The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-08-15

M. Destinations remained think
ing for a time and then objected:
"Still, in the letters which he
wife"
"He does"
"We must therefore admit
either that he was right in accus-
ing her or that the letters are
forged"
"They are not forged. All the
experts have recognized M. Eau.
ville's handwriting"
"Thenf"
"Then-"
Don Luis did not finish his sed-
tence; and M. Desmalions felt the
breath Of the truth f%luttering still
nearer round him.
The others, one and all as
anxious as himself, were silent.
He muttered:
~ do not understand
eyes, Monsieur lie Prefet, you
do. You understand that, if the
sending Of those letters forms an
integrant part Of the plot Matched
against Nine. Fauville and CASTOR
Sauverand, it is because their con-
tents were prepared in such a way
as to be the undoing Of the vic
Tins"
"Whatl What! What are you
s~ayingF"
81 am saying what I said be-
fore. Once they are innocent, ev-
erything that tells against them is
part of the plot"
Again there was a long silence.
The project Of police did not con-
ceal his agitation. Speaking very
slowly, with his eyes fixed on Don
Luis eyes, he said: s~xxssg'
whoever the culprit may be,
| know nothing more terrible than
this work of hatred"
ut is an even more improbable
work than you can imagine, Mon
sieur lie P~refet," said Perenna,
with growing animation, land it
is a hatred Of which you, who do
not know ~Sauverand's confession,
cannot yet estimate the violence.
[ understood it completely as I
listened to the man; and, since
then, all my thoughts have been
overpowered by the dominant idea
Of that hatred. Who could hate
like thatf To whose loathing had
Marie Fauville and Sauverand
been sacrificed? Who was the in
conceivable person whose pervert-
ed genius had surrounded his two
victims with chains so powerfully
forged9
"And another idea came to my
mind, an earlier idea which had
already struck me several times
and to which l have already re-
herred in Sergeant Mazeroux's
presence: I mean the really
mathematical character Of the ap-
pearance Of the letters. l said to
myself that such grave documents
could not be introduced into the
case at fixed dates unless some
primary cas- demanded that
those dates should absolutely be
fixed. What ~reasorq If Il human
agency had been at work each
time, there would surely have been
some irregularity dependent on
this especially after the police had
become cognizant Of the matter
and were present at the delivery
Of the letters.
"Well," Perenna continued,
Sin spite Of every obstacle, the
letters continued to come, as
ihough they could not help it.
And thus the reason of their "nm-
ing gradually dawned up III me
they came mechanically, by some
invisible process set going once
and for all and working with the
blind certainty of a physical law.
This was a case not of a conscious
intelligence and will, but just of
material necessity. 49, 1t was
the clash Of these two idea-the
idea Of the hatred pursuing the in
nocent and the idea of that ma
chinery serving the schemes Of the
hater'-.- 1T was their clash that
gave birth to the little spark OF
Light, When brought into con.
tact: the two ideas combined III my
mind and suggested the recollec-
ton hal Hippolyte Faaville was
an engineer by profession"
The others listened to him with
a sort of uneasy oppression. What
was gradually being revealed of
the tragedy, instead Of relieving
the anxiety, increased it until il
became absolutely painful.
M. Destinations objected:
Granting that the letters ar.
rived on the dates named, you will
nevertheless have noted that the
hour varied on each occasion"
THAT is to say, it varied &C,