Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-05-22

/ tOiu HE lIldt ne Hdu Deen given w
as hopeless case. He was put tc
bed in my ward. and his face was so
thin and pinched, with such a hope
! less expression. that l took compass
sion on him and did all I could for
him that night. Next morning he
seemed better. In a weak voice he
thanked me, and from that moment
he improved. His recovery was SC
rapid as to amaze the surgeons. He
knew English fairly well and | used
often to read to him. In fun he
nicknamed me the Queen Of Deau-
viile'-why, l do not know. Once I
asked him. and he annoyed me by re-
plying. You are my queen l told
him not to be silly, but saw that I
had attracted him-that he had be-
come infatuated"
! "Ah." 1 remarked Many a pa
tent 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 de-
voted servant l feared always that
my mother would notice his attach
ment to me. One day three of his
friends came from Paris to see him
"a woman and two men Of the
Apache type. Horrible people, I
found myself in quandary. and was
longing for the time when he would
be discharged and sent home
You had no affection for him. /
take it,"
Not in the least. The fact is I
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
I PEELED me to sit upon seat and
listen to him. He told me a weird
and terrible story-how he was one
OF those motor-ba nd is who had COM
mitted so many daring robberies
during the two years previous to the
war. He admitted that he was an
Apache-a Paris hooligan. The po-
lice had arrested five Of the gang,
but he had escaped and worked his
passage to South America. There
he had fallen in with another Grim
iEal gang. which had included MUIR
der. He showed me his knife. and
then. looking me straight in the face.
suddenly said: If you forsake me I
shall use this as l have used it be
fore. You are my queen. and nobody
else shall have you as wife, l rose
a. once, and, telling him not to be so
foolish. left him.
And them"
When later we met at the hos
pital he tried to renew the CONVEX
sation. but ] refused to listen So
he turned upon me and upbraded
me for allowing him to think hat |
loved him"
What did you do them
Il told the medical officer privately
that he had a knife in his possession
and | thought that his injuries had
unhinged his mind. Next day the
officer spoke to him. but he had hid
den the knife-a long double bladed
one of Swedish make-and it could
not be found. That same night.
however, another patient gave me a
packet, saying: THIS is for YOU.
nurse, from Levigne.' l opened it
and found the knife"
AT any rate you had the weapon"
/ 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. sem
sational stories Of crime which he
had told me from time to time.
Surely his career. from his boyhood.
had been romance stranger than
one even imagined by novelist"
certainly your position was a
most curious and unenv.able one" l
remarked
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. ! saw one of the visitors start.
and then cry: Why. Rossignol. I
thought you We're dead!' Levigne
cried NO. Not here, Somebody
may overhear, Be CAREFUL"
Very extraordinary" | said.
Yes. This caused me to fear him
even more. l had heard of the des-
perate motor-bandit known as The
! Nightingale'-the man who had been
tracted 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 it 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"
"Rossignol." l repeated. I'm the
Paris argot, though the word means
nightingale. In French it is also the
sobriquet of a picklock or a skeleton
key"
is It," she asked. II do not know
Partisan slang we'll enough to know
that. though l speak French. At
cred Mortified me. 1 was being per-
secuted by man for whom the po-
lice were still searching. Was it
surprising that he exhibited his knife
so exultingly?"
And what else?" asked, glancing
at my watch.
"Ah. l see you are in hurry.
must not keep you. Mr.. lie Queux.
You have heard some Of my story.
Will you help me?"
| Il should like to hear the whole Of
the circumstances before l make a
promise" 1 said. surely with the
knowledge you now possess it would