The Roupell Mystery
By Austyn
CHAPTER I.
It wai a fiue night toward, the latter
part of May. During the daytime there
had been clouds over Paris ; but on the
approach of evening the sun had come
out, and, descending in a blaze of glory,
tinged the housetops with a fiery glow
and burnished the waters of the Seine
with a golden, mellow light. The small
suburb of Villeneuve, distant from the
French capital but fourteen miles, shared
this generous halo of brilliant coloring.
It lacked just fifteen minutes of eleven
o'clock when the moon, which was nearly
at the full, rose with slow and majestic
motion above the horizon, and hung sus
pended between earth and heaven like a
huge silver lamp. The great trees which
almost surrounded the chateau Villeneuve
cast across the smooth and velvety lawns
their deep shadows. 1 From the chateau
itself, the light of a solitary lamp, pal
ing to a few mere twinkling rays, shone
fitfully. It came from a window in the
left wing of the building. Remote from
the great metropolis, the hush of a pro
found peace was here upon everything,
save when stirred by the soft breeze from
the south, the leafy branches of tenderest
green rustled and moved gently to and
fro.
In the deep shade of an enormous oak
which seemed to keep watch and ward
over the sleeping Inmates, stood a young
man named Charles Van Lith, to whom
very familiar object but conjured up to
bis ardent imagination the interior of
that faintly illuminated apartment. This
ilent watcher continued to gaze for some
momenta In the direction of the chateau.
Ilia demeanor was that of one undecided
aa to what course to pursue. Twice he
stepped from the shadow of the tree and
placed his foot upon the gravel walk, and
as many times retraced his footsteps.
At length he Issued forth more boldly,
though not without caution, to prevent
the crunching of his shoes upon the
travel, and stood beneath the window.
ticking up two or three small pebbles,
be threw them against the glass. His
heart beat somewhat faster than its wont
as, after the third essay, a girl of about
nineteen years of age, who had been read
ing by the light of the lamp, left her
seat and, opening the swinging casement.
looked out upon the night.
"Who is there?" she asked In a tone
which indicated some alarm, but singu
larly sweet and musical.
"It's I it's Charles," replied the young
fellow ; "don't be frightened. I must see
you, if only for a moment. I am going
away. I am leaving France. I return
to America to-morrow."
"Ob, nonsense," exclaimed the girl.
Tou are saying this just to try me."
"I am not, upon my word, Harriet,"
answered an Llth. "My passage is al
ready taken. I sail from Havre to-mor
row afternoon."
"Why did you not let me know
earlier?" she asked.
"I was afraid to write. Ton know
your aunt strictly forbade it But, Har
riet, can t I get in, if only for a few
moments?
"I really don't see how you can
Harriet Weldon began, when the faint re
monstrance died away upon her Hps.
Seizing the strong stem of a thick vine
which ran near the window, and assisted
by the trellis work, the young athlete be
low commenced an ascent which to an
older man would have proved an impossl
ble feat. In a few moments his band was
on the window sill and the next instant
he had leaped lightly into the chamber.
Harriet, the first raptures of their meet
ing over, begged him to be gone ; but he,
sitting beside her on the low window seat,
urged his plea for further time so elo
quently that she yielded, and could not
find It in her heart to dismiss him at
once. The lovers, too, had a hundred
confidences to interchange. Harriet told
Van Lith how, since his quarrel with her
aunt, the persecutions of a certain M,
Chabot bad become well-nigh intolerable.
She was afraid, moveover, that Mme.
Roupell favored his suit.
"And now you are going to America,
varies, aua mere wiu be no one to
atand between us. I am sure the man
has not even the excuse of loving me. It
is my dowry he is after. He is, no doubt,
aware that Madame Roupell has made a
will In favor of Emily and myself."
Charles Van Lith could only clench his
fist in iii)otent rage.. To the house where
he had once been an honored and wel
come guest he now had to come like a
thief in the night to seek a farewell in
terview with the only being on earth who
jet loved and trusted him. In his mind
there wn a burning sense of injustice.
The cold and severe tones in which Mme.
Boupell bad dismissed him seemed still
ringing in his ears.
"Do not go," pleaded Harriet "I am
certain that it will not be long before my
aunt will relent ; that, after all, she really
v thinks a great deal of you ; stay, and I
will myself go to her on the first oppor
tunity which offers and plead your
cause."
"You are more hopeful than I am,"
replied Van Lith, bitterly. "If I hnd
been treated with anyi show of justice,
why, I would not care. But your aunt
Is prejudiced against me. I am well
aware' that Monsieur Chabot 'lias sought
to undermine her confidence In me, and
he has succeeded. I tell you, Harriet,
when I think of all these things it makes
me a desperate man."
He had been pacing (he floor restlessly
with long, impatient strides. His face
was flushed with anger. With the mem
ory of .Mme. Roupell's merciless treat
ment aroused anew within bim, he could
kardly restrain himself.
"Bha U wars than unjust," he con
Q r a n v 1 1 1 e
tinued; "she has deliberately opened her
ears to these tales of Chabot'a and as
deliberately shut them to my explana
tions. She has magnified my smallest
misdemeanors into great faults."
"You must not blame my aunt to me,
Charles. Recollect that to us girls, at
least, she .has ever been good and kind.
I wonder what would have happened to
us when mother died, if it hadn't been
for her? Few women would have cross
ed the ocean as she did to fetch us, for
her dead sister's sake; and she has been
as good as a mother to us ever since. No,
Charlie, you mustn't say a word against
Aunt Ruth in my hearing."
"Harriet," he said, "you are quite right
to stand by her. It would be but a poor
return on your part for all her kindness
to you if you didn't; but In- wronging
me she has wronged you as well. In
opposing our union, she not only wrecks
my happiness, but youra."
He was quieter presently. In the soft
ening influence of Harriet Weldon's pres
ence his evil genius seemed to desert him.
The angry expression of his features re
laxed. They sat side by side and began
to talk. Still pleading with him, Harriet
Weldon strove to persuade her lover to
abandon his intention of immediately
leaving France.
"I have given you all my heart," she
said, tearfully, "and now you are going
away, perhaps forever but hark, what
sound is that?"
She leaned out of the window and list
ened intently for a moment. The sound
of wheels on the carriage drive was dis
tinctly audible. She rushed to the man
tlepiece where a little clock stood ticking
away the precious moments.
"Jt is long past twelve," she exclaim
ed. "That's their carriage we hear.
They've come back from the opera. O,
Charlie, go, go, I beg you, while you can
get away."
Van Llth turned at once to go. For
a moment only, he held her to his breast.
Into that brief interval of time were com
pressed a hundred different emotions.
which stirred him as he had not been
stirred for many a day.
"I cannot, yet I must leave you," he
cried. I
He bowed his head a little and kissed
her twice upon the lips. She trembled
violently, but thrust him away from her,
repeating in tones of entreaty:
"Be careful ! O, do be careful !"
He was himself once more. He placed
the half-fainting form of the girl upon
the sofa, and hurried away. He was
about to commence his descent from the
window, and had already swung the old
fashioned, dlamond-paned sash half way
open, when Harriet, in whose agitated
mind the fear of discover; overcame all
feminine weakness, rushed forward, and,
catching hold of his arm, exclaimed :
"You are too late! Come back. Be
quick, or you will be seen."
Van Lith had just time to close the
window when, through a chink in the cur
tains, he saw a hooded barouche, drawn
by two powerful horses, sweep rapidly
around the bend of the avenue and draw
up at the main entrance of the chateau
From the vehicle there alighted a gentle
man of about thirty years of age. With
a great Bhow of attention he first assist
ed a young lady, evidently still in her
teens, to descend. He then with much
solicitude placed his nattily gloved hand
at the disposal of the third occupant of
the carriage, a gray-baired lady, evident
ly well advanced In years, for she leaned
heavily upon the shoulders of both her
companions. She shivered slightly as she
-stood upon the gravel path in the moon
light, notwithstanding that the night was
warm.
There were traces yet of extreme beau
ty in this woman's features, who, as
Sarah Graham, had once been the toast of
the club rooms in fashionable New York,
It was still the face of a refined and cul
tured American lady. The nose was thin
and aquiline, and an expression at once
haughty, yet kindly withal, sat upon the
mobile, nervous lips. Jewels flashed
upon her still firm neck and her little
wrists. She held herself erect and her
eyes flashed proudly, as she looked upon
her splendid home.
"Emily, my dear, I have left my shawl
in the carriage. Will you please hand
it to me? Monsieur Chabot your arm."
The younger lady at once sprang light
ly into the carnage, and returning with
the shawl, wrapped it closely about her
aunt. There was an Inexpressible ten
derness in the action.
"How thoughtless of me, dear. You
might have taken cold. Don't ring. Mon
sieur Chabot. I have a latch key. Ah.
here Is Pierre. Pierre, are you sitting
up.' l hope there s some supper, ready,
for I'm hungry as I can be. Come, aunt ;
let's go in."
But something seemed to have attract
ed Mme. Roupell's attention. She with
drew her hand from the arm of her male
escort, and adjusting her monocle, a
dainty toy of gold and ivory, gazed stead
ily at the upper windows of the chateau.
"Isn't It rather strange, my dear, that
there's a light In Harriet's room? I
thought she was going to bed. If her
headache was no worse than that, she
might as well have accompanied us this
evening. When I was a young girl. Mon
sieur Chabot, It would have tnken some
thing more than a headache to keep me
away from the opern."
M. Chabot smiled, and showed his
white teeth pleasantly.
"Madame can still teach us inexperi
enced people how to enjoy life," he re
marked, gallantly. "It remained for the
t'nited States to send to France another
Ninon D'Enclos. to prove that chanting
women never grow old."
"Really, Monsieur Chabot, I am over
whelmed. For simplicity and natural
ness in compliment, my d'-ar Emily, lei
me recommend thiat flatterer."
Mme. Roupell'r favorite pastime was
to make M. Chabot believe that bis ex
aggerated praises of her as a great lady
struck home. One of her sayings was,
"I like Monsieur Chabot He is such a
sincere humbug," but she must hare really
been a little moved on this occasion, for
her smooth, white finders on the French
man's coat sleeve tightened their pressure
and her face lightened wonderfully.
Harriet, sheltered by the window cur
tains, looked at Van Lith, who ground
his teeth so furiously that, notwithstand
ing the gravity of the situation, the girl
could not forbear laughing. Mme. Rou
pell below was still smiling at the French
man's compliment
"Let us go inside," she said, at last.
"No doubt we shall find some supper
somewhere. Poor Harriet ! I trust she
is not sick. I will go right upstairs and
see how she is."
"That's comforting tidings, anyway,"
thought Van Lith, who had again cau
tiously opened the window, and to whom,
as he peered through the curtains, every
word uttered by the party below was dis
tinctly ,audible. "Look here, Harriet
what on earth am I to do? Madame
Roupell is coming to see how you are.
In a minute she will be here."
Harriet's cheeks blanched 'for a mo
ment for from her station near the door
of the chamber she could already hear
Mme. Roupell's footsteps ascending the
stairs.
"Come here," she cried to Van Lith,
frantically. "There is no one sleeping In
your old room. Run across the hall
quickly, and hide yourself there until I
cull you. I will lock you In, n my
aunt will have' to go the other way. You
must return, through her sitting room to
the corridor. You can do it easily, for
she is a sound sleeper.
Van Lith did as he was directed. Har
riet had barely time to turn the key on
him, return to her chamber, seat herself
and snatch up a book, when her aunt's
footsteps were heard In the corridor, and
a moment later the old lady entered the
apartment.
"Awake yet my dear child? Can't you
sleep? Oh! You are thinking of that
young scamp, I'm afraid. Well, I
wouldn't if I were you. He isn't worth
it. Besides, If you don't go to bed earlier
where will the roses go to?"
She stooped and kissed her niece ten
derly on both cheeks, and then went to
the window. , i
"I mustn't keep the horses out all
night Jean ! Jean !"
The coachman turned on the box and
looked up at the window.
"You can go to the stables. Monsieur
Chabot will not return to the city to
night."
Mme. Roupell closed the window again
and came back to where her niece was
sitting.
"Monsieur Chabot sleeps here to
night?" inquired Harriet, in a tone of
apparent unconcern, while her heart was
really beating violently. "Where will
you put him, aunty?"
"Can't he have Monsieur Van Lith'a
old room, dear?"
"Not very well. But the chamber off
your own Is ready, and the sheets are
aired."
"Very well, child, then I will give di
rections that he be lodged there. And
now good-night. Don't sit up reading;
but try to sleep."
Mme. Roupell turned and left the
apartment. It was the last benediction
that was to fall from the lips of Harriet
Weldon's benefactress; for the shadow
of an awful crime was even then hovering
over the chateau.
(To b4 continued.)
A Plague of Clocks.
We had been settled but a little
while in our Indian clearing, and had
Just Required a deed to It bearing the
signature of Andrew Jackson
".Tonquln" H. Miller In the Boston
Transcript, when one day a hi MOT
boned, hatchet-fneed mnn in a beaver
hat come to us by way of the State
road, with a lond of clocks In n car
rlage. He had a big, Impertinent boy
wun mm, and piended sadly that both
of them were sick.
Mother was very good to them, pull-
ea out tne trundle-bed to the middle
of the floor, had us children sleen nr
the foot of her bed, and treated the
strangers as If they had been her own
blood. But they both walled and moan
ed bitterly, and begged father to take
the clocks and dispose of them at his
leisure to his neighbors.
There was a whole carriage load of
them, but upon the reiterated assur
ance that he could double, and even
treble, bis money, our confiding fath
er, not knowing one thing about the
real price or value of sjich wares,
signed a note and became a "merchant."
At the end of the yenr'that hntchet
faced man came bnck and exacted his
money with enormous Interest, al
though father had not yet sold a single
clock.
Years Inter, when we set cat to
cross the great plains, those old clocks
With but a single one missing, took up
more thnn hnlf the wagon space. We
hauled them from Indlnna almost to
the top of the Rocky Mountains, and
then, one night, In a terrific snow
storm, when the wagon had upset, we
found a use for them. Brass, wood,
glass and varnish nil went to feed a
fire. And so pence to their sounding
brnss. rest to their brazen faces!
There are B27 distinct muscles In tne
hnmnn body, of which eighty-three are
In the bead and farm
KAKESr OF ALL XNOWH ANIMALS
-
- i
-
n'
FIBST PHOTO OF A OKAPl.
That interesting creature, the okapl.
nllled to the giraffe, and discovered by
Sir Harry Johnston on the eastern
border of the Congo forest (near' the
Senillkl lllver, which Joins the Albert
Nyauza and the Albert Edward Lake)
had never been observed and studied
by a white man in its living state until
five months ago when a young calf
okapl about a mouth old was obtained
by SIguor Rlbottl at Bambini, on the
Evelle River (about 400 miles north
west of the original locality). The pic
ture is that of a living okapl, a calf
about a month old. The photograph is
the first that has ever been taken of a
living specimen.
WOMEN AND BASEBALL.
One of the- Sex Explains Why Sha
Doesn't Know Game Very Well.
"I don't see that it's much wonder If
women don't know a great deal about
that game of baseball," remarked
Cleveland woman In the role of an
abused wife the other day to a Plain
Dealer man. "If all men were like my
husband it would be a fine chance any
wife wonld have to learn anything be
sides household drudgery. I think lt'a
absolutely absurd the way some men
seem to lose all control of their senses
and all idea of ordinary courtesy when
they get within sight of a crowd of
men knocking a ball about a big pas
ture.
"I've always been so bored to death
by baseball games the few times my
husband has persuaded me to go, be
cause I never could tell who was win
nlng, that I told my husband I wouldn't
go to any more of the old games with
him. Then the other day he told me
that if I'd go he would just make It his
business for that one day to explain
the game to me.
"Well, he started in to explain things
to me, and bis mood lasted just until
some one hit the bnll, and then he be
gan to shout and jump up and down as
if some one had hooked an electric
wire to bis seat. I thought something
very unusual must have happened and
I tried to get him to tell me -what he
was acting so foolish about, but he
Just snapped out: 'This Is too good a
game. I'll tell you all about it when
we get home.' And that was all I
could get out of him during the rest of
the tiresome old game. I'll never go
to one with him again."
Pet of the Permian Days.
One of the most startling fossil won
ders ever unearthed Is Just now creat
ing a veritable sensation and arousing
widespread scientific and popular In
terest In New York at the Museum of
Natural History, writes Lllllnn E.
Zeh In Technical World Magazine.
This Is due to efforts of Professor
Henry F. Osborn, who has placed on
exhibition a complete reconstruction
of one of the oldest, and most extra
ordinary four-footed creatures that
ever trod earth. This ancient animal
hitherto practically unknown to the
outside world, called nnosnrus, or the
carniverous fintmck lizard, Inhabited
the region of Texas In the Permian
age, estimated to have been, accord
ing to geological reckoning, anywhere
from twelve to twenty millions of
years ago. The fin-back lizard was a
most formidable creature, terrifying In
appearance and possessing a mouth
eighteen inches In length and armed
with terrible tusks.
Not a Clean Sweep.
The hurricane blowed the big trees down,
An' we saw the steeple fall ;
An' the atrthqunke swallcred one-balf the
town,
But It didn't swaller us all !
The rain come down fer forty days,
Till it hid the pine trees tall ;
But we're thiukm'V singin' a song o'
praise
Fer it didn't drown us all !
Atlanta Constitution.
Always Late.
Blacksmith Tha knows Mm. 'E was
f mayor one year.
Old Man Nay, 'e never got as Mgh
as that 'E wor nobbut ex-muyor.
Punch.
How a thief must laneh to read In
the papers that the $5 watch be Btole
the night before is valued at $200 by
Its owner.
UYKPEPSIA AMD DESTINY.
Wt" Who Xeajlerletl Their Bodies
l-'ailt-d When Saceeu Waa SLsh.
Man has a machine, an apparatus of
delicate adjustment but of great pow-
hls bodybnt too often he neglects
to use it, say the Boston Globe. H
lets It rest in ease or slumber in sloth.
He coddles it He arrays It in fine lin
en and purple, bedizens It with jewels
and pumpers It with Indigestible foods.
Dfteu sparing it the arduous labor of
aastication. He penults It to sit awk
wardly with crossed legs or stooped
shoulders, as If the trunk was too
fragile to bold up its limbs, or the
weight of the atmosphere was an Atlas
load for Its back.
And what reward bath the mind for
'ills Indulgence granted the sybarite
Sesh? Ingratitude and complaining ac
companied by accusations. The poor,
debilitated muscles and nerves Justly
charge that the overseer mind has been
neglectful of Its duties and, despising
so weak and ignorant a foreman, desert
or rebel, and leave their should-be boss
Impotent to carry out the true work of
a man.
The marvelous mind of Alexander,
which ruled a world, had no discipline
for Its body after It became acquainted
with oriental pomp and seriousness,
and disregarded the stalwart virility
with which In other days It tamed
Bucephalus.
Napoleon, busy with rearranging the
map of Europe, did not properly mas
ticate his chicken a la Marengo and
allowed It to puss in the rough Into the
iolled child of a stomach, trusting to
the liver a weak one Inherited from
his father to complete the lack of
mastication.
Probably the great disaster of Lelp
elg was due to his careless eating.
Voltaire has said the fate of a na
tion often depended on the good or bad
digestion of a prime minister, and Mot
ley declares that the gout of Charles
V. changes the destinies of the world.
Balzac, Incomparable novelist, died
at BO when he hod planned for a life
of rural rest, died because he allowed
the craving stomach to have coffee al
all hours and In great quantities; and
while his mind sauntered in all the
highways, lanes and alleys of human
society, his body, cabined In a monk's
robe, took no exercise, but stuck to a
garret, except when a sheriff's ap
proach made flight a thing desired by
the agile mind. k-
In that delightful essay, "Snlnts and
Their Bodies," Colonel Illggtnson says:
"Three of the four Greek fathers ruin
ed their health early and were Invalids
for the rest of their days. Three only
of the whole eight were able-bodied
men Ambrose, Augustine and Atban
aslus and the permanent Influence of
these three has been far greater than
that of all the others put together."
"He Is born for a minister." New
England parents once said of the puny
twigs of the family tree, while they
deputed the lusty limbs to bear the,
buffets of secular storms,
Luther scoffed at Juvenal's axiom of
"A healthy mind In a healthy body"
an axiom commended to the degenerate
Romans but other religious leaders
have welcomed and heeded the warn
ing contained In the saying of the great
satirist. If Calvin was an Invalid all
the days of his life. George, Michael
and. Martin were robust. If some noted
prelates have not trented their bodies
as they ought, we have seen even a
delicate Leo XIII. Illutrnte to the let
ter, "mens snna In corpore siino."
In the Wrong C'harrh.
An absent-minded woman one Sun.
day morning walked Into church, toot
a front seat and Joined Id the service
vigorously, according to the Chicago
Inter-Ocean. Then the collection bas
ket was passed to her, and, putting a
coin Into It, she looked about. She
east pliuiees In every direction, her
nlnd cleared, and an expression of
aniezeir.ent overspread her face. She
got up. She hurried down the aisle.
She oertook the mnn with the collec
tion basket "I'm In the wrong
church," she whispered, and taking out
the coin she had put In, she hurried
forth.
Qnealloa for Qneallon.
"Farthest north, hey?" sneered tha
lawyer. "Why don't you go eelur to
the pole?"
"Why don't you close up that will
ease that you've been living on for tho
last sixteen years?" Washington Her
ld. Affidavit Needed Nowadays.
"Why do you send two men to get
that Interview?" asked the managing
editor.
"One of them," answered the city
editor, "Is a notary public." Pittsburg
Press.
Wlna the Job.
"She Is fitting herself for a position
to apply for a Job as typewriter."
"Patronizing a shorthand school?"
"No, a beauty doctor." Pittsburg
Press.
Daniel Osiris, the Jewish banker and
philanthropist of Paris, who recently
died, left a will in whloh he disposed
of $13,000,000, giving $3,000,000 to tit
Pasteur Institute.