Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-03-14

it, joined him almost at once.
Perenna, who had not stirred
from the passage, slipped into the
hall himself. The servants of the
house, who by this time had
heard Of the murder, were cross
ing it in every direction. He went
down the few stairs leading to a
ground floor landing, on which
the front door opened.
There were two men there, of
whom one said:
"You can't pass"
"You can't pass those are u
ORDERS"
"Your ordersi Who gave
them?"
"The project himself"
"No LUCK" said Perenna, laugh
ing. II have been up all night
and | am starving. Is there no way
of getting something to cat9"
The two policemen exchanged
glances an done of them beckoned
to Silvestre and spoke to him.
Silvestre went toward the dining
room and returned with a horse
shoe roll.
"Good," thought Don Luis,
after thanking him. "This settles
it. I'm nabbed. That's what I
wanted to know. But M. Desma-
lions is deficient in logic. For, if
it's Arsene Lupin whom he means
to detain here, all these worthy
plain clothesmen are hardly
enough; and, if it's Don Luis Per
emma, they r superfluous, be-
cause the flight of Master Perenna
would deprive Master Perenna of
every chance Of seeing the color Of
my poor Cosmos shekels. Having
said which, I will take a chair"
He resumed his seat in the pass
age and awaited events.
Through the open door Of the
study he saw the magistrates pur-
suing their Investigations. The
divisional surgeon made a first ex-
animation of the two bodies and
at once recognized the same symp-
toms of poisoning which he him
self had perceived, the evening be-
fore, on the corpse Of Inspector
Verot.
Next, the detectives took up the
bodies and carried them to the ad-
joining bedrooms which the faith
err and son formerly occupied on
the second floor Of the house.
The project Of police then came
downstairs; and Don Luis heard
him say to the magistrates:
"Poor womanl She refused to
understand. When at last she
understood, she fell to the ground
in a dead faint. Only think, her
husband and her son at one blow !
y Poor thing!"
From that moment Perenna
heard and saw nothing. The door
was shut. The project must after
ward have given some order
through the outside, through the
communication with the front
door offered by the garden, for
the two detectives came and took
up their positions in the hall, at
the entrance to the passage, on the
right and left Of the dividing cur
tain.
Gone things certain" thought
Don Luis. "My shares are not
booming. What a state Alexandra
must be in! Oh, what a stated"
At IL o'clock Silvestre brought
him some food on a tray.
And the long and painful wait
began anew.
In the study and in the house,
the inquiry, which had been adj
journed for lunch, was resumed.
Perenna heard footsteps and the
sound of voices on every side. At
last, feeling tired and bored, he
leaned back in his chair and fell
asleep.
1t was 4 o'clock when Sergeant
Mazeroux came and woke him. As
he led him to the study, Mazeroux
whispered:
We'll, have you discovered
hint"
"Whomi"
"The murderer"
"Of coursel'' said Perenna.
Its as easy as Smelling pease!"
That's q good thingl" said
Mazeroux, greatly relieved and
failing to see the joke. "But for
that, as you saw for yourself, you
would have been done for"
Don Luis entered. In the room
were the public prosecutor, the ex-
amining magistrate, the chief de-
tective, the local commissary of
police, two inspectors, and three
constables in uniform.