Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-11-11
The Mystery of
The Bou1e Cabinet
BURTON E. STEVENSON
Copyright, 1913, by Burton E. Stevenson.
chair and pacing up and down the
room, his face flushed, his eyes glow
, 1913, by Burton e. Stevenson.

chair n pacing up and down the
room, his face flushed, his eyes glow
ing.
Beautiful" he from time
to time. Immense! What a case it
will make, Lester!" he cried, stopping
before my chair and beaning down up
on me-. as l finished the story. unique,
too; that's the beauty of it. AS unique
as this adorable Boule cabinet"
Then you see it. too?" L questioned,
a little disappointed that my theory
should seem so evident.
See it?" and he dropped into his
chair again. "A man would be blind
not to see it. Blu all the same. Lester,
give YOU credit for putting the facts
together. So many of us-Grady, for
!~nstance-aren't able to do that, or to
see which facts are essential and which
are negligible. Now the fact that
Vantine had accidentally come into
possession of a Boule cabinet would
probably seem neglible to Grady,
whereas it is the one big essential fact
in this whole case. And it was you
who saw it,"
You say it, too" 1 pointed out, "as
soon as l mentioned it,"
Yes; but you mentioned it in a way
which made it's Importance manifest. 1
couldn't help seeting it. And l 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 1t
really belonged to Madame de Mon
tespan. ANY cabinet made for her
would be certain to nave a secret
drawer-she would require it. just as
she would require lace on her under
wear or jeweled buttons on her gloves.
That drawer since it was, perhaps, to
contain such priceless documents as
i tho 1.-Two 0nffnpo oP r. ;~ 1,y~
, 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
tempting to open it and to inject into
the wound a poison so powerful as TO
cause instant death. Am l right so
far"
wonderfully right" I nodded. II
had not put it so clearly, ever to my
self. Go ahead"
I'VE come to the conclusion. Them
continued Godfrey. that the business
of this unk now Frenchman with VAN
tine in some way concerned this cabi-
net"
"Vantine himself thought So" 1
broke in. H told me afterwards that
1t was because he thought so he con-
sented to see him."
Good! That would seem to indicate
that We are on the right track. The
. cooill0SS, llGI, lloQ some.
thing to do with this cabinet, and with
this secret drawer. Left to himself, he
the cabinet in the room ad-
joining the ante-room. ATTEMPTED to
open the drawer and was killed"
Yes agreed; "an now how about
"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 It's contents-that seems fairly
first caller"
You still think it vas her photo
graph he carried in his watch?"
Il am sure Of it. But how did it
happen that it 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 she succeed in getting away with
the contents of the drawer?"
What was the contents of the
drawer?" l demanded.
All. 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 n 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, it 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
Fienchman got the drawer open, who
closed it?''
Perhaps 1t closed itself when he let
And closed again after vantine
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 prisoners Of those
dayS were very ingenious. That was
the hcydev Of La voisin and the Mar
quise de Brinvilliers. Of Elixi. and
heavens knows 10Y many other ex-
pcrts who had followed Catherine de
possible. But there is one thing that
Isn't possible. and that is that a poison
which. II It Is administered as we think
It 70. must be q liquid. could remain in
that cabinet fresh and ready for use for
more than 800 years. 1t would have
mechanism stay in order 80 long. It
must be both complicated and delicate.