The Halifax Comet. — 1894-03-31 (Halifax, West Yorkshire, England)

THE COMET.  assisted judges and juries in bringing a case home. Whilst the trial is going on, and according to the necessities of the case, these different objects are removed from the registry to the Correctional Tribunal or the Assize Court, as the case may be.' " But,' I asked, still impelled by my desire for knowledge, when the case is over and the matter at an end, what becomes of all these things ? ' " ' Some, under the authority of the Public Prosecutor, are restored to the owners or their friends, others are sold. You can well understand, sir,' added my guide, that even the Palais de Justice would not be large enough to contain all the objects of this sort, accumulating year by year. . . .  '"Ad when' do the sales of whiclryou speak take place,' I asked, with interest. "'At certain dates fixed in advance. There is one going on now.' " Where ? '  "'Close to this place.' " Indeed.! I should like to see that. I shall buy something, perhaps, which belonged to a great criminal.' . _ _  "'Nothing easier, sir, if you will have the goodness to follow me.'  "I did not say a word more, but followed my guide, and a quarter of an hour later I was the possessor of a most curious relic, I assure you. "A stolen jewel ? " asked Savari, between the whiffs of his cigarette. " Oh I better than that."  "An article of clothing which belonged to some wretched marl who has found his way to the hulks, or the scaffold ? "  "Not a bit of it. I worship curiosities, but at the same time "I like them to be of some use, or, at all events, to be free from anything repulsive or disgusting. An Englishman is not so particular. But lam not English, not I—l know how to mingle the Useful with the agreeable, utile dulci, as the poet has it. But see."  And abruptly, without further preparation, he handed Savari the knife which until then he had kept under the table, and which he had. opened, whilst he was speaking, without anyone having noticed him. Julia, pale and trembling, leaning half over the table, looked on.  Vibert, in handing the knife, had risen. His two hands rested on the back of a chair, an .1 frem behind his blue glasses he looked on, too. But he looked on coolly, ready to seize on the least change of countenance on the part of his adversary. For the moment he forbade his heart to beat, and it stopped. The waiters had cleared the table, and left the room. No sound was heard but the dull rumbling of carriages on the Boulevard. At last, then, tho truth would perhaps come out. If 6avari were the murderer, it appeared impossible, considering the surroundings of the scene, cleverly prepared as they were, that he could avoid betraying himself by a start, an exclamation, or a shudder, at the sight of the.weapon, which would recall his crime to his remembrance in the most vivid and matterof-fact manner.  Savari at first showed a certain unwillingness to touch the knife held out to him, but, after havinz at length taken and carefully examined it, he replaced it on the table, with the remark- "I should not advise you, if you are ever attacked, to make use of this weapon. It is in a shocking bad state." Vibert was confounded. All his calculations were upset, his plans destroyed. The expense of the dinner at the Café Anglais and the mise en scene was thrown away. For three months he had been wasting his time and working at a dead loss ; he had been hunting on a false scent. Truly it was enough to drive him to despair.