Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-05-16
monotonous snoring Of his COM

volume OF Shakespeare mean some
else? Or did it refer to
events of last year, events that
took place on the dates set DOWN.
In spite Of everything, he felt
overcome by a strange uneasiness
as the dawn began to glimmer
through the half closed shutters. A
fortnight before, nothing had hap
pened either to warn him and yet
there were two victims lying near
him when he woke.
At Z o'clock he called out:
Alexander"
"Eh9 What is it, chief"
Your not dead?"
What's that? Dead? No, chief
why should 1 be9"
"Quite sure2"
"Well, that s a good 'un! Why
not you9"
"oh, it'll be my turn soonl Con-
sidering the intelligence of those
scoundrels, there's no reason why
they should go on missing me-"
They waited an hour longer.
Then Perenna opened a window
and threw back the shutter,
:" say, Alexandra, perhaps you
are not dead, but you are certainly
very green"
Mazerouy gave a wry laugh:
Upon my word, chief, I confess
that l had a bad time of it when
Twas keeping watch while you
were asleep"
Were you afraid?"
10 the roots Of my hair. I kept
on thinking that something was
going to happen. But you, too,
chief, don't look as if you had
been enjoying yourself. Were you
He interrupted himself, on see
ing an expression Of unbounded
astonishment on Don LUIS face.
What's the matter, chiefg"
"Lcok! ~" u on the table y
that letter."
He looked. There was a letter
on the writing table, or, rather, a
letter card, the edges of which had
been torn along the perforation
marks; and they saw the outside
of it, with the address, the stamp,
and the postmarks.
Did you put that there, Alex
andrea"
"You're joking, chief. You
know it can only have been YOU"
g 1t can only have been is
and yet it was not l."
"But them"
Don Luis took the letter card
and, on examining it, found that
the address and the postmarks had
Deen scratched out so as to make
1t impossible to read the name of
the addressee or where he lived,
but that the place of posting was
quite clear, as was the date :
Paris, 4 January, 80.
so the letter is three and a half
months DID," said Don Luis.
He turned to the inside of the
letter. 1t contained a dozen lines
and he at once exclaimed:
"Hippolyte Fauville's sigma
ture!"
and his handwriting OBJ.
served Mazeroux. 81 can tell it at
a glance. There's no mistake about
that. What does it all mean? A
letter written by Hippolyte Eau
vile three months before his
death?"
Perenna read aloud:
My Dear Old Friend: I can only. alas
confirm what I wrote to you the other
day: the plot Is %thickening around me,
I do not yet know what their plan is
and still less how they mean to put it
into execution: but everything warns
me that the end is at hand. 1 a see it
IA her eyes. How strangely she looks
at me sometimes!
"Oh, the shame of 1t! Who would
ever have thought her capable OF iii
am q very unhappy man, my dear
friend.
And it 8 signed Hippolyte Eau
VILE" Mazeroux continued. "and
| declare to you that it's actually
in his hand . written on the
18th Of January of this year to a
friend whose name we don't know,
though we shall dig him out some.
how, that I'll swear. And this
friend will certainly give us the
proofs we want"
Mazeroux was becoming excited,
"Proofsi Why, we don't need
|themi They're here. M. Fauyille
himself supplies them The end is
at hand. I can see it IN her eyes.
Her refers to- his wife, to Marie
Fauville, and the husbands evi-
dence confirms all that we knew
against her. What do you say,
chiefi"
You're right" replied Peren-