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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1915)
11 HQME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL. The Secret of the Night By Gaston Leroux TIIIIII.LIVO MYSTERY STORY OF RUSSIAN IXTRIGl E BY NOTED FRENCH AtTHOR, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION t SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. T v - i i.t.viila natimslbtV I i v - i i. ..villa natitnslbtv a reporter for Paraislan newspaper. tui. In fact, detectiva ol renown, It cauja to fiuMla by tha Cir to save the lire ot General Trebauot (Feodor Feodorovitcn who hat been condemned to death y Nihilist. Ha la racelved by the 0m cral'a ever-faithful and eer-watcMul Madame Trebaanof (Matrena Patrovlnal. He meeta Natcha, the Ueneral'a daughter by a previous tnarriase. The General it at hla villa, surrounded by a few '"J1 Mends. Uouletabiile learnt of the first two attempts axaliuit the Ufa of the General from Madame Trobassof. One of Roulet tbllle's firat actlona is to dismiss the secret police auardlKe the villa. Rouletabllie bears of the third attemupt on the uen eral's life, by meant of a clockwork bomo lei In a vase of flowert on hla table, it was frustrated" by Madame Trebassot, no was illelitly Injured by the eiplosion. the detective learna that Natcha la In love with Born, but also It very friendly to wards Michael. He learnt the secret ol the night the terrible nightmares that are experienced by the aged General. Naiacna Is suspected of complicity In the P'ot ncnlnst the Ufa of the General hut Rou letabille atoutly afflrmt hU belief In her Innocence. Though a great warning tout Rouletabllie that bit ward, the General, will be dead In 48 hoora, the detective aug ncsts a promenade by the eea, unattended. Natacha absents herself during the proin tnade on alight cause. Rooletabllla ne-5oni-a interested In hat-pins. He It conn Jon; of a plot against the General By noiseless methods and watchea the door ol in unused entrance to the room where tna General sleeps. Rouletabllie discovers that entrance can be forced Into the General's room through an unused door by nneans of a bent hatpin and he and Madame Tre liassof set themselves to watch Sf last he made her a sign and the re porter, followed by Matrena. advanced on tip-toe) to the) threshold of the gen eral's chamber, keeping close to the wall. Feodor Feodorovltch slept They heard his heavy breathing, but he appeared to be en Joying peaceful sleep. The horrors of the night before had fled. Matrena was perhaps right in attributing the nightmares to the narcotic prepared for him each night, for the glass from which he drank it when he felt he could not sleep was still full and ob viously had not been touched. The bed of the general was so placed that whoever occupied it, even Jf they were wide awake, could not see the door giving on the ser vants' stairway. The little table where the glass and various phials were placed and which had borne the dangerous bouquet, was placed near the bed, a little back of it, and nearer the door. Nothing could hava been easier than for someone who could open the door to stretch an arm and place the Infernal machine among the wild flow ers, above all, as could easily be believed, if he had waited for that treachery until the heavy breathing of the general told them outside that he was fast asleep, and If, looking through the key-hole, he had made sure Matrena was occupied in her own chamber. Rouletabille, at the threshold, glided to one side, out of the line of view from the hole, and got down on all fours. He crawled toward the door. With his head to -the floor he made sure that the little ordinary pin which he had placed on guard that evening, stuck in the floor against the door, was still erect, having thus addi tional proof that the door had not been moved. In any other case the pin 'would have lain flat on the floor. He crept back, rose to hla feet, passed into the dressing room and, In a corner, had a rapid conver sation in a low voice with Matrena. . "You will go," said he, "and take your mattress into the corner of the dressing room where you can still see the door but no one can seo you by looking through the key-hole. Do that quite naturally, and then go to your rest I will pass -the night on the mattress, and I beg you to believe that I Will be more comfortable there than on a bed of staircaso wood where I spent last night, behind the door." "Yes, but you will fall asleep. I 4n't wish that." "What are you thinking, madame?" "I don't wish it.. I don't wish It. I don't wish to quit the door where the eye la. And since I'm not able to sleep, let me watch." He did not Insist, and they crouched to gether on the mattress. Rouletabille was squatted like a tailor at work; but Ma trena remained on all fours, her Jnw out, her eyes fixed, like a bulldog ready to spring. The minutes passed by In pro found silence, broken only by the lrrgular breathing and puffing of the general. His ""face stood out pallid and tragic on the pil low; his mouth was open and. at times, the lips moved. There was fear at any moment of nightmare or his awakening. Uncon sciously ho threw an arm over toward the table where tha glass of narcotic, stood. Then he lay still again and snored lightly. The night-lamp on the mantelpiece caugh't " the queer yellow reflections from the cor ners of the furniture, from the gilded frame of a picture on the wall and from the phials and glasses on the table. But in all the chamber Matrlna Petrovna saw nothing, thought of nothing but the brass bolt which shone there on the door. Tired of being on her knees, she shifted, her chin in her hands, her gam steadily fixed. As time passed and nothing happened she heaved a sigh. She could not have said whether she hoped for or dreaded the com lug of that something new which Roulelti bllle had indicated. Rouletabille felt her shiver with anguish and Impatience As fo- him, he had not hoped that any thing would come to pass until toward dawn the moment, as everyone knows, when deep sleep is most apt to vanquish all watchfulness and nil insomnia. And as he waited for that moment he had not budged any mora than a Chinese apo or the dear little porcelain dombvol doukh In the garden. Of course, It might be that It was not to happen this night. SuddenljrMatrena's hftrtd fell on Roule tftbllle's. His Imprisoned hers so (irmly that she understood she was forbidden to make the lesst movement. And both, with ncckg extended, ears erect, watched like beasts, like beasts on the scent Yes, yes, there had been! a slight 'noise In the lock, A key turned, softly, softly, in the lock and then silence; and then another little noise, a' grinding sound, a slight grating of wire, above, then on the boll; upon the bolt which shone in th) sub dued glow of the nlghtlump. The bolt softly, very softly, slipped slowly. Then the door was pushed slowly, so slowly. It opened. Through the opening the shadow of an arm stretched, an arm which held In Its fingers something which shone. R.ouletabllla felt Matrena ready to bound. He encir cled her, he pressed her in his arms, he restrained her In .silence, and he had a hor rible fear of hearing her suddenly shout, wlille the arm stretched out, almost touched the pillow on the bed where the general continued to sleep a sleep of peace such as he had not known for along lime. VII Arsenate of Soda. The mysterious, hand held a phial and retired the entire contents into the potion. Then the hand withdrew as It had come, slowly, prudently, slyly, and the key turned in the lock and the bolt slipped back into place. Like a wolf, Rouletabille, warning Mat rena for a last time not to budge, gained the landing-place, bounded towards the stairs, slid down the banister right to the veranda, crossed the drawing-room like a flash and reached the little sitting-room without having jostled a single piece of furniture. Ha noticed nothing, saw nothing. All around was undisturbed and silent. The first light of dawn filtered through the blinds. He was able to make out that the only closed door was the one to Natacha's chamber. He stopped before that door, his heart beating, and listened. But no sound came to his ear. He had glided so lightly over the carpet that he was sure he had not been heard. Perhaps that door would open. He waited. In vain. It seemed to him there waa nothing alive in that house except his heart. He was stifled with horror that he glimpsed, that he almost touched, although that door remained closed. He felt along the wall In order to reach the window, pulled aside the curtain. Window and blinds of the little room giv ing on the Neva were closed. The bar of iron inside was In its place. Then he went to ' the passage, mounted and de scended the narrow servants" stairwayr looked all about, in all the rooms, feeling everywhere with silent hands, assuring himself that no lock had been tampered with. On his return to the veranda, as he raised his head, he saw at the top of the main staircase a figure wan as death, a spectral apparition amid the shadows of the passing night, who leaned toward htm. It was Matrena Petrovna. She came down, silent as a phantom, and he no longer rec ognized her voice when she demanded of him, "Where? I require that you tell me. Where?" "I have looked everywhere," he said, so low that Matrena had to come nearer to understand his whisper. "Everything Is shut tight. And there is no one about" Matrena looked at Rouletabille with all the power of her eyes, as though she would discover his inmost thoughts, but his clear glance did not waver, and she saw there was nothing he wished to hide. Then Ma trena pointed her finger at Natacha's chamber. 'You have not gone in there?" site In quired. He replied, "It Is not necessary to enter there." "I will enter there, myself, nevertheless," said she, and she set her teeth. He barred her way with his arms. spread out. . "If you hold the life of someone dear," said he, "don't go a step farther." "But the person is In that chamber. The person is there. It is there you will find out!" And jihe waved him aside with a gesture, as though she were sleepwalking. To recall her to the reality of what he had said to her and to make her understand what he desired; he had to grip her wrist in the vise of his nervous hand. "The person is not there, perhaps," he said, shaking his head. "Understand me now?" But Bhe did not understand him. She said: "Since the person is nowheve else, the person must be there," But Rouletabille continued obstinately: "No, no. Perhaps he is gone." "Gone! And everything locked Oil the Inside!" "That Is not a reason," he replied. But she could not follow his thoughts nny further. She wished absolutely to make her way Into Natacha's chamber. The ob session of that was upon her. "If you enter there," said he, "and If (as Is most probable) you don't find what you seek there, all is lost! And as to me, I give up the whole thing." She sank In a heap onto a chair. "Don't despair," hi murmured, "We don't know for sure yet." Phe shook her poor old head dejectedly. "We know that only she is here, since no one has been able to enter and since no one has been able to leave." That, in truth, filled her brain, prevented her from discerning in any corner of her mind the thought of Rouletabille. Then the Impossible dialogue resumed. "1 repeat that we do not know that the person has gone," repented the reporter, and demanded her keys. "Foolish, she said. , "What do you want them for?" "To search outside as we have searched Inside." "Why, everything Is locked on the Inside.". "Madame, once more, that is no reason that the person may not be outside." He consumed five minutes opening tho door of the veranda, so many were his pre cautions. She watched him impatiently. He whispered to her: "I am going out, but don't you lose sight of the little sitting-room. At the least movement call me; fire a revolver if you .need to." He slipped Into the garden with the same precautions for silence. From the corner that she kept to, through the doors left open. Matrena could follow all the move ments of the reporter and watch Natacha's chamber at the same time. The attitude of Rouletabille continued to confuse her be yond all expression. She watched what he lid as K she thought him besotted. The dvornick on guard out in the roadway also watched the young ra?n through the bars of the gate in consternation, as though he thought him a fool. Along the paths of beaten earth or cement which offered no chance for footprints Rouletabille hurried silently. Around him he noted that the grass of the lawn had not been trodden. And then he paid no more attention to his steps. He seemed to study attentively the rcfy color In the east, breathing the deli cacy of dawning morning in the Isles, amid tlie silence of the earth, which still slum bered. Bare-headed, face thrown back, hands behind his back, eyes raised and fixed, he made a few steps, then suddenly stopped as if he had been given an electric shock. As soon as he seemed to have recovered from that shock he turned around and went a few steps back to another path. Into .which he advanced, straight ahead, his face high, with the same fixed look that he had had up to the time he so suddenly stopped, as' If something or someone ad vised or warned him not to go further. He continually worked back toward the house, and thus he traveled all the paths that led from the villa, but in all these excur sions he took pains not to place himself in the field of vision from Natacha's, window, a restricted field because of its location just around an abutment of the building. To ascertain about, this window he crept on all fours up to the garden edge that ran along the foot of the wall and had suf ficient proof that no one had jumped out that way. Then he went to rejoin Ma trena In the veranda. "No one has come into the garden this morning," said he, "and no one has gone out of the villa into the garden. Now I am going to look outside the grounds. Wait here; I'll be back in five minutes." He went away, knocked discreetly on the window of the lodge and waited some seconds. Ermolai came out and opened the gate for him. Matrena moved to the threshold of the little sitting-room and watched Natacha's door with horror. She felt her legs give under her and she could not stand up under the diabolic thought of such a crime. Ah, that arm, that arm! reaching out, making its way, with a little shining phial In its hand. Pains of Christ! What could there be in the damnable books over which Natacha and her com panion pored that could make such abomin able crimes possible? Ah, Natacha, Na tacha! it waa from her that she would have desired the answer, straining her al most to stifling on her rough bosom and strangling her with her own strong hand that she might not hear the response. Ah, Natacha, Natacha, whom she bad loved vo muchl She sank to the floor, crept across the carpet to the door and lay there. stretched like a beast and buried her head in her arms while she wept over her dighter. Natacha, Natacha, whom she had chvrlshed as her own child, and who did nrt hear her. Ah, what use that the little faltiw had gone to search outside when the whole truth lay behind this door? Thinking. of him, she was embarrassed lest he should find her in that animalistic posture, and she rose to her knees and worked her way over to the window that looked out upon tte Neva. The angle' of the slanting blinds let her see well enough what passed outside, and what she saw made her spring to her feet. Below her the reporter was going through the same incomprehensible maneuvers that she had seen him do in the garden. Three pathways led to the little road that ran along the wall of the villa by the bank of the Neva. The young man, still with his hands behind his back and with his face up, took them one after the other. In the first he stopped at the first step. He didn't take more than two steps in the second. In the third, which cut obliquely toward the right and seemed to run to thj bank nearest Krestowsky Ostrow, she eaitf him advance slowly at first, then moi quickly amon the small trees and hedges. Once, only he stopped and looked closely at the trunk of a tree, against which he seemed to pick out something invisible, and then continued to the bank. There he sat down on a stone and appeared to re flect, and then suddenly he cast off bis jacket and trousers, picked out a certain place on the bank across from him, finished undressing and plunged Into the stream. She saw at once that he swam like a por poise, keeping beneath and showing his head from time to time, breathing, then uiving oeiow me surtnee again, xie reauiieu Krestowsky Ostrow In a clump of reeds. jnen ne disappeared. ueiow nun, sur rounded by trees, could be seen the red tiles of the villa which sheltered Boris and Michael. From the villa a person could see the window of the sitting-room In Gen eral's Trebassofs residence, but not whal might occur along the bank of the river Just below Its walls. An isvotchlek drove along the distant route of Krestowsky, cor. veylng in his carriage a company of youn officers and young women who had been feasting and who sang as- they rode; thes deep silence ensued. Matrena's eyes searched, for Rouletabille, but could not find hlnV How long was he going to stay hidden like that? She pressed her face against the chill window. What was she waiting for? She waited perhaps for someone to ntaKe a linjte uu tins eiuu, lui me uimji uetti her to open and the traitorous figure of The Other to appear, A Wnd touched her carefully. She turned. Rouletabille was there, his face all scarred by red scratches, without collar or necktie, having hastily resumed his clothes. He appeared, furious as he surprised her in his disarray. She let him lead her as though she were a child. He drew her to his room and closed the door. (To Be Continued.) The latest figures show that tts Stats of Washington produced 65 per cent at all the shingles manufactured in the country during the year, the wood used heing western Ved cedar. Bead Music ai Last! Haw? SuDreme Achievement (HilMKIilJliJiffl in m m wm MaaBmaagawi m a m m SEND FOR OUR CATALOGUES. THEY ARE FREE. Ho Needled No Trouble H E, FRENCH & CHA3 Mt.KINNIS Eierj Du tiding Broadway at Alder 5t. 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