Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-03-05

"a NOd. IEHt Wrl... >EElr 40 iNdi-
cate that We ,u>, uu tac vj1ht track.
The Fre0chumu'> 'asin,>S. then, had
something t. a. with this cabinet and
with this secret drawcr Lett t. him,
self. he discovered the cabinet in the
room adjoining the autercan,. attempt
ed IL open the drawer and WAS killed"
Yes, agreed And now how n bout
Nantiue:"
"Nantinc's death isn't So simply ex
planned. Presumably the unknown wo-
man also called ON business relating to
the cabinet. She, also wanted to open
the secret drawer. in order to secure
its contents That seems fairly Ger,
tain from her connection with the first
caller"
You still think it was her photo
graph he carried in his watch?"
Il am sure OF it, But how did it
happen that it was Vautine who was
killed? Did the woman. warned by
the fate of the man. deliberately set
Nantinc 10 open the drawer in order
that she might run no risk? Or was
she also ignorant of the mechanism?
Above ali. did she succeed in getting
away with the contents Of the
drawer?"
What WAS in the drawer?"
"Ah, if we only know"
"Perhaps the woman had nothing to
do with it. Nautine himself told me
that he was going to make 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 is quite possible too. But
there are objections. and rather
weighty ones In the first place, IL
the Frenchman got the drawer open,
who closed it,"
Perhaps it closed itself when he let
so Of it"
And closed again after Nantine
opened it,"
Yes
Its possible. We must remember
that the prisoners of those days were
very ingenious But there is one thing
that isn't possible. and that is that a
poison which. if it is administered us
we think it is. must be LIQUID. could
remain in that cabinet fresh and ready
for use for more than 800 years. 1t
would have dried up centuries ago
Nop fhA nj ..fn I'm
der so long 1t must be both compli-
Gated and delicate Therefore it would
have to be oiled and overhauled from
time to time If it is worked by a
spring-and don't see how else it can
be worked-the spring would have to
be renewed and wound up"
'Well?" 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
purpose? That is the mystery we
have to solve and it is a mighty pref
ty one. And here's another objection"
he added. THAT Frenchman knew
about the secret drawer, because, ac-
cording to our theory. he opened it and
got killed, Why didn't he also know
about the poison|'
That was an objection, truly, and
the more l thought of it the more seri-
Gus it seemed.
ut may be- said Godfrey at last,
that D'Aurelle was going it alone
that he had broken with the gang
The gang?"
"Of course there is gang This
thing has taken careful planning and
concerted effort. And the leader of
the gang is genius, | wonder if you
understand how great genius? Think,
He knows the secret of the drawer of
Nine. 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. Les
teri"
What does it mean?" l asked. for
Godfrey was getting ahead of me.
1T means he IS a great criminal
really great criminal-one of the elect
serve He alone knows the secret Of
the poison. One of his men breaks
away from him and pays for his mu-
tiny with his life. He is the brain;
the others are merely the Instruments.
Then you don't believe it was by
accident that cabinet was sent to Van
tine:"
by accident? Not for an instant
1t was part of plot-and a splendid
plot"
Can you explain that to me toof'
| queried little ironically.
He smiled good naturally at my
tone.
"Of course this is all mere romano
ing" he admitted. II am the first to
acknowledge that. | was merely fol
lowing out our theory to what seemed
its logical conclusion. But perhaps
we are on the wrong track altogether.