The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-08-22
THE
E OF THE TIGER
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BIZ
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATrOS
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. contdnuedJ

"We have to do with an auto
matte distributor that delivers the
discriminating letters which it con-
ains by clockwork, releasing them
only between this hour and that
on such and such a night fixed in
advance and only at times when
the electric light is off. You have
the apparatus before you. No
doubt the experts will admire it's
ingenuity and confirm my asser-
tons. But, given the fact that it
was found in the ceiling of this
room, given the fact that it con-
tanned letters written by M. Eau
vile, am I not entitled to say that
1t was constructed by M. Eau
vile, the electrical engineerf"
Once more the namesof M. Eau
vile returned, like an obsession /;
and each time the name stood
more clearly defined. 1t was M.
Fauville; then M. Fauville, the
engineer; then M. Fauville, the
electrical engineer. And thus the
picture of the chatter" as Don
Luis said, appeared in it's accur-
ate outlines, giving those men,
used though they were to the
strangest criminal monstrosities,
a thrill of terror. The truth was
now no longer prowEng around
them. They were already fight
ing with it, as you fight with an
adversary whom you do not see
but who clutches you by the
throat and brings you to the
ground.
And the project of police, SUM.
ming up all his impressions, said,
In a strained voice:
$50 M. Fauville wrote those
letters in order to ruin his wife
and the man who was in love with
heri"
eyes"
"In that case"
"What7"
knowing, at the same time
that he was threatened with
death, he wished, if ever the
threat was realized, that his death
should be laid to the charge OF
his wife and her friendi'
yes"
"And, in order to avcnge him
self on their. love for each other
and to crafty his hatred OF them
both, he wanted the whole set Of
facts to point to them as guilty of
the murder of which he would be
the victimf"
eyes"
$50 that-so that M. Fauville,
in one part of his accurscd work,
was-what shall 1 sayf-the ac-
complete of his own murder. He
dreaded death. He struggled
against it. But he arranged that
his hatred should gain by it.
That's it. isn't itf That's how
it isl"
Almost, Monsieur lie Prefet.
You are following the same stages
by which l travelled and, like
myself, you are hesitating before
the last truth, before the truth
which gives the tradegy its SIMS
ter character and deprives it Of
all human proportions"
The project struck the table
with his two fists and, in a sud-
den fit Of revolt, cried:
Its ridiculous! It's a per-
fectly preposterous theory! M.
Fauville threatened with death
and contriving his wife's ruin
with that Machiavellian persever-
ancef Absurd The man who
came to my office, the man whom
you saw, was thinking of only one
thing: how to escape dyingl He
was obsessed by one dread alone,
the dread of death.
at is not at such moments"
the project emphasized, "that a
man fits up clockwork and lays
traps, especially when those traps
cannot take effect unless he dies
by foul play. Can you see M.
awhile working at his automatic
machine, putting in with his own
hands letters which he has taken
the pains to write to a friend
three months before and inter-
cept, arranging events so that his
wife shall appear guilty and say
ing, 'Therel If / die murdered,
I'm easy in my mind: the person
to DE arrested will be Marie!'
"No you must confess, men
: ont take these gruesome pre-
cautions. Or, if they do-if they
do, it means that e re sure of
being murdered. 1t means that
they agree to be murdered. 1t
means that they r at nj with
the murderer, so to speak, and
meet him halfway. In short, it
means
He interrupted himself. as if