Part 10 (2/2)

So I waited until the evening of the second day before I got the key froe at 96 Rue Daunou had closed the porte-cochere for the night, I slipped into the house unobserved, ran up the stairs to ht andin the chair like a bundle of rags I called to him, but he made no movement As I had anticipated, he had fainted for want of food Of course, I was very sorry for hih stakes, and a little starvation does no man any harm In his case there was half a million at the end of his brief martyrdom, which could, at worst, only last another twenty-four hours

I reckoned that Mme la Marquise could not keep the secret of her husband's possible whereabouts longer than that, and in any event I was deteroday

In the meanwhile, since I was here and since M le Marquis was unconscious, I proceeded then and there to take the precaution which prudence had dictated, and without which, seeing this man's treachery and Theodore's villainy, I should undoubtedly have ended my days as a convict What I did was to search M le Marquis's pockets for anything that ht subsequently prove useful to me

I had no definite idea in thethe bankers' receipt for the half-million francs

Well, I did not find that, but I did find the receipt from the Mont de Piete for a parure of emeralds on which half a million francs had been lent This I carefully put away inelse I wished to do just then I extinguished the light and made my way cautiously out of the aparto out, and M le Marquis had not stirred while I went through his pockets

6

That, Sir, was the precaution which I had taken in order to safeguard ht I was; see how hopeless would have been ainst me like the veritable viper that he was I never really knehen and under what conditions the infaain was struck which was intended to deprive me of my honour and of my liberty, nor do I knohat emolument Theodore was to receive for his treachery Presu thatmy life in their service

As for M de Firmin-Latour, that worker of iniquity who, in order to save a paltry hundred thousand francs from the hoard which I had helped him to acquire, did not hesitate to co remain in the enjoyment of his wealth or of his peace of mind

The very next day I e d'instruction with regard to M Mauruss Mosenstein, which caused the former to summon the worthy Israelite to his bureau, there to be confronted with ues had already, as it were, tightened the rope about e above all, and perhaps the gratitude of M Mosenstein for opening his eyes to the rascality of his son-in-law

In a stream of eloquent words which could not fail to carry conviction, I gave then and there in the bureau of the juge d'instruction my version of the events of the past feeeks, from the moment when M le Marquis de Firmin-Latour came to consult me on the subject of his wife's first husband, until the hour when he tried to fasten an abominable crime upon me I told how I had been deceived by my own eutter and loaded with gifts, how by dint of a clever disguise which would have deceived his own mother he had assumed the appearance and personality of M le Comte de Naquet, first and only lawful lord of the beautiful Rachel Mosenstein I told of the interviews in my office, my earnest desire to put an end to this abo the police of the whole affair I told of the false M de Naquet's threats to create a gigantic scandal which would forever ruin the social position of the so-called Marquis de Fironized entreaties, his prayers, supplications, that I would do nothing in the rievously suffered I spoke of my doubts, ht

A noble expose of the situation, Sir, you will admit It left me hot and breathless I , in the are d'instruction ordered my removal, not back to my prison-cell but into his own ante-room, where I presently collapsed upon a very uncomfortable bench and endured the additional hulass of water held to my lips Water! when I had asked for a drink of wine as thy effort at oratory

However, there I sat and waited patiently whilst, no doubt, M le Juge d'Instruction and the noble Israelite were co notes as to their i to wait Less than ten minutes later I was once e; and this time the minions of the laere ordered to reury; and I waited to hear M le Juge give forth the order that would at once set me free

But it was M Mosenstein who first addressed me, and in very truth surprise rendered me momentarily dumb when he did it thus:

”Now then, you consuiven up the receipt of the Mont de Piete which you stole out of M le Marquis's pocket you ueries elsewhere and call yourself htly”

I assure you, Sir, that a feather would have knocked me down The coarse insult, the wanton injustice, had deprived e d'instruction proceeded dryly:

”Now then, Ratichon, you have heard what M Mauruss Mosenstein has been good enough to say to you He did it with ive an _ordonnance de non-lieu_ in your favour which will have the effect of at once setting you free if you will restore to this gentleman here the Mont de Piete receipt which you appear to have stolen”

”Sir,” I said with consunity in the face of this reiterated taunt, ”I have stolen nothing--”

M le Juge's hand was already on the bell-pull

”Then,” he said coolly, ”I can ring for the gendarmes to take you back to the cells, and you will stand your trial for blackmail, theft, assault and robbery”

I put up esture

”Your pardon, M le Juge,” I said with the gentle resignation of undeserved martyrdom, ”I was about to say that when I re-visited my rooms in the Rue Daunou after a three days' absence, and found the police in possession, I picked up on the floor of my private room a white paper which on subsequent examination proved to be a receipt froems, and made out in the name of M le Marquis de Firmin-Latour”

”What have you done with it, you abohly, and I regret to say that he grasped his malacca cane with ominous violence

But I was not to be thus easily inti of the shoulders ”I have mislaid it I do not knohere it is”

”If you do not find it,” Mosenstein went on savagely, ”you will find yourself on a convict shi+p before long”