Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 196 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

a — ha Marmoset, the D a miss my guess, he will not tarry; his personal appearance will not. be calculated to win hima fair lady’s esteem, If he don’t have as fine a pair of black eyes as ever & man gohan then my knuckles are not as hard as | think they are.’ And it was as Dunbar anticipated; the blow administered the Russian had marked him in a ‘rightfulmanner,. After the departure of the two Americans tha prince broke out in a storm of curses, ‘| ought to have known better than to have exposed myself to the fist of this fellow!” he cried. ‘The John Bulls and their cousins, the Americans, are all boxers from the eradle,”. ‘‘You are right; it is foolish.to fight with them with fists; but, my dear prince, you must get out of this before the countess comes; your tace is really too horrible, and if she should once catch sight of it L do not believe she would ever care to ae at you again.” ‘‘ Yes, yes; call a fiacre and I will go toa doctor and see if something cannot be done to remove the marks, The medical man was, visited, and he, after treatment, gave the cheering assuranceythat within three days the bruises would be so -re- duced that.a skillful artist, whomade a specialty ef such cases—and he gave the man’s address would be. able to paint. them over, s0 that they could not be discerned, On their way to the hotel the approaching meeting was discussed. There, was, now; no doubt that the American, despite his. former evorals had determined to fight if he was chal- lenge The prinee was for having the, meeting take place that very night, but the wily. old; army officer argued against such a thing. ‘* Allow yourself time, my dear fellow; the American has the.echoice of weapons, you know, and who sr tell what our anaes 00 abe may seleet! postponing the meeting for, say three days, you give yourself time to make yourself, familiar with the weapon, no matter what it is.” ‘‘ Suppose he chooses, dowble-barreled _ shot- uns, Which I believe are favorite tools with ea Ameriean barbarians?’ ‘“Oh well, I should not agree to any such Weapon as that. It. must be one eommonly in use among gentlemen.” , “Well, have it your own way,” the Russian assented, sulky, as most h ng men are when not allowed to have everything to their At five thst heya ure cartes made his eppearance ) of the cans. ‘I have the honor to represen Prince Peteroski,”” he remarked, with a most.elaborate bow; after he had been admitted by Gordon. y the pri has commissioned me to demand satisfaction for the affront which eR Re cll ef am ready to give your the fag pte he Dunbar replied with cold politeness. ‘‘Mr. Gordon here w act.as my. second, and with him you can ar- range the details of the meeting.” Dunbar then t aaa ye Gord chairs, invited the captain to ceed tepnamed tam and ob wtlats be seated, ten the Frenchman accepted with satisfaction, for he saw ax! mye worth two franes apiece by 0 the box: , often he got a ‘‘ weed” of that description. | The cigars lighted the two proceeded to busi- ness, ‘“‘T presume that neither yourself nor friend have much experience at this sort of thing these affairs of honor, I mean,” the captain Oh ou are out there; my principal has figured a twenty or thirty of these ore as best man, and in a hun at least as a second, ond. fo Pgear I reckon I on, not far poling. rginia, where we come from, we usually have one or two of these little “plaasaittr ign a week just. to make things lively in the nage borhood. You. see, we live in a rather dull place, and when we want a ripple of excite- ment, we —T out and horsewhip the nearest neighbor, Why, [have seen eight or ten men all standing up in a line ready to take a crack at each other before breakfast, and it wasn’t a very good morning for dueling, either.” The Frenchman stared; the statement was too much for him to credit, but it was told with such apparent candor that the captain set Gor- don down for being the most magnificent liar he had ever met. ‘Humph! Well, 1 am glad to hear that your friend is not a novice, for the prince, being one of the most accomplished duelists in Europe, would much prefer to meet an anvagonien who can take care of himself, He generally kills his man and he doesn’t like to be accused of slaying greenhorns.” ‘Make your mind easy on that score, and, as friend, let me advise you to warn his high mightiness to settle up is earthly affairs, for after the duel is ended he will not be in condition toc rder his own coffia.” ; ‘* ou speak confidently!” said the captain, netti. 1. ‘ “Tt ten to one that he'll be plugged. In fact, if you feel like betting, I will lay a hun- dred Napoleons to ten that my man wings your man at the first crack!” The Frenchman, thus beaten at his own game, stiffly declined to bet, The arrangements were speedily made: hair- trigger dueling-pistols, the regulation article; distance thirty paces; place, the Bois de Bou- logne; time, nine o’clock Pp, M., three evenings later—the principals to be aceompanied by the seconds and a surgeon for each antagonist. Then the captain\withdrew, not at all easy in his mind. The American’s readiness was very suspicious, CHAPTER XIL TANGLED THREADS. NEVER, throughout the whole course of his long professional. career, had counselor Cho- pene been concerned in any affair that puzzled im as much as this mysterious Morel case, The disappearance of the American; and then the midnight intrusion to the countess’s apart- ment; were they in any manner connected? Robbery did not seem .to be the motive of the visitation, as the man had not. prowled around the room in seareh of valuables, as a common night plunderer most certainly would have done.’ But, what motive was there for an en- terprise carried out at the risk of life, for not only might he have been shot in the room, but at the slightest slip in the ascent of the tree, or in the dangerous leap from the branch to the window-sill, the climber must have been pre- cipitated to the ground beneath, in his perplexity the lawyer thought of the Detective Queen, from whom, as yet, he had not had any report. With great confidence in her quick wits he determined to seek her at once, so hied to. the humble restaurant of Ma- dame Bouilliant. ; : La Marmoset was at home, and, when the ad- vocate sent up his name, gave orders for him to be admitted. z The woman was stretched out on. the sofa,as usual, with her face all tied Pp 980 that very lit- tle of her countenance could be seen. to the lawyers Ingulving glance, ashe helped awyer’s as himself to one of the ris y chairs. ‘Well, have you made any progress?” ‘* About what?’ ; “Tne American, of course.” : ‘* Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the woman, ‘Why do you laugh?” ‘* How ean I make progress. when. you hide the man away from me?” pan ‘*T hide him away?” **Of course it is you! Who else?” ‘* But, my dear Marmoset, talk sense. I haa any hand in the man’s disappear- ance. Why should I have?” ‘* Who else in Paris has any interest to make away with the American but you, acting for your client, the Countess Morel?, The American alive threatens her estate; the American dead the er is avoided!” his pin speaking both annoyed and wound- ed d gentleman. the ‘My dear child, you ought to know me bet- ter than to level such an accusation as that against me, You have been acquainted with me for some time, you have acted as my agent in some very delicate cases— in- deed; now, ou ever know me secret even w = S knew a Dae w your discre as upon my 0 any mode of practice that woalt Lhe Reg spection ' ‘‘Oh, no; I believe you are an honest advo- cate, is such a thing in the world; still, you are only a man, and the temptation in this ones great.” ‘Not great enough for me to stoop to mur- der, or even to pping,” Chopine molars i his gravest manner . “Tt will admit that d proceed in t parviculas in a rather underhand way, for I had a susp —which I did not even confide to you, for | wanted you to proceed on your task without being biased in any way—that the American was an impos- tor, and his story a trick to extort. money from the countess, 1 therefore thought I was justi- fied in fighting fire with fire. And you greatly wrong the lady I represent, also; not for fifty hundred millions of franes would she do any- thing but what was strictly and purely right, If. tha claii of this nown heir is a good one she. will not contest it, but will yield. the property witbout a struggle.” es Ab, she must be an angel, this dainty coun- ss! ‘She is, my dear La Marmoset,” the lawyer responded, seriously ; ‘‘she is an angel, if there ever was one On this earth. Lbave known her from childhood, and a sweeter, kinder soul does not exist.” “2nd why should she not be amiable, this dear c.1ntess¢” retorted the spy, in a spiteful way. ‘Rocked in a jeweled eradle, fed with a golden spoon, every wish complied with almost ere it was spoken, why should she not be a jewel of a woman? Oh, mon Diew! how dif- ferent our lots are in this world! if she had been brought up in the gutter, as I was, fed etective Queen. 9 upon crusts, Henting with the vagrant dogs and cats in the street for my very bread, old and wrinkled. before I was really young, then if she was good and amiable she might have some- thing of which to boast. Bah! Any one can be good and honest and virtuous if they are never tempted to be otherwise! Compare her existence with this lost heir, the child who was carried away when barely more than an in- fant, by the savages, then rescued from them by a Frenchman who had dwelt so long in the jungle that he was almost a savage himself,and | afterward lost in this great. wilderness of houses that we call Paris. Why, this lost heir, if she is living now, must be some such creature as I am—withered, faded, baggard, old before her time, dragging out a miserable existence!” The lawyer was astonished; never before had he seen the woman so strangely affected, ‘Our fates are as the great God above rules,” he said, ‘‘and it is our duty to make the best of the position in life in which we are placed.” ery true, but I get, the blues once in a while!” responded the woman, a complete change in her manner, falling again into her old, careless way. ‘‘ Well, to come to business, I haven’t been able to doanything... The Ameri- can’s mysterious disappearance upset my plans, and I will own I came to the conclusion, that you had a hand in the abduction.” , ‘No, but who had?’ . “Find a motive first for the deed;.that was Vidoeq’s counsel always.” i ti difficult to see who can profit by the ac ‘*T will try and look into it.” ‘And now, here is another matter to submit to you.” And Chopine told the, story in all its details of the intrusion into the countess’s bed- mber, . ’ it ‘‘No common trick that; some deep motive at the bottom!” the spy declared. “I know the very man to look into it—a fellow as sharp as.a ferret, .1 will, send him this afternoon on some pretext so that his business will not be suspected, for, who know ere may be some one within the mansion mixed up in this mat ter. A locksmith! the very thing. The coun- tess requires new fastenings upon the doors and windows. Mind, not a single soul within the house must know the errand of this man—not even the countess, nor the old lady, her com- panion.” ¥ ‘* Yes, yes; I can arrange that.” “You will tell your that you think the locks had better be carefully examined. My man is perfection itself; he can handle a tool with any mechanic in Paris. The clang of that iron door that the countess heard was not ima~ gination. The intruder came to open that door, and when we ver what and where it is we shall have a fine clew to work upon. tt boy will find that door within Happ etd ter how skillfully it may be concealed. The ‘Hotel de Morel mp Very O09 building, and the old-time palaces were of secret xd Pesling satisfied that something would poe.’ of this the lawyer di . ‘*Nearer and nearer; soon the time will come!” the woman muttered, ‘ CHAPTER XL M, PELOTON’S RETREAT. THe Seine is a charming river; the av swears that there isn’t. another stream in the world to compare with 08 sad him probabiy:st wae for that reason Monsieur Peloton, when he looked about for a charming t whereon to found a pe- culiar anal bales, thou pt sf a certain old stone mansion just w Jenis, with grounds running back to the Sei SE ae ne aod ammcked 4a thd hohes had been a rd but neglect had transformed it into pan by aa ie trees nd shrubbery had grown so wea bro that oe mansion could hardly be discerned from the ver. : Pierre Peloton, or Professor Peloton as he al- wa lf, was a peonhat man who. had led an eventful life with more ups and downs than fall to the lot of the average man. He was a Switzer by birth, and at an nary age bad drifted to Paris. He had blackened in the streets, exhibited white mice, been a tiger for an English. milord who turned, out to be a runaway banker’s clerk, then, as he grew to man’s estate, had served as hostler in a sta- ble, traveled with a wandering circus, ran a puppet show, and was in connection with a gang of pickpockets who operated on the wal- ets of the crowd attracted by the exhibition. This was a lucrative thing while it lasted but the meddling gendarmes soon puta stop to it. Twenty different trades and callings had the Switzer followed with very little success, when a lucky chance got M a position as an at- tendant in a lunatic asylum, Hore he rmain- ed for three years and at last saw his oppor- tunity. Being a man of gigantic size he had been put in charge of the department here the most dangerous and refractory lunatics were placed, and with these unhappy creatures he t along splendidly. No madman, no matter boy violent, ever.succeeded in getting the best | com pe Ebooks: Pa