The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-05-07

Jacques laughed and threw out his
hands with a Calls gesture. my cOmpli-
ments,' he said to GuardO. although
outside my province, 1 may say hat the
not accused her daughter Of the theft
while claiming the jewels to have been
stolen. So the fact Of her having put in
no claim for insurance indemnity ifs most
significant. To have done so would, as
she must well know, have made her liable
to a criminal charge had she done what
the Capt. GuardO suggests"
And that, so far as concerned Jacques,
was all. And 1 must admit it was quite
enough.
The sequel Of the affair proved both
Jacques and Capt. GuardO to be entirely
correct. Under such a strict examination
as the French police alone are able to
give whilst remaining always rightly To-
lite, the sonora broke Down and confessed.
She entered subsequently into commercial
dealings with Won HelmhOl by which he
divorced, then restored the lovely and i'm
petuOus Pillar, who Immediately married
her titled trOubadOur, retaining in their
service the eX-buu fighter.
The health Of Senior TineO went from
bad to worse, and when he died some
months later the blackmail that may have
! been hanging over him like the sword Of
rather than one of the black fiilaments
from the head Of Pillar, evidently died
with him.
But here again for the third time
found myself still undecided as to wheth-
er Jacques was indeed clairvOyant or
even a more astute reasOner than 1 had
yet given him credit for being.
/ On our way TO the Rivera, when I be-
leved, and for that matter still believe,
myself to have been in possession Of as
unable to discover a cleW the size Of a
brad on which 1 could hang any theory
at all. 1 was convinced that at last he
would have to sidestep or stall or make
a perfectly blank guess.
But now working backward from the
answer, just as in the Wharf and Do Cas-
tellO cases, 1 saw what might have been
fastened upon by a mind far more acute
than my own. There was what 1 have
noted previously about the utter disap-
pearance Of three such remarkable per
sons as Pillar, Alexis, and Antonio. I had
considered the possibility of their having
fled by the sea, but this would have been
difficult and sure to leave some trace
} and it did not match up with the find
ing of the car at BelfOrt.
1t was now plain enough that, having
gone voluntarily to the edge of Alsace
they could have slipped across this STRIP
Of territory redeemed to France, when the
baron would have found means for theil
entry into Germany. And, once in Ger
many, they were as if dropped into ar
Oubliette FrancO-Prussian relations were
not so cordial that the French police
could hope for much cooperation witt
their German cOnfrereS, either in that OF
AMI Ohter similar case. We have had 4
sample Of that in our own country il
the instance Of a draft evader. I do no
know by what means the baron persuad
ed the lovers to put their trust in hin
and to convince them that he would real
" play the game. But he manged the frs
and actually carried out the latter, 81
far as I know. The chances are that h.
saw too much trouble and danger in an
attempt at highhandedness or that b.
didn't have the means at his disposition
for locking up Alexis and AatOniO anC
possessing himself Of his maiden wife
No doubt the tea was cold.
Coming then to Jacques detection o
GuardO's, false i-mpersOnatiOn, that wa
not so difficult. Jacques was o pOrtrai
painter, trained to the study OF natiOna
types, and also something Of a linguist
His ear was acute, like all his Othe
special senses. He had instantly faile'
to detect the least TeutOniC trait il
GuardO, either Of physiOgOnOmy or ac
cent. The Hapsburg strain to be foun'
in some Spaniards, and also the leu
tonic lineaments acquired from the Span
ish occupation Of Holland under the Duk
Of Alva, might be expected to fool tn
police, but Jacques was observing tn
man from the opposite angle, not think