I asked. as he paused.
We'll, it Is evident that the drawer
contains something more recent than
the love letters Of Louis XIV. 1t must
have been put in working order quite
recently. But by whom n for what
purpose? That is the mystery we have
to solve-and it is a mighty pretty one.
And here's another objection" he add
ed. That Frenchman knew about the
secret drawer. because, according to
our theory, he opened it and got killed.
WHY dluL / lie also RHO" ABOUT the
poison?"
That was an objection. truly. and the
more 1 thought Of it, the more serious
it seemed.
III may be-" said Godfrey, at last,
that d'Aurelle was going it alone-that
he had broker with the gang"
The gang?"
Q course, there is a gang. This
thing a taken careful planning and
concerted effort. n the leader of the
gang is a geniusl I wonder If you I'M
derstand how great a genius? Think:
he knows h secret Of the drawer of
Madame de Montespan's cabinet; but
above all he knows the secret Of the
poison-the poison Of the Medici! Do
you know what that means, LesterP"
What does it mean?" I asked, for
Godfrey was getting ahead of me.
1T means he is a great criminal
really great criminal-one Of the elect
from whom crime has no secrets. OBJ
serve. He alone knows the secret Of
the poison; one Of his men breaks away
from him, and avs for his mutiny with
his life. He is the brain; the Others
are merely the Instruments"
Then o don't believe 1t was by