Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-01-19

closed door when Marcel knocked and
receiving no answer, used the pass
key and entered.
At this the snore was briefly interrupt
ed; Bourke, visible at first only as a
flaming shock of hair protruding from
the bedclothes, squirmed an eye above
his artificial horizon, opened it, mum
bled inarticulate acknowledgment OF
,, Marcel's salutation, and passed bla
family into further slumbers.s
Marcel deposited his tray on table
beside the bed, then moved quietly to
the windows, closed them, and drew
the lace curtains together. The dress.
ing table between the two windows
displayed, amid the silver and copper,
more gold coins than it commonly did
some eighteen or twenty louis alto
gether. Adroitly abstracting in pass
I, ing piece of ten francs, Marcel went
on his way rejoicing, touched match
to the fire ready laid in the crate, and
was nearing the door when, casting
one casual parting glance at the bed,
he became aware of notable phenom-
enon-the snoring was going on lus-
tily, but Bourke was watching him
with both eyes wide and filed with in
terest.
Startled, and, to tell the truth, .
bit indignant, the boy stopped as
though at word of command. But
after the first flush of establishment
his young face hardened to immobil-
ity. Only his eyes remained constant
to Bourke's.
The Irishman sitting up in bed, de-
manded and received the gold piece,
and went on to indict the boy for the
embezzlement Of several sums run
ming into a number of louis.
Marcel, rejecting that Bourke's
reckoning was still some louis shy,
made no bones about pleading guilty.
1nterrogated, the culprit deposed that
he had taken the money because he
needed it to buy books. No, he wasn't
sorry. Yes, it was probable that,
granted further opportunity, he would
do it again. Advised that he was ap-
parently a case-hardened young crimi-
nal, he replied that youth was not his
fault; with years and experience he
would certainly improve.
Puzzled by the boys attitude,
Bourke agitated his hair and Won
dered aloud how Marcel would like it
if his employers were Informed of his
populations.
Marcel looked panied. and pointed
out that such course on the part of
Bourke would be obviously unfair; the
only real difference between them, he
explained, was that where he flched
a louis Bourke filched thousands, and
if Bourke insisted on turning him over
to the mercies of Nine. and Papa
Troyon, who would certainly summon
a sergeant de vile, he, Marcel, would
be quite justified in retaliating by
telling the prefecture de police all that
he knew about Bourke.
This was no chance shot, and went
home. When, dismayed, the Irishman
clustered, demanding to know what
the boy meant by his damned inlpu-
dence, Marcel quietly advised him
that one knew what one knew-if one
read the English newspaper in the
cafe, as Marcel did, one could hardly
fail to remark that monsieur always
came to Paris after some notable bur-
glary had been committed in London;
and If one troubled to follow mon
sieur by night, as Marcel had, it be-
came evident that monsieur's first
calls in Paris were invariably made
at the establishment of a famous
fence in the Rue des Trois Freres;
and, finally, one drew ones own con-
illusions when strangers dining in the
restaurant-as on the night before, by
way of Observation-Disclosures who