The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-08-15
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. (continued.)

GLOW me 10 carry out my TASK 10
the end"
"Your taskf"
eyes, Monsieur lie Prefet. My
action of last night is only the be-
ginning. The conclusion is the re-
lease of Marie Fauville and CASTOR
Sauverand."
M Desmalions smiled.
"Oh!"
Gam I asking too much, Mon
sieur lie Prefetf"
cone can always ask, but the
request should be reasonable. And
the innocence of those people does
not depend on me-
"No; but it depends on you,
Monsieur lie Prefet, to let them
&now if | prove their innocence to
you"
eyes, I agree, if you prove it
beyond dispute"
"Just So"
Don Luis calm assurance i'm
pressed M. Desmalions in spite of
everything and even more than on
che former occasions and he sug-
gested:
"The results of the hasty in
~Gpection which we have made will
perhaps help you. For instance,
we are certain that the bomb was
placed by the entrance of the pass
age and probably under the
boards of the floor"
"Please do not trouble, Mon
aieur lie Prefet. These are only
secondary details. The great thing
now is that you should know the
whole truth, and that not only
through words"
The project had come closer.
The magistrate and detectives
were standing round Don Luis,
watching his lips and movements
with feverish Impotence. Was it
possible that that truth, as yet so
remote and vague, in spite of all
the Importance which they at
tacbed to the arrests already af-
fcctcd, was known at lastq
IT was solemn moment. Every
one was on tenterhooks. The
manner in which Don Luis had
foretold the explosion lent the
value of an accomplished fact to
his predictions and the men
whom he had saved from the ter
.rible catastrophe were almost
ready to accept as certainties the
most improbable statements which
u man Of his stamp might make.
Monsieur lie Prefet," he said,
"you waited in vain last night for
the fourth letter to make it's APP
pearance. We shall now be able,
by an unexpected mircle of
chance, to be present at the de-
livery Of the letter. You will then
know that it was the same hand
that committed all the crimes
and you will know whose hand
that was
And, turning to Mazeroux:
Sergeant, will you please make
the room as dark as you can2 The
shutters are gone but you might
draw the curtains across the win
dows and close the doors. Mon
sieur lie Prefet, is 1T by accident
that the electric light is ONT"
eyes, by accident. We will
have it turned out"
Gone moment. Have any Of you
gentlemen a pocket lantern about
your Or, no, it doesn't matter.
This will do"
There was a candle in a sconce.
He took it and lit it.
Then he switched off the cleo,
trio light.
There was a half darkness, amid
which the flame Of the candle
flickered in the draught from the
windows. Don Luis protected the
flame with his hand and moved to
the table.
ri do not think that we shall be
kept waiting long" he said. CAS-
l foresee it, there will be only a
few seconds before the facts speak
for themselves and better than
could do"
Those few seconds, during
which no one broke the silence
were unforgettable. M. Dssma
lions has since declared, III an in.
terview in which he ridicules him
self very cleverly, that his brain
over stimulated by the fatigues OF
ihc night and by the whole scane
before him, imagined the most IN
aikely events, such as an invasioi
sf the house by armed assailants
or the a~pparition OF ghosts anc
spirits.
We had the curiosity, however
a,c said. to watch Don Luis. Sit