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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1915)
IS HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL. The Secret of the Night By Gaston Leroux Timri.i.iNG ivsti:ry story of iii'ssmx imkiuik by otki FKKMH .UTHIIII. IIOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION (iayelr find Dynamite. AltlNIA, tlie young stranger has arrived. "Where Is he?" "Oh, he Ib waiting at the lodge." "1 told you to show him to Natueha's sitting-room. Didn't you understand me, Krmolal?" "Pardon, Bafinla, but tlie young stranger, when I asked to search him, as you directed, flatly refused to let me." "Did you explain to him that 'every body Is searched before being allowed to enter, that It is the order, and that even my mother herself has submitted to it?" "I told him all that, Baiinla; and I told him about madame, your mother." "What did he say to that?" "That he was not madame your mother. He acted angry." "Well, let him come in without being starched." "The Chief of Police won't like it." "Do as I say." Ermolal bowed and returned to the garden. The "harlnla" left the veranda, where she had come for this conversa tion with the old servant of General Trebassof, her husband, and returned to the dining-room in the datcl.a des lies, where the gay Councilor Ivan Pe trovltch was regaling his amused as sociates with his latest exploit at Cu bat's esort. They were a noisy com pany, and certainly the quietest among them was not the General, who nursed on a sofa the leg which still held him captive after the recent attack, that to his old coachman and his two piebald horses had proved fatal. The story of the always-amiable Ivan Pelroviteh (a lively, little, elderly man with his head bald as an egg) was about the evening before. After having, as lie said, "re cure la bouche" for these gentlemen spoko French like their own language and used It among themselves to keep their servants from understanding after having wet his whistle with a large glass of sparkling rosy French wine, he cried: "You would have laughed, Feodor Fcodnrnvltch. We had sung songs on the Barque and then the Bohemians left with their music and we went out onto the river bank to stretch our legs and cool our faces' In the freshness of the dawn, when a company of Cossacks of the Guard came along. I knew the officer in command and invited him to come along with us and drink the Em peror's health at Cubat's place. That officer, Feodor Feodorovitch, is a man who knows vintages and boasts that he has never swallowed a glass of any thing so common an Crimean wine. When I named champagne he cried, Vive l Kmperenrl' A true patriot. So we started, merry as school children. The entire company followed, then all the diners playing little whistles, and all the servants besides, single file. At Cubat's I hated to leave the companion officers of my friend at the door, so I Invited them in, too. They accepted, naturally. But the subalterns were thirsty as well. I understand discipline. You know, Feodor Feodorovitch, that I am a stickler for discipline. Just be cause one Ib gay of a Spring morning, discipline should not he forgotten. 1 Invited the officers to drink in a pri ' vate room, and sent the subalterns Into the main hall of tlie restaurant. Then tlie soldiers wero thirsty, too, and I had drinks served to them out in the courtyard. Then, my word, there was a perplexing business, for now the horses whinnied. The brave horses, Feodor Feodorovitch, who also wished to drink the health of the Kmpcror. I was bothered about the discipline. Hall, court, all were full. And I could not put the horses in private rooms. Well. I made them carry out champagne In pails and then came the perplexing business I had tried so hard to avoid, a grand mixture of boots nnd horse shoes that was certainly the liveliest thine I have ever seen In my life. But the horses were the most Joyous, and danced as if a. torch was held under their nostrils, and all of them, my word! were ready to throw their riders because the men were not of the same mind with them as to the route to fol low! From our window we hushed fit to kill at such a mixture of sprawling boots and dancing hoofs. But the troop. ei-B finally got all their horses to bar racks, with patience, for the Kmperor's cavalty are the best riders In the world, Feodor Feodorovitch. And we certainly had a great laugh! Your health, Matrena Petrovna." These last graceful words wero ad dressed to Madame Trebassof, who shrugged her shoulders at the unde slred gallantry of the gay Councilor. She did not join In the conversation, excepting to calm the General, who wished to send the whole regiment to tho guard-house, men and horses. And while the roisterers laughed over the adventure she Bald to her husband In tlie advisory voice of the helpful wife: "Feodor, you must not attach Im portance to what that old fool Ivan tolls you. He Is tho most Imaginative man In the capital when he has had champagne." "Ivan, you certainly have not had horses served with champagne In pails," the old boaster, Atlianase Ueorgevlteh, protested jealously. He was an advocate, well-known for his table-feats, who claimed the hardest drinking reputation of any man in the capital, and he regretted not to have Invented that tale. "On my word! And the best brands! I had won 4000 roubles. 1 left the little fete with 15 kopecks." Matrena Petrovna was listening to Ermolal, the faithful country servant who won? always, even here In the city, his habit of fresh nankeen, his black leather belt, his large bluo pantaloons and his boots glistening like ice, his country costume In his master's eity home. Madame Matrena rose, after lislitly stroking the hair of her step daughter Natacha, whose eyes followed her to the door, indifferent apparently to the tender manifestations of her father's orderly, tlie soldler-poet, Boris Mourazoff, who had written beautiful verses on the death of the Moscow stu dents, after having shot them, In the way of duty, on their barricades. Ermolal conducted his mistress to the drawing-room and pointed across to a door that he had left open, which led to the sitting-room before Natacha's chamber. "He Is there," said Ermolal In a low voice. Ermolal need have said nothing, for that matter, since Madame Matrena was aware of a stranger's presence in the sitting-room by the extraordinary attitude of an individual in a maroon frock coat bordered with false astra khan, such as is on the coats of all the Russian police agents and makes the secret agents recognizable at first glance. This policeman was on his knees In the drawing-room watching what passed In the next room through the narrow space of light In the hinge way of the door. In this manner, or some other, all persons who wished to approach General Trebassof were kept under observation without their know ing It, after having been first searched at the lodge, a measure adopted since the latest attack. Madame Matrena touched the police man's shoulder with that heroic hand which had saved her husband's life and which strll bore traces of the terrible explosion In the last attack, when she had seized the Infernal machine In tended for the General with her bare hand. The policeman rose and silently left the room, reached the veranda and lounged there on a sofa, pretending to be asleep, but in reality watching the garden paths. Matrena Petrovna took his place at the hinge-vent. This was her rule; she, always took the final glance at every thing nnd everybody. She roved at all hours of the day and night round about the General, like a watch-dog, ready to bite, to throw itself before the danger, to receive the blows, to perish for its master. This had commenced at Mos cow after the terrible repression, the massacre of revolutionaries under the walls of Presnia, when the surviving Nihilists left behind them a placard condemning the victorious General Tre bassof to death. Matrena Petrovna lived only for the General, fine had vowed that she would not survive him. So sho had double reason to guard him. But she had lost all confidence even within the walls of her own home. Things had happened even there that defied her caution, her Instinct, her love. Bhe had not spoken of these things save to the Chief of Police, Kou priane, who had reported them to the Emperor. And here now was the man whom the Emperor had sent, as the supreme resource, this young stranger Joseph Rouletabllle, reporter. "But he is a mere boy!" she ex claimed, without at all understanding the matter, this youthful figure, with soft, rounded cheeks, eyes clear and, at first view, extraordinarily naive, tho eyes of an Infant. True, at the moment Rouletabllle's expression hardly sug gested any superhuman profundity of thought, for, left In view of a table, spread with hors-d'oeuvres, the young man appeared solely occupied in dig ging out with a spoon all the caviare that remained in the jars. Matrena noted the rosy freshness of his cheeks, the nbsence of down on his Hp and not a hint of beard, the thick hair, with the curl over the forehead. Ah, that fore head the forehead was curious, with great overhanging cranial lumps which moved above the deep arcade of the eye-sockets while the mouth was busy well, one would have said that Rou lelabillc had not eaten for a week. He was demolishing a great slice of Vol- gan sturgeon, contemplating at the same time with immense interest a salad of creamed cuoumbers, when Ma trena Petrovna appeared. He wished to excuse himself at once and spoke with his mouth full. "I beg your pardon, madame, but the Czar forgot to Invite me to breakfast." Madame Matrena smiled and gave htm a hearty handshake as she urged him to bo seated. "You have seen his Majesty?" "I come from him, madame. It is to Madame Trebassof that I have the hon or of speaking?" "Yes. And you are Monsieur ?" "Joseph Rouletabllle, madame. .1 do not add, 'At your service' because I do not know about that yet. That Is what I said Just now to his Majesty." "Then?" asked Madame Matrena, rather amused by the tone the conver sation had taken and the slightly flur ried air of Rouletabllle. "Why, then, I am a reporter, you see. That Is what I said at once to my editor In Paris, '1 am not going to take part In revolutionary affairs that do not concern my country,' to which my editor replied, 'You do not have to take part. You must go to Russia to make an inquiry into the present status of the different parties. You will com mence by interviewing the Emperor.' I said, 'Well, then, here goes,' and took the train. "And you have Interviewed the Em peror?" "Oh, yes, that has not been difficult. I expected to arrive direct at St. Pe tersburg, but at Krasnoie-Coclo the train stopped and the grand marshal of the court came to me and asked me to follow him. It was very flattering. Twenty minutes later I was before his Majesty. He awaited me! I under stood at once that this was obviously for something out of the ordinary." "And what did he say to you?" "He is a man of genuine majesty. He reassured me at once when 1 explained my scruples to him. He said there was no occasion for me to take part in the politics of the matter, but to save his most faithful servant, who was on the point of becoming the victim of the strangest family drama ever con ceived." Madame Matrena, white as a sheet, rose to her feet. "Ah," she said simply. But Rouletabllle, whom nothing es caped, saw her hand tremble on the back of the chair. ' He went on, not appearing to ha"ve noticed her emotion: "His Majesty added these exact words: 'It Is I who ask it of you; I and Madame Trebassof. Go, monsieur, she awaits you." " He ceased and waited for Madame Trebassof to speak. She made up her mind after brief re flection. "Have you seen Koupriane?" "The Chief of Police? Yes. The grand-marshal accompanied me back to the station at Krasnoie-Coelo. and the Chief of Police accompanied me to St. Petersburg station. One could not have been better. received." "Monsieur Rouletabille," said Matre na. who visibly strove to regain her self-control, "I am not of Kouprlane's opinion and I am not" here she low ered her trembling voice "of the opin ion his Majesty holds. It is better for me to tell you at once, so that you may not regret Intervening in an affair where there are where, there are risks terrible risks to run. No, this is not a family drama. The family Is small, very small; the General, his daughter Natacha (by his former mar riage), and myself. There could not be a family drama among us three. It is simply about my husband, monsieur, who did his duty as a soldier in de fending tho throne of his sovereipn, my husband, whom they mean to as sassinate! Thero Is nothing else, no other situation, my dear little guest." To hide her distress she started to carve a slice of jellied veal and carrot. "Y'ou have not eaten, you are hungry. It is dreadful, my dear young man. See, you must dine with us, and then you will say adieu. Y'es, you will leave me all alone. I will undertake to save 411111 all alone. Certainly, 1 will undertake it." A tear fell on the slice she was carv ing. Rouletabllle, who felt the brave woman's emotion affecting him also, braced himself to keep from show ing it. "I am able to help you a little all the same," he said. "Monsieur Koupriane has told me that there Is a deep mys tery. It is my vocation to get to tho bottom of mysteries." "I know what Koupriane thinks." she said, shaking her head. "But If I could bring myself to think that for a single day I would rather be dead." The good Matrena Petrovna lifted her beautiful eyes to Rouletabllle, brimming with the tears she held back. She added quickly: "But eat now, my dear guest; eat. My dear child, you must forget what Koupriane has said to you, when you are back in-France." "I promise you that, madame." "It Is the Emperor who has caused you this long Journey. For me, I did not wish it. Has he, indeed, so much confidence In you?" she asked naively, gazing at him fixedly through her tears. "Madame, I was just about to tell you. I have been active In some im portant matters that have been re ported to him. and then sometimes your Emperor is allowed to see the papers. Ho has heard talk, too tfor everybody talked of them, madame), about the Mystery of the Y'cllow Room and the Perfume of the Lady In Black." Here Rouletabille watched Madame Trebassoff and was much mortified at the undoubted Ignorance that showed In her frank face of either the yellow room or the blsek perfume. "My young friend," said she, in a voice more and more, hesitant, "you must excuse me, but It is a long time since 1 have had good eyes for read ing." Tears, at last ran down her cheeks. Rouletabllle could not restrain hini Relf any further. He saw In one flash all this heroic woman had suffered In her combat day by day with the death which hovered. He took her little hands, whose fingers were evorloaded with rings, tremulously into his own: "Madame, do not weep. They wih to kill your husband. Well, then, we will be two at least to defend him, I swear to you." "Even against the Nihilists!" - "Aye. madame, against the world. I have eaten all your caviare. I am your nuest. I am your friend." As he said this he was so excited, so sincere and so droll that Madame Trebassof could not help smiling through her tears, sue made him sit down beside her. "The Chief of Police has talked of you a great deal. He came here abruptly after the last attack and a mysterious happening that I will tell you about. He cried, 'Ah, we need Rouletabllle to unravel this!' The next day he came here again. He had gone to the Court. There, everybody, it ap pears, was talking of you. The Emperor wished to know you. That Is why steps were taken through the ambassador at Paris." "Yes, yes. And naturally all the world has learned of it. That makes It so lively. The Nihilists warned me Immediately that I would not reach Russia alive. That, finally, was what decided me on coming. 1 am naturally very contrary." "And how did you get through the journey?" "Not badly. I discovered at once in the train a young Slav assigned to kill me, and I reached an understanding with him. He was a charming youth, so it was easily arranged." Rouletabille was eating away now at strange viands that it would have been difficult for him to name. Ma trena Petrovna laid her fat little hand on his arm: "Y'ou speak seriously?" "Very seriously." "A small glass of vodka?" "No alcohol." Madame Matrena emptied her little glass at a draught. "And how did you discover him? How did you know him?" "First, he wore glasses. All Nihilists wear glasses when traveling. And then I had a good clew. A minute before the departure from Paris I had a friend go into the corridor of the sleeping-ear, a reporter who would do anything I said without even wanting to know why. I said, 'You call out suddenly and very " loud, "Hello, here Is Rouletabille."' So he called, 'Hello, here is Rouletabille,' and all those who were In the already in the compart ments came out, excepting the man with the glasses. Then I was sure about him." Madame Trebassof looked at Roule tabllle, who turned as red as the comb of a rooster and was rather embar rassed at his fatuity. "That deserves a rebuff, I know, ma dame, but from the moment the Emper or of all the Russians had desired to see me I could not admit that any mere man with glasses had not the curiosity to see what I looked like. It was not natural. As soon as the train was off I sat down by this man and told him who 1 thought he was. I was right. He removed his glasses and. looking me straight In the eyes, said he was glad to have a little talk with me before anything unfortunate hap pened. A half-hour later the entente cordlale was signed. I gave him to understand that I was coming here simply on business as a reporter and that there was always time to check me if 1 should he indiscreet. At the German frontier he left me to go on, and returned tranquilly to his nitro glycerine." "You are a marked man, also, my poor boy." "Oh. they have not got us yet." Matrena Petrovna coughed. That us overwhelmed her. With what calmness this boy that she had not known an hour proposed to share the dangers of a situation that excited general pity, but from which the bravest kept aloof either from prudence or dismay. "Ah. my friend, a little of this fine smoked Hamburg beef?" But the young man was already pouring out fresh yellow beer. "There," said he. "Now, madame, I am listening. Tell me first about the earliest attack." "Now," said Matrena, "we must go to dinner." Rouletabille looked at her wide eyed. "But, madame, what have I just been doing?" Madame Matrena smiled. All these strangers were alike. Because they had eaten some hors-d'oeuvres, some zakouskls, they imagined their host would be satisfied. Tlicy did not know how to eat. "We will go to the dining-room. The general is expecting you. They are at table." "I understand I am supposed to know him." "Y'es, ou have met In Paris. It is entirely natural that In passing through St. Petersburg you should make him a visit. Y'ou know him very well indeed, so well that he opens his home to ycu. Ah. yes. my stepdaughter also," she flushed a little "Natacha believes that her father knows yon." She opened the door of the drawing room, which they had to cross in order to reach the dining-room. (To lie Continue d.)
