The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-09-19

AhS AhlO IiOAchSC cyCc, ooluJ
plainly:
According to the letter that
accompanies them, they concern
you intimately. 1t seems that
they prove, in the most positive
manner, that you are descended
from the Roussel family and that
you consequently have every
right to the Mornington inherit
ance.'
"If"
The cry was a spontaneous ex-
clamatiOn of establishment and
protest.
And she at once went on, In
sistently:
II, a right to the inheritancei
have none at all, Monsieur lie
Prefet, none at all. / never knew
Mr.. Mornington. What is this
story? There is some mistake"
She spoke with great animation
and with an apparent frankness
that would have impressed any
other man than the Project Of Po-
lice. But how could he forget Don
Luis's arguments and the accusa-
ton made beforehand against the
person who would arrive at the
meetingf
"Give me the papers," he said.
She took from her handbag a
blue envelope which was not
fastened down and which he
found to contain a number Of
faded documents, damaged at the
folds and torn in different places.
He examined them amid per-
feet silence, read them through,
studied them thoroughly, inspect
ed the signatures and the seals
through a magnifying glass, and
said:
"Fhey bear every sign of being
genuine. The seals are official"
Then, Monsieur le Prefet
l--f" said Florence, in a
trembling voice.
Then, Mademoiselle, let me
tell you that your ignorance
strikes me as most incredible"
And, turning to the solicitor,
he said:
listen briefly to what these
documents contain and prove.
CASTOR ~Sauverand, Cosmo Morn
ington's heir in the fourth line,
had, as you know, an elder broth
er, called Raoul, who lived in the
Argentine Republic. This broth
er, before his death, sent to Eur
ope, in the charge of an old nurse,
a child of five who was none
other than his daughter, a nat
ural but legally recognized
daughter whom he had had by
Mile. Lcvasseur, a French teacher
at Buenos Ayres.
Here is the birth certificate.
Here is the signed declaration
written entirely in the fathers
hand. Here is the affidavit sign
ed by the old nurse. Here are the
dispositions of three friends, mer-
chants or solicitors at Buenos
Ayres. And here are the death
certificates Of the father and
mother.
"All these documents have
been legalized and bear the seals
OF the French consulate . For the
present, | have no reason to doubt
them and l am bound to look up
on Florence Levasseur as Raoul
S~auverand's daughter and CASTOR
Sauverand's niece"
"Gaston Sauverand's niecei
His nieceg" STAN
mered Florence.
The mention of a father whom
she had, SO to speak, never known,
left her unmoved. But she be-
gan to weep at the recollection of
CASTOR ,Sauverand, whom she
loved so fondly and to whom she
found herself linked by such a
close relationship.
Were her tears s%incereY Or
were they the tears Of an actress
able to play her part down to the
slightest details7 We're those facts
really revealed to her for the first
time? Or was she acting the emo
tons which the revelation of
those facts would produce in her
under natural conditions?
Don Luis observed NJ. Desmal-
ions even more narrowly than he
did the girl, and tried to read the
secret thoughts of the man with
whom the decision lay. And sud
denly he bccaue ssrLaAn thai
Florence S arrest was a matter re-
solved upon as definitely as the
arrest of the most monstrous Grim
inal. Then he went up to her and
said:
Florence
She looked a. him with her ear
dimmed eyes and made no reply.
l---l--