Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-03-21
H
TEETH OF THE TIGER
i
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BY
EIXEIRA DE MATTOs
CHAPTER FOUR. (continued.)

difficult it is to defend ones self
when one is innocent. There's my
right wing and my left wing driv-
en- in. Will my center be able to
stand the ASSAULT"
N. Desmalions, after a whis-
pered col]oquy with the examin-
ing magistrate, resumed his ques-
tons in these terms:
yesterday evening, when M.
Fauyille opened his safe in your
presence and the sergeant's, what
was in the safe7"
"a heap Of papers, on one of the
shelves; and, among those papers,
the diary in drab cloth which has
since disappeared"
"You did not touch those pa
pers7"
Neither the papers nor the
safe, Monsieur lie Prefet. Sergeant
Mazeroux must have told you that
be made me stand aside, to insure
the regularity of the inquiry"
$50 you never came into the
slightest contact with the safe? 2"
"Not the slightest"
M. Desmalions looked at the ex-
aiming magistrate and nodded
his head. Had Perenna been able
to doubt that a trap was being laid
for him, a glance at Mazeroux
would have told him all about it.
Mazeroux was ashen gray.
Meanwhile, M. Desmalions con-
tinued:
"You have taken part in in
quiries, monsieur, in police in
quiries. Therefore, in putting my
next question to you, 1 consider
that / am addressing it to a tried
detective"
II will answer your question,
Monsieur lie .Prefet, to the best of
my ability"
"Here it is, then: Supposing
that there were at this moment in
the safe an object of some kind, a
jewel, let us say, a diamond out Of
a tie pin, and that this diamond
had come from a tie pin which be-
longed to somebody whom we
knew, somebody who had spent
the night in this house. what
would you think of the coinci-
dence?"
"There we are,' said Perenna
to himself. "There' S the trap. It's
clear that they've found some
thing In the safe, and next, that
they imagine that this something
belongs to me. Good! But, in that
case, we must presume, as [ have
not touched the safe, that the
thing was taken from me and put
IN the safe to compromise me But
| did not have a finger in this pie
until yesterday; and it is impossi-
BILE that, during last night, when l
saw nobody, any one can have had
time to prepare and contrive such
a determined plot against me.
So"
The project Of police inter
rupted this silent monologue by
repeating: /:
"What would be your opin-
ion2''
"There would be an undeniable
connection between that persons
presence in the house and the two
crimes that had been committed. .
Consequently, we should have
the right at least to suspect the
personf"
Eyes"
"That is your view9''
Decidedly"
M. Desmalions produced a piece
Of tissue paper from his pocket
and took from it a little blue stone,
which he displayed.
Here is q turquoise which we
found in the safe. It belongs,
without a shadow of a doubt, to
the ring which you are wearing
on your finger.
Don Luis was seized with a fit
Of rage. He half grated, through
his clenched teeth:
HOh, the rascals! How clever
they are But no, | can't be
ieve----
He looked at his ring, which
was formed of a large, clouded,
dead turquoise, surrounded by a
circle Of small, irregular tur-
quoises, also Of a very pale blue.
One Of these was missing ; and the
one which N. Desmalions had in
his hand fitted the place exactly.
What do you sayi'' asked M.
Desn,aliOns.
say that this turquoise be-
longs to my ring, which was given
me- by Cosmo Mornington on the
first occasion that I saved his
life,
$50 " ars agreedi'
GsY Mnnai6lIr prAfotE we