St. Tammany farmer., 1922-10-07

be held personally responsible. He is

be held personally responsible. He is
innocent"
"Looks like we'd better hold you,
too" said one Of the men. ''You seem
+. to know lotl"
,Gramont looked at him a moment.
II know enough to tell you where to
head in II you try any funny work
here" he said, evenly. Gentlemen,
thank you for permitting the inter-
vfew! I'll see you later"
The coroner's jury had already ad-
Judged Hammond guilty Of the mur-
der. Returning to the car, Gramont
had Ben Chacherre drive to restad-
rant, where they got bite to eat.
Twenty minutes later they were on
their way to New Orleans-and Gra-
mont learned for the first time Of Jo-
seph Maillard's murder by the Mid
night Masquer, and of the arrest Of
Bob Maillard for the crime.
Upon the following morning Gra-
mont called both Jachin Fell and Lucie
sLedanois over the telephone. he ac-
Quainted them briefly with the result
Of his oil investigation, and arranged
a meeting for ten O'Clock, at Fell's Of
flee.
It was slightly before ten when Ora
mont called with the car for Lucie.
Under the spell Of her smiling eager
ness, the harshness vanished from his
face; 1t returned again moment la
ter, for he saw that she, too, was
changed. There was above them both
q cloud. That Of Gramont was secret
and brooding. AS for Lucle, she was
in mourning. The murder Of Joseph
Maillard, the arrest and undoubted
guilt of Bob Maillard, dwarfed all else
In her mind. Even the news Of the oil
seepage, and the fact that she was
probably now on the road to wealth,
appeared to make little impression
upon her.
'Thank heaven" she said. earnestly,
as they drove toward Canal street,
'that SO far as you are concerned,
Henry, the Midnight Masquer affair
was all cleared up before this tragedy
took placel It was fearfully impru-
dent Of you"
"Yes," answered Gramont, soberly,
reading her thought. II can realize my
own folly now. II this affair were to
be laid at my door, some kind Of a
case might be made up against me,
and it would seem plausible. But,
fortunately, I was out Of 1t In time.
Were we merely characters in
standardized detective story, suppose
I'd be arrested and deluged with sus-
tense and clues and so forth" {"
"Your escape was too narrow to
joke over, Henry" she reproved him,
gravely.
I'm not joking. my dear Lucie. !
learned nothing about the, tragedy un-
til late last night. From what I can
find in the papers, 1t seems agreed that
Bob was not the real MasQuer, but
had assumed that guise for joke. A
tragic joke! Since he was undoubt-
edly drunk at the time, his story can't
be relied upon as very convincing.
And yet, it's frightfully hard to believe
that, even by accident, son should
have shot down his own father"
'Don't" Lucie WINGED a little. ''In
spite of all the evidence against him,
in spite of the way he was found with
that aviation uniform, it's still awful
to believe. I can't realize that it has
actually happened"
According to the papers, poor Mrs
Maillard has gone to pieces. No won
der"
"Yes. was there, with her all day
yesterday, and shall 60 again today.
They say Bob Is terribly broken up.
He sent for his mother, and she re-
fused to see him. don't know how 1t |
is all going to end! Do you think his
story might be true-that somebody |
else might have acted as the Masquer
that night?"
Gramont shook his head.
ITS possible" he said, reluctantly,
yet it hardly seems very probable.
And now, Lucie, I'm very sorry indeed
to say it-but you must prepare your
self against another shock in the near
future"
''What do you mean? About the
Dill"
"No. It's too long a story to tell
you now; here we are at the, Maison
Blanche. Just remember my words,
please. It's something that can't go
INTO now"
''very well, Henryl Do you think
that it's possible your chauffeur, Ham
mond, could have learned about the
drinking party, and could have"
Gramont started. "Hammond7 No.
I'll answer for him beyond any ques-
lion, Lucie. BY the way, does Fell
Know anything about Hammond hav-
ng been the first Masquer?'
mot from me-" said the girl, watch
ng him.
"Very well. Hammond got into a bit
II trouble at Houma, and I had to
cave him there. It was none Of his
'ault, and he'll get out Of 1t all right.
Well, come along up to our Oil meet
ng! Forget your troubles, and don't
ct my croakings about new shock
'ause you any worry just yet.''
He was thinking Of Jachin Fell, and
he girls closeness to Fell. Had he
lot known that Fell was responsible
or Hammond's being in jail, he might
lave felt differently. AS It was, he
vas now fOreWarned and fOrearmed.