Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-01-13
The Mystery of
the Bou1e Cabinet
b ORTON E. STEVENSON
Copyright 1913 v pur+or a S+.r.,..
Copyright, 1918. by Burton e. Stevenson.

Lester" he said. accepting the cigar !
offered him. II find it restful after a
hard day" and he smiled across at me
good humoredly.
HOW Nou keep it up l don't see" j
said. This N case has nearly given
me ervou prostration."
We'll, | don't often strike one as
strenuous as this" and he settled back
comfortably. LAS a matter of fact. i
haven't one for Il long time that even
touches it. There is nothing really
mysterious bout most crimes"
This one is certainly mysterious
enough L remarked.
what makes 1t Mysterious God
Trey explained, lis the apparent lack of
motive. AS soon as one learns the mo-
1--WE Tor a crime. M learns also who
committed it. But where the motive
can't be discovered. it is mighty hard
to make any progress"
1T isn't only lack of motive which
makes it mysterious" 1 commented;
its everything about it.. / can't un-
how it was done. When j get to think
ing about it, 1 feel as though l We're
Wandering around and around in q
maze from which I can never as
cape"
"oh, yes. you'll escape. Lester" said
NOSi 4ulcIIN, III lIstI before very
long"
IF YOU ave an explanation. God
frey" 1 protested, for heavens sake
tell me! Don't keep me in the l.lazc
an instant longer than is necessary.
I've been thinking about it till my
brain feels like a sna of tangled
thread. Do you mean to say you know
what it is all about?"
"'Know' is perhaps a little strong.
There isn't much in this world that we
really know. Suppose we say thai i
strongly suspect" He paused a mo-
ment. his Eyes on the ceiling. you
know you've accused me of romancing
for instance; yet that omance has
come true"
ri take it all back" 1 said. meekly.
There's another thing these talks
do" continued Godfrey. going off rath-
er at a tangent. "and that is to clarity
my ideas. You don't know how it
helps me to state my case to you and
to try to answed Your objections. Your
being a lawyer makes you unusually
quick to see objections, and a lawyer
is always harder to convince of a thing
h the ordinary man. You are ac-
customed to weighing evidence: and so
l V allow myself to be convinced
of a theory until 1 have convinced
you. Not always; Ven then" he added
with a smile.
We'll. I'm glad I'm of some use" 1
said. IF 1T is only as a sort of file for
you to sharpen your wits o n So please
go ahead and romance some more. Tell
me first how You II Simmonds came
to be following Armand"
Simply because l had found out he
wasn't Armand. Felix Armand is in
Paris at this moment. You were too
%credulous. Lester"
why, / neve had any doubt of his
being Armand" / stammered. He
knew about my cablegram-he knew
about the firms answer
"Of course he did, because your cable
was never received by the Armands,
but by a confederate in this elbows
employ; and it was that confederate
who answered it. Our friend, the un-
known. foresaw, OF course, that a cable
would be sent the Armands as soon as
the mistake was discovered. he
took his precautions accordingly"
Then you still believe that the cab
met was sent to Vantine by design and
not by accidcnt?"
Absolutely. 1t was sent by the Ar
mands in good faith. because they be-
lioved that it had been purchased by
Vantine-all of which had been ar
ranged very carefully by the Great I'm
known
Tel me how you know all this. Cod
frey" 1 said.
why it was easy enough. When you
told me yesterday of Armand, / knew,
or thought l knew. that it was a plant
OF some kind. But. in order to be sure,
1 cabled our man al Paris to investi-
gate. Our man went at once to Ar
mand. pere. and he learned a num-
Der of very interesting things. One
was that the son Felix Armand.
was in Paris; another was that no
member OF the firm knew any
thing about vn1,,. noh1o M <Lo ~,
swer to it; a third was, that, had the
cable been received, 1T would no have
, been understood, because the Armands'
books show that this cabinet was
bought by Philip Vantine for the sum
Of $4,000 francs"
mot this one!!" 1 protested.
Eyes, this one. And it was cheap at
the price. OF course. the Armands
knew nothing about the Montespan
story-they were simply selling at a
profit"
But 1 don't underestimate" 1 stam-
mered. "Vantine told me himself that
he did not buy that cabinet"
"Nor did he. But somebody bought it
in his name m directed that it be
sent forward to him."
And paid $4,000 francs for it?"
"Certainly-and paid IL. 1000 francs to
the Armands."
Rather an expensive present." 1 said,
feebly. for my brain was beginning to
whirl again.
"Oh, it wasn't intended as a pres
ent. The purchaser planned to reclaim
it-but Vantine's death threw him out.
II it hadn't been for that-for an acct
dent which no one could foresee-
everything would have gone along
smoothly n no one would ever have
beer the wiser"
But what was his object? Was he
trying to evade the duty?"
oh, nothing so small as that! Be
sides, he would have had to refund the
duty to Vantine. Did he refund it to
you?"