CHAPTER XVI. (Continued).

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 153, 8 May 1886, Page 4

CHAPTER XVI. (Continued).

When the Viscount left, Jottrat began walking through the room rapidly The animation that his conversation with the' Viscount had imparted to his face had dis appeared suddenly, giving place to a look of deep distress ; and this man who had just announced authoritatively the approaching punishment of the guilty accomplices of De Noreff was now makirg despairing gestures and uttering disconnected words. "My son ! my child ! I will never find you," he repeated, in a hollow voice. •'What have they done with him? -the miserable creatures !" And he stopped his walk, gloomy, menacing, and lost in his thoughts. A slight noise made him turn his head ; a woman had just come in. He drew near the lamp instinctively, as if, while interrogating the English woman, he wished to have tha full light of the lamp thrown upon her. She seemed also to seek the light, as she walked directly toward the man who could be only an enemy, and standing up before him, with her hand resting on the table, said, in a Bharp voice : 11 What motive have you for calling me here?" Miss Georgina's roice made Jottrat start as if he had been struck by an electric shock, ana, taking a step forward, he approached almost near enough to touch the English woman's face. He had just recognised her, and, uttering a cry of surprise and anger, the real name of this woman escaped from his lips : " Susanne !" h • cried. The English woman started back as if she had trod upon a serpent; her eyes, shining in the darkness, were fixed upon the face of the police-officer with a penetrating stare. She did not recoguise him. "I have found you at last!" muttered Jottrat. " Cease this jesting,'' replied Miss Georgina. "I never saw you before, and 1 am not at all curious to clear up the ridiculous mistake that brought you here ;" and, turning her back, she went toward the door. I • I will recall your recollections," said Jottrat, bitterly; "we parted at Havre the 24th of May, IS3O !" This simple sentence produced a pro digious effect upon the English woman, who, turning round like a wounded lioness, ran to Jcttrat, staring ir his face. " Louis !" she murmured, in a voice so low that it could scarcely be heard -" the dead come back again, then !" •'lean understand that, after eeven teen years, you have forgotten my face ; but I recognised you ; your crimes have not changed you !" " I recognise you also. You are Louis Jottrat, that I had formerly the misfortune to marry • What do you want with me V There was a moment's silence. The policeofficer bent down hia head sorrowfully before the audacious creature, and an observer could have read on his contracted features the agitation of his heart. On seeing this woman again, that he loved so much formerly, be had tried to fortiiy himself against thp remembrance of a scarcely c xtinct passion ; he had been severe because he feared being weak, thinking also that Susanne, while recalling the past, might plead for pa»don ; but she insulted and defied him ; and this monstrous impudence restored his confidence and energy. "What do I want?" he replied, in a voice that trembled no longer. "I will tell you. I have come here to arrest the accomplice of the poisoner. I knew that an in famous creature in this house was charged with the success of a plot that I know the authors of." The English woman's face had been like marble, but, at the name of the poisoner, she could not hide a nervous start. " I knew that," continued Jottrat, coldly ; " but I did not know that the woman, who was in the pay of a scoundrel, was the same as she who sold her honour formerly !" A disdainful smile curled round Georgina's lips " Her honour and her son!" continued the police officer, looking at her steadily. "My son !" repeated the English woman ; " you were right not to call him our son for Henry only knew his mother." * Then you confess you stole my child from me, and you refuse to give him back ?" " I confess, and I refuse." " Then you must die !" " Kill me ! lam ready. Henry will revenge me." At this beloved name Jottrat's anger died away suddenly, big tears rolling down his cheeks. " Sueanne," murmured he, "give me back my son, and I will forgive all the evil you have done me." "What do I care for your pardon?" she said, contemptuously. II Give him back to me, and I will save you from the scaffold." " The scaffold ! Who are you that could eend me there ?" II You wish to know ? lam agent of the detective police, and have only to say a word to make your head fall on the scaffold." This time the blow went home. Susanne became livid ; but her ungovernable and perverse nature took the aacendence, and it was in a sneering tone she asked : "Do you aßk me seriously to give Henry back to you? The trade of spy that you have chosen may be a lucrative one, and it does not tempt me for my son ; and I doubt very much if he would like to see a father again who has fallen so low !" •'I ewear to you," said Jottrat, coldly, " that if in a quarter of an hour you do not do what I have asked you, you will be arrested. " " To arrest me you must have proofs, and I defy you to find any." * Listen to me, and when you have heard me to the end, see then if you think I have no proofs. The man named De Noreff bought you at Havre, and when you sold youreelf to him you were dreaming of riches, luxury, and the opulent life in large cities : while he, when buying you, wanted you for bis accomplice and slave. The bargain has been faithfully kept on both sides.' 11 1 don't understand you," aaid Susanne, not, however, without showing a shade of anxiety. " You will understand ; this man bad a friend, or rather a companion of his pleasure, named General de Mensignac. It was the time then for conspiracies. The General conspired against the government, and De Noreff, a Russian spy, drew De Mensignac into a disastrous enterprise, that was near compromising the Legitimist party ; confiding to him a list of the associates, and then giving them up to the police !" "Pardon me," interrupted Susanne, tauntingly ; " your historical recollections may be full of interest, but Ido not know what relation they bear to our reciprocal situation."

" I will tell you>" continued Jottrat, un T moved. •* From the day that De Noireff possessed the secret of the plot, he waB master of the fortune and honour of the General; succeeded in persuading him that the police would make him appear a traitor in the eyes of his party, and that he must pay for his silence by enormous sums. The miserable De Noreff had sworn to appropriate by degrees all the wealth of the De Mensignacs, and to accomplishes unworthy purpose employed two women." " Readily 1" stammered Susanne, trying to smile. " One of his accomplices, Lumilia Ludloff, De Noreff had brought with him from Higa, where, although born in bondage, he made her pass for his wife. Being wonderfully beautiful, she was charged by him to ruin the old General ; and the night the Marquis expired, she went alone to him, implacable and cold, to draw from the dying man engagements that compromised the fortune of his family !" " And you hope to make me believe this \ absurd story ?" " The other accomplice played a longer and more fnfumous rok t aa M. de Noreff, when tired of the unfortunate creature he had bought, wishing to have a spy in the De Mensignao family, introduced her in the General's house by the name of Georgina Fassitt, and for seventeen years she has been betraying her benefactors that she might have her share of the spoils !" '•Betraying is a vague word," said Susanne, disdainfully, "I have not finished, and am going to tell you how your treachery will lead you to the scaffold ! De Noreff worked upon the son, as he had done upon the father, and when he thought his son's ruin was completed, he wanted to take his life as well as that of his sister, and began by Roger. Lumilia Ludloff had a sister ten years younger than herself ani still more beautiful, butwhoresembledher to a strange degree. Her name was Vanda. De Noreff commanded ber to devote herself to Roger. She obeyed, but was imprudent enough to love him, and De Noreff condemned them both to death. The sentence was executed here by Toby, M. de Sartilly's servant, whom you brought into the library !" " 'Tis not true ! He came alone." "You see very well that you Knew ot the crime, and have just denounced yourself. " "No, no!" " Do you wish me to show you the stains that Vanda's blood left upon the carpet? Do you wish me to open the iron door with which Toby cut off the head that De Noreff's major-domo was carrying to Saint Cloud ? Do you want me to take you to the catacombs where Roger has been buried alive — or to show you the way that the poisoner, your accomplice, comes every night ?" "It is not true ! it is not true ! And to prove my guilt, those you call my accomplices must be arrested, and you cannot find them." ' ' Two only are living. De Noreff is dead, and his major-domo was killed the night when, thanks to your aid, they were carrying off Jeanne de Mensignac. Lumilia Ludloff and Toby, the poiaoner and murderer, are at this moment in the house at Billy wharf, where you will join them tonight." Suaanne tried to speak, but the words expired on her lips. " 1 hat retreat is surrounded, and I swear to you they Bhall not escape. De Noreff drew me there to murder me, and I know all its outlets ; to-morrow tney will be arrested, and their punishment will be prompt and terrible. It depends on me, and on me alone, to send you to the gaieys or scaffold. Will you now give me back my son ?" An infernal smile contracted Susanne's pallid lips " Your son ?" she said, in a hareh voice ; " you *vant to know him ?" " Tell me where he is, and I swear that I will save you." "He is iv the house on Billy wharf, and will be arrested to night, for his name is Toby ! And he murdered Yanda !" It was now Jottrat's turn to cry out : " Ib is not true !" •'You say it is not so. Will you go with me to the house on the wharf to see whether Toby will not recognise me as his mother ?'' Jottrat's limba trembled, and he had not strength to answer. There are accents that cannot deceive, that the most consummate villainy cannot counterfeit The English woman had told the truth, and with that rapidity of intuition that springs up in extreme caees, Jottrat had already summed up the dates, and acquired the certainty of his misfortune. "Ah!" murmured he, "ccc what you have made of my son— of our son, for he is yours alto— this child whom you have given up to the monsters who have ruined him. You have not even known how to be a motheV "You would have preferred, doubtless, that he should have followed the honourable career you have chosen." "He was too young to think of the future," said Jottrat, without replying to her sarcasm ; " and you have in cold blood taught him to be a criminal." " I do not repent what 1 have done, and would do it again." " Unhappy, unfortunate creature !" " What are you waiting for? My son is already, doubtless, in the hands of the spies under your command. Have the mother arrested. lam ready." The guilty one, who had become bo pale a few minutes before at seeing herself unmasked, bad raised her head now, uttering words of defiance } and Jottrat, understanding the calculation of this deliberate daring, said in alow voice: "She thinks I will not dare to do it ;" and he was right, as Susanne, feeling herself lost, was playing her last card. Jottrat could not denounce her without sending hia son, Henry, with her to the scaffold, and the horrible woman judged rightly that this dear life would redeem her own. There was passing in the father's heart a fearful struggle, and the English woman was watching the effect of the perfidious words she had just spoken. Suddenly the contracted features of Jottrat expanded, as by a prodigious effort of which he overcame his emotion, and with the cold tone that indicates a determined resolution, he said, slowly : 11 You are deceived if you hope to intimidate me. No one can s-*ve you now, —not even your accomplices, tor the child you have made a murderer of is no longer mv child !" Susanne shut her eyes, as if she had been struck by death. If she had looked at Jottrat, she would read in his face that his lips alone denied Henry, and that paternal love had already suggested to him a means of saving his child. "All is finished now between us I" said Jottrat, affecting a calmness that deceived the English woman ; "you are a prisoner in this house, and there will bo a guard over you until to-morrow, when you will be taken to prison. You have all the> night to repent of your crime." Furious and despairing, she attempted again to struggle against the evidence. " Proofs ! you have no proofs !" she cried. '•Where is the poison you accuse me of having allowed another to give Jeanne ?" "We will see," said Jottrat, coldly, opening the library-door, without losing sight of 3usanne.

There was no need of calling. Sartilly *as in the corridor, quite ready to interfere^ f the English woman attempted to escape, 1 is her accomplice had done. " Si «'x'i. said Joit ™% in an indifferent ;one t "the interrogatories that I have jus^ nade leave no doubt as to this woman 1 * participation in the crimes committed in this house, and, while waiting for a written wder of arrest, I must request your people bo guard the criminal." / "I will give the order myself, and see also that it is rigorously executed." answered Sartilly, without taking his e'es off Susan ne. ' Permit me to ask you, Viscount, if you ha^ taken the precaution to preserve the cup in which the poison was thrown ?'' " I gave it to Julia, and you will md it untouched." "It will be so much more important to show it, as it must contain an eiormous quantity. My information is exait, and I know that to night they intended to kill Mademoiselle do Mensignac at me blow, finding her illness was progressing too slowly." " Let us finish with this," said the English woman, cold!y ; "you do noi intend to force me to listen longer to the absurd accusations from which I disdau to justify myself. Will you have the goodness to le me go to my room ?" " You hope, then, to arrest Madame de Noreff and Toby to-night ?" askad Sartilly, lowering his voiae. "I have no reason not to sjseak before the criminal, so she will not tee her accomplices until she meets them ai the court of assizes. The prisoner has but this momenc taken refuge with Toby a a house where M. de Noreff executed his criminal I operations It was thero he put volume seventh, and it was there I was nea» losing my life. There is no one missing, - not even the pretended naval officer wWpicked Toby up in the bay of Mont Saint v iciel " " As he speaks of his plans co openly," thought the English 'woman, "he htends to execute them ; 1 have nothing m)re to hope. Before going to tny room," sh% paid aloud, "I have some orders to gi'e to Julia. I suppose >ou will not proven' my speaking to her, as this devoted girl is not in the plot." " You can see her, but not alone." Sartilly rang, and the porter coming up immediately, Susanne understood that any attempt to escaps would bo u&eless. ' I am obliged," said Jottrat, '"to examine the room that this woman is to be shut up in. My responsibility ie already heavily engaged elsewhere, and I must be sure of all my prisoners," "Julia must be in the boudoir," said Sartilly; "while taking Vlias Georgina to her room, we can stop a moment there." " Come, gentlemen," said the Englishwoman, whose eyes shone with extraordinary brilliancy With a firm step she went out of the library and along the corridor, the porter and Sartilly going before, with Jottrat following, shefeeling there waa no chance of escaping On arriving at the door of the boudoir, the lamp was still burning, and Julia was walking backward and forward, trembling with anxiety and agitation. Sartilly was going to call her, when the English woman, pushing past him, went into the bcudoir. On seeing her appear with haggard eyes and agitated face, Julia started back, taking refuge in the extreme augle of the room. Jottrat rushed quickly after Susanne, for he felt something terrible was about happening ; but, before he had time to prevent her, she bounded toward the pier-table, where the poisoner's cup still emoked. " You will not arrest me to morrow," she said, in a hissing voice, "for to morrow I will be dead !"— and she swallowed the contents at a draught !