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THE OF TH r VLE5 Q.ARETIE COpy RIGHT. 1397 R F.FENNO CO. -til: THE CRIME OF THE BOULEVARD. Bj JULES OLABETIE. (Copyright. 1S&7, by R. F. Fenno St Co. Chanter I M. Kover la discovered dead with his throat cut. 11,111 and IV Bernar det, a detective, Is Introduced. M. Koftre has been visited by a woman In black and a man who is designated as the Individual. V It is tug ested that tha murder r s imagln J.the laat object seen, is lmprlutad on the retina of the murde -ed man's eye. VI and VII Bernardet experiments on the retina and is seized with a conviction. . f CONTINUED. Jacques Dantin remembered the little man with whom he had talked ia the journey from the house of death to the toniD, wuero ne nati beard somooue call 'Bernardet." Ho did not know at the time, but the name had struck him Why did his presence seem of so much Importance to this examining magis trate? And ho looked in his turn at JM. Ginory, who, a little nearsighted, was bending his head, with its sandy hair, its bald forehead, ou which the veins stood out like cords, over his notes, which had been broucht to him : inter csting notes, important, without doubt. for, visibly satisfied, 31. Ginory allowed a word or two to escape him: "Good! les yes tine! Ah. ah! Very good!" Then suddenly Dantin saw Ginory raise his head and look at him, as the saying is, in the white of tho eyes. Ho waited a moment before speaking and suddenly put this question, thrust at Dantin like a Knife blow : "Are you a gambler, as I find?" The question made Jacoues Dantin fairly bound from his chair. A gambler! wny did tins man ask him if he was a gambler? What had his habits, his cus toms, his vices even, to do with this cause for which he had been cited to do with Rovere's murder? "You are a gambler," continued the examining magistrate, casting from time to time a keen glance toward his notes. "Ouoof the inspectors of gambling dens saw you lose at the Cercle des Publicises 25,000 francs in one night." "It is possible. The only important point is that I paid them. The response was snort, crisp, showing a little irrita tion and stupefaction. "Assuredly," said the judge. "But you have no fortune. You haverecentlr borrowed a considerable sum from tho usurers in order to pay for 6ome losses at the Bourse." Dantin became very pale, his lips quivered and bis bands trembled. These signs of emotion did not escape the eyes oi ji. iiinory nor the registrar s. "Is it frsm your little notes that you have learned all that?" he demanded "Certainly, "M. Ginory replied. "We cave teen seeking for some hours for accurate information concerning vou: started a sort of diary or rough draft of your biography. You are fond of pleas ure. You are seen, in snito of vour aire I pray you to pardon me; there is no malice in the remark ; I am older than you everywhere where is found the fa xnous Tout Paris which amuses itself. The easy life is the most difficult for tnose who have no fortune. And, accord ing to these notes I refer to them again of fortune you have none." "That is to say." interrupted Dantin brusquely, "it would be very possible that, in order to obtain money for my needs, in order to steal the funds in his iron 6afe, I would assassinate my Iriend.' ' M. Ginory did not allow himself to display any emotion at the insolent tone of these words, which had burst forth almost like a cry. He looked Dantin full in the face, and with hia Lands crossed upon his notes he said : "Monsieur, in a matter of criminal investigation a magistrate eager for the trcth ought to admit that anything is possible, even probable, but in thii caso I ought to recognize the fact that you nave not helped me in my task. A wit ness finds you tete-a-tete with the vio tim and surprises your trouble at the moment when you aro examining Iio vero'a papers. I ask what it was that happened between you. You reply that that is your secret, and for explanation you give me your word of honor that it had nothing whatever to do with the murder. You would yourself think that 1 was very foolish if I insisted anv Ion gcr. Truo, there was no traoo of any violence in the apartment, whatever subtraction may have been made from the safe. It appears that you are in a position to know tho combination. It appears also that you are certainly in need of money, as clearly known as it is possible to learn in a hurried inquiry such as has been mado whilo you have been here. I question you, I let you know what you ought to know, and you fly into a passion. And. noto well, it is you yourself, in your anger and your violence, who speak first the word of Which I have not pronounced a syllable. It is you who have jumped straight to a logical conclusion of the suppositions, Which are still defective, without doubt, but are not the less suppositions. Yea. it Is you who say that with a little log ic one can certainly accuse you of the murder of the one whom you called your friend.' Each word brought to Dantln'a face an angry or a frightened expression, and the more slowly 1L Ginory spoke the 18 ore measured hit words emphasizing his verbs with a sort of nrofesslonul habit, a9 a surgeon touches a wound with a steel instrument, the questioned man, put through a sharp cross exam ination, experienced a frightful anger, a strong internal struggle, which made the hiood rush to his ears and ferocious lightnings dart through his eyes. "It is easy, moreover." continued Ginory in a paternal tone, "for von to reduce to nothingness all these supposi tions. and the smallest expression in ro card to the role which vou nlaved in your last interview with Bovero would put everything right. " "Ah, must wo go back to that?" "Certainly, we must co back to that The whole question lies there. You come to an examining magistrate and tell him that there is a secret; you speak of a third person, of recollections of youth, of moral debts, and vou aro as tonished that the judge strives to wrest the truth from you?" "I have told it" "The whole truth?" It has nothing to do with Rovere's murder, and it would iniuro some one who knows nothing about it. I havo told you so. 1 repeat it." les " said M. Ginory. "vou hold to your enigma. Ob, well, I, the magis trate, demand that you reveal the truth to me! I command vou to tell it." Ihe registrar's pen ran over tho paper and trembled as if it scented a storm. The psychological moment approached. ine registrar knew it well, that mo ment, and the word which the maris trate would soon pronounce would be decisive. A sort of struggle becan in Dantin's mind. One saw his faco crow haeirard. his eyes chango their expression. He looked at tho papers upon which M. Gi nory laid his fat and hairy hands those police notes which gossiped, as peasants say, in speaking of papers or writing which they cannot read and which do nouueo them. He asked himself what more would be disclosed by those notes of the police agents of the scandals of the club, oi the neighbors, of the por ters. He passed his hands over his fore head as if to wipe off the cersi)initinn or to ease away a headache. "Come, now, it is not very difficult. and I havo the right to know." said M. Uinory. After a moment Jacoues Dan tin said in a strong voice, "I swear to you, monsieur, that nothing Bovero v v x v- x v - "It i possible," said Dajitln. "It scans to resemble mc" said to me when I saw him tho last time could assist justice in anv wav whatsoever, and I beff of von not to question me further about it" "Will you answer?" "I cannot, monsieur." "The more you hesitato tho more rea- son you give me to think that the com munication would be crave." "Very grave; but it has nothincr to do with your mvestication." "It s not for you to outline tho dn ties of my limits or my richts. Once more i order you to reply." "1 cannot. "You will not." I cannot," brusquely said tho man run to earth, with an accent of violence. Tho duel was finished. M. Ginory began to lauch. or rather .there was a nervous contraction of his mouth and his sanguine face wore a scotling look, whilo a mechanical move ment of his massive jaws made him re scmblo a bulldog about to bite. "Then," said be, "the situation it a very simple cne, and you force me to come to tho end of my task. Yon nn aerstand.'" "Perfectly," said Jacoues Dantin. with the impulsive anger of a man who stumbles over an article which ha hai left there himself, "You still refuse to reply?" "I refuse. I camo here an a witness. I have uothiug to reproach myself with, especially as I have nothinir to fear. You must do whatever you choose to ao. "I can. " said the magistrate, "chanira a citation for appearance to a citation for retention. I wiU ask you once more" "It is useless." Interrupted Dantin. "An assassin, I! What folly I Rovcre'i murderer 1 It seems as if I were dream ing. It is absurd, absurd, absurd !" "Prove to me that it is absurd in truth. Do you not wish to reply?" "I have told you all I know." "But you have said nothing of what X have demanded of you." "It is not my ecret." " Yesj there is your tystom. It if fre quent, It Is common. It Is that of all the accused. "Am I already accused?" asked Dan tin ironically. M. Ginory was silent a moment: then. 6lowlv taking from the drawer of hia aesK some paper upon which Dantin could discern no writinc this time, but some figures, engraved in black he knew not what they were the magis trate held them between his flnzers so as to show them. He swum? them to and fro, and the papers rustled like dry leaves. Ho seemed to attach creat value to theso papers, which the registrar looked at from a corner of his eye, guess ing that they were the photocranhio proors whicn had been taken. "1 beg of you to examine these proofs," said the macistrate to Dantin. He held them out to him, and Dantin spread them on tho table ( there wore four of them). Then he put on his eve- glasses in order to soo better. "What is that.'" hp asked. "Look carefully," replied the magis trate. Dantin bent over the proofs, ex amined them one by one, divined rather than saw in the picture which was a little hazy, the portrait of a man, and upon close examination began to soo in the 6pecter a vague resemblance. "Do you not see that this picture Dears a resemblance to you? ' This time Dantin seemed the rjrer of some nightmare, and his eyes searched JM. uinory's face with a sort of aconv. The expression 6truck Ginory. One would have said that a ghost had sud denly appeared to Dantin. "lou say that it resembles me?" "les. Look carefully. At first the portrait is vague. On closer examination it comes out from the halo which sur. rounds it, and tho person who appears there bears your air, your features, your characteristics'' "It is possible." said Dantin. "It seems to resemble me. It seems as if I were looking at myself in a pocket rnir ror. But what does that signify?" "lhat siguifi Oh, I am going to astonisnyou. That signifies" M. Gi. nory turned toward his registrar. "You saw the other evening, Favarel, the ex periment in which Dr. Oudin showed na the heart and lungs performing their iunctionsin the thorax of a living man, made visible by the Roentgen rays. Woll. This is not any more miraculous. Xhese photographs" the turned now tn ward Dantin) "were taken of the reti na of the dead man's eye. They are the reflection, the reproduction of the im age implanted there, the picture of the last living being contemplated in the agony, the last visual sensation which the unfortunate man experienced. The retina has given to us as a witness the imago of the living person seen by mo dead man lor the last time." A deep silence fell nnon the ihron men in that little room, where one of them alone lost his foothold at this strange revelation. For the magistrate it was a decisive moment, when all had been said, when the man. havinc been questioned closely, jumps at the fore gone conclusion. As for tho registrar. however blase he may have becomo by tnese daily experiences, it was the de cisive moment, the moment when the line drawn from the water the fish is landed, writhing on the hook. Jacques Dantin, with an instinctive movement, had rejected, pushed back on tne table thoso photocranhs which burned his fingers, like the cards in which some fortune teller has decipher ed the signs or death. "Well?" asked M. Ginorv. "Well," repeated Dantin in a srran gled tone, either not comprehending or comprehending too much, struealinsr as u under the oppression of a nightmare. "How do you explain how vour faoe. your shadow if you prefer, was found reflected in Kovere's eyes, and that in his agony this was probably what he saw yes, saw bending over him?" Dantin cast a frightened clance around the room and asked himself if he was not shut up in a maniao's cell. li tno question was real, if the voice he heard was not the voice of a dream. "How can I explain? But I cannot explain, i do not understand, I do not know it is madness, it is friehtful. it is loolish!" "But yet, "insisted M. Ginory. "this ioiiy, as you call it. must have some ex pianation." "What do you wish to have me sav? 1 do not understand; I repeat, I do not understand." What if you do not? You cannot deny your presence in the house at the moment oi Kovere's death" "Why cannot I deny it?" Dantin in terrupted. "Because the vision is there, hidden, hazv. in the retina: berannn tin's nhnrn. - ' ' x graph, in which you recognize yourself. denounces, points out, your presence at the moment oi tha last agony." "I was not there! I swear that I was not there!" Dantin fervently declared. "Then explain." said the macistrate. Dantin remained silent a moment, as if frightened. Then he stammered: "I HgTiTi aTThaf hour, a murder was com mitted!" "At that hour." said Jacoues Dantin. "I was just leaving home." "To go where?" "For a walk. I had a headache. I was going to walk in the Champa Ely sees to cure it. " 'And did you in your walk meet any one whom you knew?" 'ho one." 'Did you go into 6omo shop?" "I did not." "In 6hort, you have no alibi?" The word made Dantin acain trem. ble. He felt the nieshen of the net clos ing around him. "An alibi! Ah. that! Decidedlv. Monsieur, you accuso me of assassinat- lnc mv friend." he violently said. "I do not accuse. I ask a Question." And M. Ginory in a dry tone which gradually became cutting and menao ing said: "I Question vou. but I warn you that tho interview has taken a bad turn, l ou uo not answer ; you pretend to keen secret I know not what in- formation which concerns us. You are not yet exactly accused. But but but you aro going to bo" The magistrate waited a moment as if to give tho man time to reflect, and he held hia pen suspended, after ditminff it in the ink, as an auctioneer holds his ivory hammer before bringing it down to closo a salo. "I am going to drop the pen," it Fecmed to say. Dantin, very angry, remained silent. Ilia look of bravado seemed to say : "Do vou dare? It you dare, do it." "lou refuso to speak?" asked Ginorv for tho last time. "I refuso." "You havo willed it. Do von neraifit in giving no explanation? Do vou in trench yourself behind I know not what scruple oi duty to honor? Do you keep to your systematic silence? For tho last time, do you still persist in this?" I havo nothing nothinc nothincr to tell you," Dantin cried in a sort of rage. Oh, well, Jacques Dantin" and the magistrate voice was grave and sudden ly solemn "you aro from this moment arrested." The pen, uplifted till this instant, tell upon tho paper. It was an order for arrest. Tho registrar looked at the man. Jacques Dantin did not move. His expression seemed vacue. the fixed expression of a person who dreams with wido open eyes. 2I. Ginory touched one of the electric buttons abovo his table and pointed Dantin out to the cuards. whoso shakos suddenly darkened the doorway, " lake away the prisoner." he said shortly and mechanically, and. over come, without revolt. Jacoues Dantin allowed himself to bo led throueh tho corridors of tho palais. savinc nothing. comprehending nothing, stumblinc oc casionally like an intoxicated man.or a somnambulist. poooooooo ' i m dreaming! I am dreaming!" And aL Ginory replied in a calm tone: "Notice that I attributo noexaccerat ed importance to these proofs. It is not on them alone that I base the accusa tion. But they constitute a strange wit ness. very disouietinar in its mute eln quence. . They add to the doubt which your desire lor silence has awakened. xou tell me that you were not near Ro vere when ho died. These proofs, ir refutable as a fact, seem to prove at once the contrary. Then the day Ro vere was assassinated, where were you?" "I do not know. At home, without doubt I will have to think it over. At what hour was Rovere killed?" M. Ginory made a gesture of ignorance and in a tone of raillery said: "That! There are others who know it better than I." And Dantin, irritated, looked at him. "Yes," went on the magistrate with mocking politeness, "the surgeons, who can tell . the hour In which he was killed." He turned over his papers. "The assassination was about an hour before midday. In Paris. In broad day- CHAPTER XL M. Bernardet waa triumphant. Ho went homo to dinner in a jubilant mood. His three little cirls. dressed alike. clasped him round the neck, all at the samo timo, whilo JUme. Bernardet, al ways fresh, smiline and cav. held n her faco with ita soft, round, rosy cheeks to him. "My little ones." said the officer. "I believo that I havo dono well, and that my chief will advance mo or civo me somo acknowledgment. I will bnv von . - v some bracelets, my dears, if N that hap pens, uut it is not the idea of filthy la- cro which has urged me on. and I be- lieve that I havo certainly made a great 6trido in judiciary instruction, all ow ing to my kodak. It would be too loner an explanation and perhaps a perfectly useiess ono. ijet us go to dinner. I am as hungry as a wolf." He ate, truly, with a cood annetite. scarcely stopped to tell how tho assassin was under lock and key. Tho man had been measured and had become a num. ber in tho collection, always increasing, ot accused persons in the catalocue con tinned each day for the museum of crime. "Ah! He ia not happy." said Ber- nardet between two spoonfuls of soup. JNot nappy, not happy at all. Not han- py, and astonished protesting, more over, his innocence, as they all do. It is customary." "But," sweetly asked cood little JVlme. tJernardet. "what if ho is inno- cent?" And the throe little girls, rais ing their heads, looked at their father as u to repeat their mother's Question. The eldest murmured, "Yes, what if mamma is right?" Bernardet shrugged his shoulders. "To hear them, if one listened tn them, one would believe them all inno- cent and the crimes would have to commit themselves. If this ono is inno. cent, I shall be astonished as if I should see snow fall in Paris in June. lie will have to prove that he is innocent. These things prove themselves. Give mo some more soup, jueianie." As Mme. Bernardet turned a ladlefnl of hot soup into her husband's plato sue soitiy asked: "Are there no inno cent ones condemned? Do you never de ceive yourself?" Bernardet did not stop eating. "Icannotsay. No one is infal lible, no one. The shrewdest deceive themselves; they are sometimes dnned. but it is raro, very raro. As well to say that it does not happen Lesurques, yes (and tne three little irirla nnrnftrt wide tneir large blue eves as at a nlavv the Lesurques of the Courier de Lvnn. who has made you weep so many times at the theater at Montmartre. On would liko to revise his trial to reinstate him, but no one has been able to dn It. I have studied his trial. Bv mv faith T swear, I would condemn him still Ahjjvhat.good soup!" fTO BE CONTINCKP.1 A Wooden Inninaatlon. W T).. t. rrt. j ...... iiio uocmr tnri that trouble is only rheumatism la the lumbar region. Mrs. N. Pock-In the lumber region? Does he mean to say there Is something the matter with your head? 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