The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-09-12

Sleur lie lTcIct. 1T Will not take
long for two reasons: first, be-
cause M. Fauville's confessions
remain at our disposal and we
know definitely the monstrous
part which he played; and, sec
ondly, because, after all, the
truth, however complicated it
may seem, is really very simple.
1T all lies in, the objection
which you, Monsieur lie Prefet,
made to me on leaving the
wrecked house on the Boulevard
Suchet: How is it, you asked,
that the Mornington inheritance
is not mentioned in Hippolyte
Fauville' S confessional 1t all lies
in that, Monsieur lie Prefet. Hip
polyte Fauville did not say a
word about the inheritance; and
the reason evidently is that he
did not know of it.
And the reason why CASTOR
Sauverand was able to tell me his
whole sensational story without
making the least allusion to the
inheritance was that the inherit
ance played no sort of part in
CASTOR Sauverand's story. He,
too, knew nothing Of it before
those events, any more than Marie
F'auville did, or Florence Levas-
seur. There is no denying the
fact: Hippolyte Fauville was
guided by revenge and by re-
yenge alone. Ii not, why should
he have acted as he did, seeing
that Cosmo Mornington's mil
lions reverted to him by the full
est of rights? Besides, if he had
wished to enjoy those millions, he
would not have begun by killing
himself.
Zone thing, therefore, is GER
tain: the inheritance in no way
affected Hippolyte Fauville's re-
solves or actions. And, never
theless, one after the other, with
inflcXible regularity, as il they
had been struck down in the very
order called for by the terms of
the Mornington inheritance, they
all disappeared: Cosmo Morning
ton, then Hippolyte Fauville, then
Edmond Fauville, then Marie
Fauville, then CASTOR Sauverand.
First, the possessor Of the for
tune next, all those whom he had
appointed his legatees; and, l re-
peat, in the very order III which
the will enabled them to lay claim
to the fortune!
SIS it not stranger" asked
Percnna, "and are we not bound
to suppose thai there was a con-
trolling mind at the back of it
all? Are we not bound to admit
that the formidable contest was
influenced by that inheritance,
and that, above the hatred and
jealousy of the loathsome Eau
vile, there loomed a being en-
dowed with even more tremen-
dous energy, pursuing a tangible
aim and driving to their deaths,
one by one, like so many num-
bered victims, all the unconscious
actors in the tragedy of which he
tied and of which he is now UNI
tying the threads?"
Don Luis leaned forward and
continued earnestly:
Monsieur lie Prefet, the pub
lie instinct so thoroughly agrees
with me, a section of the police,
with M. Weber, the deputy chief
at its head, argues in a manner
so exactly identical with my own,
that the existence of that being
Is at once confirmed in every
mind. There had to be some one
to act as the controlling brain, to
provide the will and the energy.
That some one was myself. After
all, why not? Did not l possess
the condition which was indis-
%pensable to make any one inter
ested in the murders? Was | not
Cosmo Mornington's heir?
II will not defend myself. 1t
may be that outside interference,
it may be that circumstances, will
oblige you, Monsieur lie Prefet, to
take unjustifiable measures
against me; but 1 will not insult
you by believing for one second
that you can imagine the man
whose acts you have been aGle to
judge for the last two months
capable Of such crimes. And yet
the public instinct is right in ac-
cusing me.
"Apart from Hippolyte Eau
vile, there is necessarily a Grim
inal and that criminal is neces-
sarily Cosmo Mornington's heir.
AS | am not the man, another
heir OF Cosmo Mornlngton exists.
1t is he whom | accuse, Monsieur
lie Prefet.