The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-12-12
CHAPTER rwENrY-oNE-contd.)


"Jean Vernocq saw his chance.
A hundred million francs! To get
hold of that sum, to obtain riches,
luxury, power, and the means Of
buying health and strength from
the worlds great healers, all that
he had to do was first to put
away the different persons who
stood between the inheritance
and Florence, and then, when all
the obstacles were overcome, to
make Florence his wife.
"Jean Vernocq went to work.
He had found among the papers
of Hippolyte Fauville s old
friend Langernault particulars
relating to the Roussel family and
to the discOrd that reigned in the
Fauville household. Five per-
sons, all told, were in his way:
first, of course, Cosmo Morning
ton; next, in the order of their
claims, Hippolyte Fauville, his
son Edmond, his wife Marie, and
his cousin CASTOR Sauverand.
with Cosmc Mornington, the
/, thing was easy enough. introduce
ing himself to the American as
a doctor, Jean Verocq put poison
into one of the phials which
Mornington used for his hypoder-
mic injections.
"But in the case Of Hippolyte
Fauville, whose good will he had
secured through his acquaintance
with old Langernault, and over
whose mind he soon obtained an
extraordinary influence, he had
a greater difficulty to contend
with. Knowing on the one hand
that the engineer hated his wife
and on the other that he was
stricken with a fatal disease, he
took occasion, after the consulta-
ton with the specialist in Lon
don, to suggest to Fauville's ter
rified brain the incredible plan Of
suicide of which you were SUBJ
sequently able to trace the Mach
iavellian execution.
"In this way and with a single
effort, anonymously, so to speak,
and without appearing in the bus
mess, without Fauville's even
suspecting the action brought to
bear upon him, Jean Vernocq pro-
cured the deaths of Fauville and
his son and got rid of Marie and
Sauverand by the devilish expedi-
ent of causing the charge Of MUIR
der, of which no one could accuse
him, to fall upon them. The plan
succeeded.
"There was only one hitch at
the present time the Intervention
Of Inspector Verot. Inspector
Verot died. And there was only
one danger in the future: the in
tervention Of myself, Don Luis
Perenna, whose conduct Vernocq
was bound to ~foresee, as I was the
residuary legatee by the terms Of
Cosmo Mornington's will. This
danger Vernocq tried to avert
first by giving me the house
on the Place du Palais-B Bourbon
to live in and Florence Levasseur
as a secretary, and next by max
ing four attempts to haYe me as
sassinated by CASTOR Sauverand.
HE therefore held all the
threads Of the tragedy in his
hands. Able to come and 60 as
he pleased in my house, enforcing
himself upon Florence and later
upon CASTOR Sauverand by the
strength of his will and the cum
ming of his character, he was
within sight of the goal.
"When my efforts succeeded in
proving the innocence Of Marie
Fauville and CASTOR Sauverand,
he did not hesitate: Marie Eau
vile died; CASTOR S%auverand
died.
$50 everything was going well
for him. The police pursued me.
The police pursued Florence. No
one suspected him. And the date
fixed for the payment of the in
heritance was at hand.
"This was two days ago. At
that time, Jean Vernocq was in
the midst of the fray. He was
i'll and had obtained admission to
the nursing home in the Avenue
des Ternes. From there he con-
Quoted his operations, thanks to
his influence over Florence Lee
vasseur and to the letters adj
dressed to the mother superior
from Versailles. Acting under
the superior's orders and ignor-
ant of the meaning of the step
which she was taking, Florence
went to the meeting at the Pre-
fect's office, and herself brought
the documents relating to her:
Meanwhile, Jean Vernocq left
NJ sLN III