Puck — May 1, 1878 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

12 PUCK. fray. Once up there, I bore myself in a man- ner, Madame, that, had my example been fol- lowed by others, might have materially changed the course of events. Not to dwell too long, however, on what is purely personal to myself, I will merely mention that when my musket was discharged, after the fight, they found in it no less than fifteen cartridges, one on top of the other. Such was the violence of my feel- ings. Juuie (with admiration). Fifteen! FRrontin. Fifteen, Madame. I kept a record of the number. Cuamprteury (from his corner). I'll give you ten francs to knock off half. Frontin (rising it wrath). If Monsieur knows the story better than I do, perhaps he will tell it? Junie. Never mind, Frontin, continue. ter—your poor beloved master! FRONTIN. The Count, he was an archangel. Sur- rounded by corpses, over his slippers—he was dining in his slippers, Madame—over his slip- pers in blood, he drove back, supported by me, in the shrouds, the whole piratical cr:w; until, suddenly, his sword broke off short at the hilt (pausing with solemnity). Juiie (in great agitation), Go on—go on—finish! How did he receive the fatal blow ? FRONTIN (unresponsive). ‘The fatal blow? Jutie. Yes—the fatal blow! Faontin, But there wasn’t any fatal blow. Juuie. Your mas- What! FRontIN. If there was, he didn’t get it, for he's living yet. Junie. What! No—what are you saying—the Count —alive! Nol Cuamprceury (rushing forward). Speak—speak quickly, wretch! FRONTIN (with wounded dignity), Unquestionably he is living, Madame; and, escape that he is suffering the torments of slav- ery, he is very well. Jurte (overwhelmed.) Oh! Heaven! (She sinks intoachair, Lisette runs to her aid.) [To be concluded.] he Marian fiaunle By Ricuarp Dowuinc. (Concluded.) ce {Ay yvruinc further?” “Yes, Examine the floor in the 2 centre of the old man’s room. When you have done so, lock the door on the stairs and come to me. Stop! there is another thing. Buy some newspapers on your way there, and blind up the window before you begin your search.” In less than an hour he returned. “T have,” he said, done all you told me. In the centre of the room one piece of plank, eighteen inches long and nine wide, is loose. At first I did not think it was loose, for all the nail-heads are in it.” “Did you find anything under the loose piece of plank?” “No, the place was quite empty, and there were no cobwebs in it; they are generally found between flooring and ceiling.” “Bracken, we have made our first discov- ” “Yes; the place where he hid his money.” “And we've made our second discovery at the same time.” “What's that?” he asked, with a slight ex- pression of surprise. “The motive of the double murder. Now, Bracken, let us sce if we can get any further with what we have in hand, The word chloro- form was not mentioned by the doctors at the inquest, but it explains all the peculiar symp- toms in the lad’s case. He was heavily chloro- formed first, the old man was then strangled, the money stolen and the body of the lad thrown through the windows to make it seem like murder and suicide of the boy’s doing. Now, the murdered people had had no inter- course whatever with the people in that house or that court, and the old man’s store at Wap- ping was far enough off to destroy his trail, as you told me the people around the store had no notion whatever of where the old man lived, As we know from the evidence, he had no friends and never a visitor once, At the court everyone thought him very poor, At Wapping he was supposed to be a miser, but no one at Wapping knew where he lived. . Do you see your way to anything now, Bracken ?” “Yes. It wasn't anyone from the court or from Wapping that did the job.” “Precisely. But still it must have been some one within a short radius of the court. It is not likely that the lad knew of his grand- father's hoardings, and it is not likely that the old man told anyone in the neighborhood that he kept a large sum under a loose plank in his bed room. How, therefore, did the murderer know where the money was hidden? We need not bother with thinking that anyone on the first floor had anything to do with it, for he was never home until the office was shut, and then there was no one below to hear any noises between floor and ceiling. Yet it must have been by accident that the place of conceal- ment was discovered. I am now sure of how the accidental discovery was made. All we have to do is to try and select the person who made it. Have you got the latch-key of the front door ?” “Thave.” “Very good. Iam now going to ask you to doan extraordinary and repulsive thing. Upon your compliance all depends.” “You may count on me.” “Well, you must go at once to some theatri- cal costumer and get the means of making yourself up as exactly as possible like the old man, You must have a wig with a bald pur- ple crown, and so on. If you flinch, it’s all over, and I give it up.” « But——” «] assure you there isn’t the least use in say- ing a word. If you don’t consent, I bid good- bye to the whole thing. Are you satisfied to go on?” “Tf there’s nothing else for it, I am.” “Come in acab the night after to-morrow and bring the disguise. You can dress here, and I'll paint your face.” At the time appointed he came, bringing with him the materials for making the counter- feit of the murdered man. Bracken was about the right height, but much more slender than the deceased. This deficiency of bulk had been compensated for by padding the coat. Whilst I assisted him to dress, I said: “At the time of the inquest it did not occur tome to mention a habit which I had observed in the deceased. After the lad left the room, and while the lamp still burned on the table, he wonld go to the middle of the room, and sitting ery with his back to the window, so remain for seve- ral minutes. At the inquest no questions were asked me except those relating to the night of the murder and to the frequent quarrels. When you called on me the other evening, owing to preoccupation, I did not enter very actively into the subject of your visit. Later on I con- nected the thought of the secret store of money with this habit of sitting on the floor. At the same moment another idea flashed into my mind. We have tested one of those ideas and found substance behind it. ‘To-night I am go- ing to try the other. To-night I have to dis- cover the man who took the money out of that hole on the fatal night. If I succeed, you shall put your hand on him the night after to- morrow, or rather early the next morning.” By this time Bracken seemed to suspect what my plan was. “At twelve,” I continued, “we shall both go over to our new rooms with this paraffine lamp; it is like the one broken the night of the murder. Before lighting it, you will take down the newspapers fixed against the window. At about hak-past twelve you will light the lamp, and move about the room for a little while, keeping pretty near the window. Then you will for about ten minutes sit at the table with your face to the lamp. When you get up, move towarcs the centre of the room, then sit down on the floor with your back to the window and take up the loose board. You will remain so until you hear me knock on the floor of the next room. Then you will rise suddenly, face round, and, with your full front to the window, shake your hand, as though in a threat- ening rage, at the window, pointing at the same time to the empty hole. ‘Then, leaving the lamp lighted, you will rejoin me in the other room.” I had finished painting him by this time, and was rubbing the lenses of my large binocu- lar with some fine white tissue-paper. “T understand, sir,” said the detective. “I understand, and you will take your glasses with you to pass the lonesome time in the other room.” “Yes, I intend taking the glasses.” “Well, I think we'll get him now.” Having made Bracken throw over him alarge loose cloak, and substitute for his own silk hat a soft broad-brimmed one of mine, we set out and soon gained those rooms. Bracken went immediately into the inner one, and I took up my position at the window of the other, Here with my glasses I could see all the windows that commanded the room where the old man had hid his hoard and met his death. For an hour I kept the binocular fixed upon one window at a considerable distance. ‘This is what my glasses disclosed to me: During the earlier portion of Bracken's pan- tomime, almost as soon as he had entered the room, the figure of a man appeared at one of the highest windows within range. He had not looked many minutes when he sprang back and threw up his arms like one struck by a bul- let. I could now sce his face distinctly, for he stood fully in the light of his lamp and a little behind it. Although the distance was consid- erable, the expression was revealed. Presently he left the light and returned in a few seconds with some long slender thing in his hand. Standing well back in his room, so that only his head appeared above the window-sill, he pointed this long thing—a telescope—towards the next room. ‘Then I knocked on the floor and ina brief space saw the telescope fall and his head disappeared. Bracken rejoined me,, and we returned to the Inn, I now had no doubt as to the identity of the murderer, but I resolved upon applying a final test. I communicated iny discovery and my intention to Bracken, He approved of the latter, and we arranged to put it to the test on _—————