Evening star., 1922-06-04

my queen l told him not to be silly.
but l saw that 1 had attracted him
that he had become infatuated"
| "Ah" l remarked. MANY pa
tient has been infatuated with his
nurse"
Yes. 1t Is unfortunately so in my
case" was her reply. when he grew
better he used to help me in the ward.
and became my most devoted servant.
| I feared always that my mother
would notice his attachment to me.
from Paris to see him-a woman and
two men of the Apache type. Hor-
rible people! l found myself in Il
quandary. and was longing fer the
time when he would be discharged
and sent home"
You had no affection for him, 1
take it,"
| Not in the least The fact is 1 am
already engaged to an officer who is
now at the front. l told him so, but
he would not believe it," she said.
"One day l was off duty and l met
him on the PLACE. He compelled me
| to sit upon a seat and listen to him.
He told me weird and terrible story
how he was one Of those motor
bandits who had committed so many
| daring robberies during the two years
| previous to the war. He admitted
! that he was an apache-a Paris hooli-
gan. The police had arrested five of
the gang, but he had escaped and
| worked his passage to South Ameri-
ca. There he had fallen in with an
other criminal gang, which had in
included murder. He showed me his
knife, and then, looking me straight
in the face. suddenly said: If you
forsake me / shall use this as l have
used it before. You are my queen. and
nobody else shall have you as wife" L
rose at once. and, telling him not to
be SO foolish. left him."
And them"
| when later we met at the hospital
he tried to renew the conversation.
but refused to listen. So. he turned
upon me and upbraided me for al
lowing him to think that l loved
him."
"NNHAT did YOU do them" 1 asked.
! Il told the medical officer prt-
| vately that he had knife in his
possession and l thought his injuries
had unhinged his mind. Next day the
officer spoke to him. but he had hid
den the knife-a long double blade
one of Swedish make-and 1t could
not be found. That same night, how
sver. another patient gave me 4
packet. saying: This is for you.
nurse, from Levigne 1 opened it and
found the knife
AT any rate you had the weapon"
I said
| Yes. But he seemed to worship
| it. 1t was his mascot he had told
me. While he held it he was i'm
mune from arrest The police could
/ never find him. Oh, If had but
time to tell you all the strange. SEN
| sational stories of crime which he
had told me from time to time Sure
ly his career. from his boyhood. had
| been a romance stranger than one
| even imagined by novelist"
| Certainly your position was most
| curious and unenviable one" re-
marked.
| 1T was, And the more so when.
| few days later. some more visitors
| from Paris to a middle-aged man
who occupied the next bed identified
| him. I saw one of the visitors start.
| and then cry: Why, Rossignol, I
thought you were dead" Levigne
cried. No, Not here, Somebody
may overhear! Be CAREFUL"
Very extraordinary" / said
Yes. This caused me to fear him
even more. ] had heard of the des-
perate motor bandit known as The
INightingale'-the man who had been
tracked by the police to house out
side Provins. and there he had held
| large force at bay and shot dead
two gendarmes. The papers were
| full of 1t just before the war; how
he held the place and got away scot
free. LIE Rossignol had terrorized
the suburbs of Paris. as you prob
ably know, until people hardly dared
to sleep at night"
Paris argot, though the word means
nightingale, in French it Is also the
sobriquet of a picklock or a skeleton
key"
us it?" she asked II do not know
Partisan slang we'll enough to know
| that. though I speak French. At
any rate, the fact that I had discov-
| cred Mortified me. I was being per-
secuted by a man for whom the po-
lice were still searching. Was 1t
| surprising that he exhibited his knife
so exultingly?"
And what else?" I asked, glancing
| at my watch.
"Ah. 1 see you are in a hurry.
must not keep you. Mr.. LIE Queux.
| Will you help me?'
IT should like to hear the whole of
| the circumstances before I make
promise" I said. Surely, with the
knowledge you now possess it would
be easy to hand him over to the
Paris police for murder. 1 recollect
the case we'll. 1t was said that he
wore an armored jacket, and that the
revolver bullets fired at him by the
police did not harm him."
| THAT is SO. But you must catch
your train" she urged eagerly. You
have another engagement. Where can
see you again."
| I reflected for a moment
would you care to call at my
|