The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-28

III. dc OrcuX mumDled rev WOfoS
more, and then suddenly turned to
the door and went out
No one spoke a word. All waited
particle of the truth was about to
appear. And the silence was marked
by an extreme gravity.
At last the count was seen stand
ing in the doorway. He was pale.
and singularly agitatcd. He address
ed his friends in voice trembling
with emotion:
II beg your pardon. Monsieur
FlorianIs revelations have taken me
SO greatly by surprise. l should
never have thought-"
His wife asked him, eagerly:
What is it? Tell usl Speak,!
he stammered out:
The cleft is there at the very
place NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the side OF
the pane"
Abruptly seizing the chevaIier's
! ann. he said. in an impcrious tone:
And now. monsieur, continue. I
admit that you have been right so
lar, but now"That is not all. Tell
| you?"
Floriani gently released his arm.
| - AAOhShb iuLCIVdI, Sdlu
well, ACCORDING to me, this is
what happened: The individual.
whoever he was, knowing that Mime.
dc Dreux was going to wear the
necklace at the reception, put his
footb-idge in position during your
absence: He watched you through
the window and saw you hide the dia-
mopds. AS soon as you were gone
he passed some implement down the
pane and pulled the ring"
Very we'll: but the distance was
the latch of the window through the
hinged pane"
IF he was unable to open the win
dow he must have got in through the
hinged pane ITSELF"
| impossible; there is not a man so
slight in figure as to obtain admis-
sion that way"
Then it IS not a man."
What do you mean?"
what l say. If the passage was
too narrow. to admit a man, then it
must have been child"
|. "A child"
Did you not tell me that your
friend had sonr
y did; a son called Raoul."
committed the theft"
What evidence have youa"
what evidence? There is no lack
Of evidence. For instance" He was
SILENT and reflected for a few sec
onds. Then he continued: "For in
stance. it is incredible that the child
could have brought footbridge from
the outside and taken it away again
unpereeived. He must have employ.
ed what lay ready to hand. In tx
little room where Henriette did hei
cooking were there not some shelvc.
against the wall on which she KEPT
her pots and pans"
remember"
I'VE must find out if these shclve.
were really fixed to the wooder
brackets that supported them. If SO
we are entitled to believe that tho
child unscrewed them and then fast
snted them together. Perhaps, also
there was range, we shall dis
cover stove hook or plate life,
which he would have employed tc
open the hinged pane"
The count went on without a word
and this time the others did not ever
feel that little touch of anxiety at
tendant upon the unknown which
they had experienced on the first oc
easion. They knew, they knew abso
lutely. that Floriani's views wcr,
correct. And no one felt surprised
when the count returned and said:
Yes, it's the child-there's M
doubt about it. Everything prove
it"
Ed. Did 1. you see the shelve.-the plat,
But Nine. de Dreux-soubise ex
claimed:
THE childl You mean his mothe,
Aenriettc is the only guilty person
NO" said the cheva1icr, 9Th
mother lad nothing to do with it."
Come, comei They lived in tn
same room. The child cannot hay
acted unknown to Henriette."
They coupled the same room; bu
everything happcne- in the adjoinin
recess, at night. while the mothe
And what about the necklace ?
said the count. 1T would have bee
found among the child's things"
Il beg your pardon. He used (
so out. The very morning whc
you found him with his book he ha
come back from school, and petf,ap
the, police, instead of exhaustin
their resources against the innocen
mother. would have been better ad
: vised to make a search there, in hi
;, desk, among his lesson books."s
Very we'll. But the two thousan
{ francs which Henriette received {,
Z cry years not that the best sig
n of her completely"
Would she have written to than
e you for the money if she had bee
an accomplish? Besides. was she nc
kept under supervision, Whcrca
the child was free, and had every f.
u cility for going to the nearest tow,
e seeing dealer, and selling him +.
r. diamond cheaply, or two diamond
r as the case demanded, the only cor
i dition being that the money slpoul
be sent from Paris. in considerable
q Of which the transaction would b
repeated next year"
The Drcux-:;oubises and the