The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-11-12

probably seem neglible to Grady.
whereas II Is he one big essential fact
in this whole case. And 1t was o
who saw it."
You saw it. too." 1 pointed out 'as
soon as i mentioned It."
Yes: but you mentioned II in a way
which mad its Importance manifest. !
couldn't help seeting 1t. 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, IL Il
really belonged to Madame de Mon
tespan. Any cabinet mad for her
would be certain to have q secret
drawer-she would require 1t. just as
she would require lace on her UNDER
wear or jeweled buttons on her gloves.
That drawer. since 1t was, perhaps, to
contain such priceless documents as
the love letters of q king-even more
so, IL the love letters were from an
other manl-must be adequately
guarded, and, therefore, a mechanism
was devised to stab the person at
tempting to open 1t and to inject into
the wound a poison 30 powerful as TO
cause instant death. Am I right SO
farT"
wonderfully right" I nodded. Il
self. Go ahead"
I'VE come to the conclusion. then"
continued Godfrey, that the business
OF this unknown Frenchman with Van
tine in some way concerned this cabi-
nett
"vantine himself thought So" I
broke In. He told me afterwards that
1t was because he thought 80 he con-
scented to see him."
"Goodi That would seem to indicate
that we are on the right track. The
Frenchman's business, then, had
Il thtn0 20 IL xrvNkA kkN- 49, azAA - -wlkA
this secret drawer. Left to himself, he
discovered the cabinet in the room ad-
Joining the ante-room, attended to
open the drawer n was killed"
Yes" I agreed; zane 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 se-
cure it's contents-that seems fairly
certain from her connection with the
first caller"
You still think Il was her photo
graph he carried in his watch?"
II am sure OF II. But how did It
happen that 1t was Vantine who was
killed? Did the woman, warned by the
fate OF 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 h succeed in getting away with
the contents OF the drawer?" i
What was the contents of the
drawer?" / demanded.
"Ah, IL 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
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 I have described?"
Absolutely. I think there can be no
doubt OF It."
There are obJections-and rather
weighty ones. The theory explains the
two deaths. It explains the similarity
of the wounds, 1t explains how both
should be on the right hand just above
the knuckles, 1t explains why both
bodies were found in the same place
since both men started to summon
help. But, in the first place, IL the
Frenchman got the drawer open. who
closed it,"
Perhaps It closed itself when he let
"And closed again after vantine
opened tit"
Yes" ..
TT 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 prisoners Of those
days were very ingenious. That vas
the heydey of La Voisin and the Mar
quise de Brinvilliers, Of Elixi, 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, IL 1t Is administered as we think
II Is, must be a liquid, could remain In
that cabinet fresh n ready for use for
more than 500 years. 1t would have
dried up centuries ago. Nor would the
mechanism stay in order so long. It
must be both complicated and delicate.
Therefore, 1t would rave to be oiled and
o~verhauled from time to time. II It
is worked by a spring - and I
don't see how else 1t can be worked
the spring would have to be renewed
and wound up" .....
'Wel?" I asked, as he paused.
well, 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 and for what
/ PoA pOSOs liz 10 Nio HAySNSAJ We AHNS
to solve-and 1t 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 n got killed.
Why didn't he also know about the
poison"
That was an objection, truly. and the
more I thought o. 1t, the more serious
Ii seemed.
TT may be- said Godfrey, at last,
that d'Aurelle was going it a~lone-that
he had broken with the gang"
1.-THE gang?"
"Of course, there is q ang This
thing has taken careful planning and
concerted effort. And the leader Of the
gang Is a genius! I wonder IL you un-
derstand how great a genius? Think:
he knows the secret of the drawer of
Madame de Montespan's cabinet; but
above all he knows the secret OF the
poison-the poison OF the Medicil DO
you know what that means Lester?p
What does 1t mean?".I asked, for
Godfrey vas 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