The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-03-04
The Mystery of
the Bou1e Cabinet
RURTON r NJ
Copyright 1919, BY Burton q, Etevenson.

Il want a souvenir, too" 1 said. "rd
like awfully well to have that letter
besides" I added, ut will be @ kind of
receipt, you know, II anybody ever
questions my giving you the cabinet"
Godfrey laughed and threw the letter
across the table to me.
It's yours" he said. "And I'll sen
for the cabinet tomorrow. I suppose il
Is still at the station?"
Yes; I haven't had time to put In
q claim for It But Godfrey" I added.
when did La Bretagne sail?"
IA week ago today. She is due at
Havre in the morning"
Did you warn them?"
"Warn'them Of what?"
"That Crochard Is after the dia-
monds. They went back OF La n
tagne. I suppose?"
"Yes-and Pigot went with them. So
why should I warn any one? Surely
they know that Crochard will get
those diamonds II he can. It has be-
come a sort Of point Of honor with him,
OF them"
That oughtn't to be difficult" I said.
The strong room Of a liner il about
he safest place on earth"
Yes" Godfrey agreed, and blew q
meditative ring toward the ceiling.
And presently he went away with
out saying anything more.
But the more I thought of It, the
more the infection he had given that
word seemed an Interrogation rather
than an affirmation.
And when I opend my paper next
morning, l more than half expected to
be greeted with q black headline an
nouncing the looting OF the strong
room OF La Bretagne. But there was no
such headline, and with a sigh, half Of
reIier and half Of disappointment, I
turned to the other news.
But two weeks later, a black head
line did catch my eye:
M1CHAELOVrTCH JEWELS FALSE!
French Detective Takes Back Paste
limitations from America.
Fraud Discovered When the Grand
Duke Michael Sends Them to a
Jeweller to be Reset.
l had no need to read the article
which followed, for I saw in a flash
what had occurred. I saw, too. why
Crochard had retained the paste Jewels
ne had a use for them! How or
where the substitution had been made,
l could only guess; but one thing was
certain; h two weeks which had
elapsed before the theft was dis
covered had given him ample op-
portunity to dispose Of his plumber. /
felt sorry for the Grand Duke: sorrier
still for that admirable M. Pigot: but,
after all, one could no but admire the
cleverness Of the man who had de-
spoiled them.
Who, I wondered, had bought the
Marzarin? SNrely there was a dia-
mond most difficult to sell. It could,
Of course, be cut up-but that would
be sacrilege!
That question was answered, be-
fore long, in an unexpected way-aw way
which filled many columns in the pa
pers, which delighted the comedy low
ing French, and which gave Crochard
/ q TIninIIa odyarfiaapnonf 0nn yaArnln-
In the personal column Of LeMatin,
appeared a notice, of which this Is the
English:
ITO NJ. the Director of the Museum OF
the Louvre:
TT has beer my good fortune to come
into possession OF the rose diamond
known as the Mazarin. It il my wish
to restore 1t to our collection, in Or
der that II may no longer be neces-
sary to delude the public with an imi-
tation OF colored glass. It will give
me great pleasure to present this bril-
liant to you, with my compliments, pro
v1ded his highness, the Grand Duke
Michael, who preceded me in posses
sion OF the diamond, will Join me in
the gift. Should he refuse, It will be
my melancholy duty to cleave the LID
mond into a number of smaller stones,
as 1t Is too large for my use. But I
hope that he will not refuse.
Orchard, L'Invincib1el"
What could the Grand Duke do? To
have refused, would hav made him the
butt of the b~oulevards. Besides, he
was, after all, losing nothing which he
had not already lost. SO, with q bet
ter grace than one might nave ex-
pected. he consented to join in the
restoration. Two days later, the di-
rector Of the Louvre discovered a
packet upon his desk. He opened il
and found within the MaEarin. When
you visit the Louvre, you will see II in
the place OF honor in the glass case in
the center Of the gallery Of Apollo, with
an attendant on guard beside II. But
already the circumstances Of its res
toration are fading o the public
memory.
And C%rochard? I do not know. Each
morning, I read first the news from
Paris. searching for L~'Invincible In
some new incarnation. I ave his let
ter framed and hanging above my desk
and every day I read It over. One sem
tence, especially, is forever running in
my head:
IT trust that, at some future time,
It may be my privilege to be again en-
gagged with you-the result is certain to
be most interesting"
And I trust that 1t may be my priv
llege. also, to be present at that en-