Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-05-30
sake Of the walk"
HAnd his house =

h 49, WV
well, Of course only"
Perhaps he's not at home9"
Certainly not The poor, dear
man hasn't even set foot in the
house since he left it the last time,
four years ago!"
"How is that?"
"Why he's been dead these
four years!"
Don Luis and Mazeroux ex-
changed a glance Of amazement.
$50 he's dead?" said Don Luis.
eyes, a gunshot."
whats that!' cried Perenna.
WAS he murdered9"
"No, no. They thought so at
first, when they picked him up on
the floor Of his room; but the in
quest proved that it was an acct
dent. He was cleaning his gun,
and it went off and sent a load of
shot into his stomach. All the
same, we thought it very queer in
the village. Daddy Langernault,
an old hunter before the lord, was
not the nan to commit an act Of
carelessness."
Had he money!"
eyes; and that's just what
clinched the matter; they couldn't
find a penny Of It'll"
Don Luis remained thinking for
some time and then asked:
"Did he leave any children, any
relations Of the same namef"
"Nobody, not even a cousin.
The proof is that his property
it's called the Old Castle, because
Of the ruins on it--has reverted
to the state. The authorities have
had the doors Of the house sealed
up, and locked the gate Of the
park. They are waiting for the
legal period to expire in order to
take possession"
"And don't sightseers 60 walk
ing in the park, in spite of the
walls?"
"Not they. In the first place,
the walls are very high. And then
and then the Old Castle has had
a bad reputation in the neighbor-
hood ever since I can remember.
There has always been a talk of
ghosts; a pack of silly tales. But
Perenna and his companion
could not get over their surprise.
"This is a funny affair."" ex-
claimed Don Luis, when they had
left the mayors. "Here we have
Fauville writing his letters to a
dead man-and to a dead man, by
the way, who looks to me very
much as if he had been MUIR
dered."
0some one must have inter
cepted the letters"
obviously. But that does not
do away with the fact that he
wrote them to a dead man and
made his condolences to a dead
man and told him of his wife's
criminal Intentions"
Mazeroux was Silent. He, too,
seemed greatly perplexed.
They spent part of the after
noon in asking about old LANCER
nault's habits, hoping to receive
some useful clue from the people
who had known him. But their
efforts led to nothing.
At 6 o'clock, as they were about
to start, Don Luis found that the
car had run out of petrol and sent
Mazeroux in Z trap to the out
skirts Of Alencon, to fetch some.
He employed the delay in going to
look at the Old Castle outside the
village.
He had to follow a hedged road
leadlng to an open space, planted
with lime trees, where a massive
wooden gate stood in the miad1e
VI d wall. Inc case was locked.
Don Luis walked along the wall,
which was, in fact, very high and
presented no opening. Neverthe-
less, he managed to climb over by
means of the branches of a tree.
The park consisted of unkept
lawns, oyergrown with large wild
flowers, and grass covered ave-
nues leading on the right to s dis
tant mound, thickly dotted with
runs, and, on the left, to a small,
tumbledown hosse with i'll fitting
shutters.
He was turning in this direc-
ton, when he was much surprised
to perceive fresh footprints on "a
border which had been soaked
with the recent rain. And he
could see that these footprints had
been made by a womans boots. a
pair Of elegant and dainty boots.
Who the devil comes Walking
herei' he thought.
2EY -H --gEs Er4