THE FRENCH MASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12076, 20 September 1902, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE FRENCH MASTER.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.3

BY ALFRED WILSON BARRETT.

CHAPTER XVI.

A very few inquiries at Florence and atferwards at Milan assured me that Madeleine was in front of me and travelling with all speed to England; but whatever hopes I had of catching her before she could reach London were quickly crushed. An unprecedented fall of snow blocked our train on the Swiss frontier, and another day was lost.

My first act on reaching Dover was to purchase a newspaper, and from it I received a confirmation of my worst fears. Madeleine had given herself up' justice! With a sinking heart I read the brief account of what was to the press evidently a windfall of exceptional value. The paragraph was given a startling headline, and ran thus:

"Yesterday morning a young lady of refined bearing and great beauty entered the Central Criminal Court, and informed one of the officials that- she desired to give herself up on a charge "of murder. She was evidently labouring under great agitation, but her manner was collected, and her strange act bore every appearance of premeditation. " She was taken before Mr. Justice Barton for examination.

" Apart from the difficulty of associating such a crime as murder with a person of her appearance, her confession was made more startling by the fact that the victim ot the deed of which she accused herself was her own sister.

" She gave hex name after some hesitation as Madeleine Leicester; but upon being sworn she changed it- tc Madeleine Lennard. According to her confession the circumstances of the crime were as follows: —

"On a date in November last she had accompanied her sister and her sister's husband foreigner, a Monsieur Rigato the Hayraarket Theatre. The night had been exceptionally foggy, and on leaving the theatre Mons. Riga's coachman contrived to lose his way. He descended from the box to make inquiries at one of the neighbouring houses. Mons. Riga also left the carriage and went to the horse's head. Meanwhile, the younger sister, the victim of the affair, appears to have irritated the elder by what she, the prisoner, describes as an unjust, baseless accusation. A quarrel ensued. The younger girl snatched a silver dagger from her hair, with the evident intention of stabbing herself. The elder one seized her arm and attempted to obtain possession of the weapon. During the struggle, as the prisoner asserts, she lost all consciousness of her acts. When she recovered her senses she saw her sister lying stabbed to the heart, and she found the dagger in her own hand. She screamed for help and ran from the carriage. No one arriving to her aid :.he returned to the dying girl, whom she. attempted to assist. She was too late, apparently, to lie of any service, but the victim still had strength to utter a few words. These words comprised a bitter accusation and reproach, and were, according to the prisoner, the first real intimation she had that it was she herself Mho had committed the crime.

" That is the prisoner's confession, and is practically all that Mr. Justice Barton succeeded in eliciting from her. Her examination was made more difficult by certain reserves which she maintained, and which she refused to break through. " For instance, when asked where Mons. Riga was at the time of the struggle, and why he did not at once come to his wife's assistance, she replied that slio did not know. When examined as to the nature of the accusation which her sister had made, and which caused the quarrel, she remained silent. When pressed to reply, she refused. She declares herself to have been taken ill Immediately she recognised the consequences of her act, "and she appears ignorant of anything which happened subsequent to the murder on that night. " Mr. Justice Barton naturally took up the position that in maintaining these reserves the prisoner was attempting to shield someone accessory to the crime, but this she strenuously denied. Her continual cry is, ' I accuse myself—try me—prove me innocent or guilty!' "After some useless attempts to obtain further information the prisoner was remanded for inquiries." "The prisoner!" And the prisoner was Madeleine, my wife! My bride of a week whom. I so loved, whom I would have shielded with my life from even the crumpled rose leaves of existence, who was so proud, so delicate, so beautiful! And she was in prison, and had accused herself of a horrible crime!

By the mercy of Providence, now that I was assured of the worst, my calmness began to come back to me, and I reasoned collectedly again. Publicly, by appearing in my own character as Madeleine's husband, I could do nothing for her. My own evidence would be brought up against me, and would discredit anything I might now say. I should be sought for, however, there seemed little doubt of that, for Madeleine's strange reserve concerning some of the circumstances of the crime would necessitate the fullest inquiries and research. If I should be found and forced to repeat my story, my energies would be hampered ,and my doings watched. And I was Madeleine's only chance. Her only chance! My poor darling! Why, she had thrown her life away! Tormented by her conscience, almost doubting her own innocence, accused by that villain, she had thrown herself on the mercy of the law to prove her innocent or guiltyand what could the law do? With the wish to guard her sister's memory from the slightest slur, she had refused to say what was the cruel accusation which had caused her to lose her self-control; and she had refused to tell of the unfortunate girl's jealousy and Riga's treacherous belumour. She had blinded the eyes of justice in the only direction which might mean safety. And yet I dared not openly appear to aid her. I prayed, as I had never prayed before, that in the inquiries which must follow, I should not be traced. It was our only hope. These inquiries must take time. There was comfort in that knowledge at least. But in that time I must perform a miracle. I must discover the real secret of the mystery.

Yet surely, I thought, as I imagined Madeleine in prison, hopeless, despairing, if ever man had a spur to make him perform great deeds, I ras that man. If I had to drag Riga to the dock, side by side with Madeleine, and force the confession from his lips, it should be done, I swore; but first 1 would try other means. The man was guilty—l knew it. Could I not prove it, too:'

CHAPTER XVII. I decided not to return for the present to my old chambers, but to take new ones under auother name, and to remain in the background as long as possible. During my absence abroad I had guown both a beard and moustache (formerly I had been clean shaven), and I hoped to avoid recognition for a time.

There was oue person, however, who must be aware of my identity and my return to England, and that person was the barrister "l intended should defend Madeleine while I worked for her in secret, for defended she must be. After long and anxious consideration I had fixed in my own mind upon a very old friend of mine and my family, by name Woolmer. Not' only was Mr. Wooimer a keen and skilful lawyer, but lie was also bound to ray family 'by ties of gratitude—my father having once, 'as I knew, rendered him a service of great importance, amd which had, I believe, influenced for good his whole career. Though an older mail than myself by many years, he had always been on most friendly terms with me, and I felt instinctively that. 1 might rely upon him in such a crisis.

Keeping myself from observation as much as possible, and carefully refraining from anything which might attract attention, I "took rooms in a quieb street off Covent Garden, and instantly begged Mr. Woolmer, under pledge of strictest confidence, to grant me an interview at his earliest convenience lii my own rooms. He arrived within half "a dozen hours of receiving my letter. He was a tall, handsome mau, "with a hard, very shrewd face, which I knew veiled a great deal of natural kindness.

I had of course written to him under my own name, but I had taken my apartments under an assumed onethat of Williams. To avoid any error I kept watch at. icy, door

for his arrival, and Trent down to meet him when I heard him arrive. I was just it time to prevent him from asking my landlady for Mr. Ensor; but she found time, nevertheless, to address -me as "Mr. Williams" before I could get -Mr. Woolmer upstairs; and I saw his instantly repressed start.

He turned to me a little sternly as I closed my door after him, and looked at me steadily. " You want to see me as Mr. Williams?" he asked, quickly. "Very well. For your father's sake I hope there is nothing shameful under this assumption of an alias—"

" Nothing, I assure you," I interrupted, quickly, "I am glad of it," lie replied, calmly. "Tell me your story, and remember, to me, as long as you desire it, you are only Mr. Williams, a stranger never seen before."

I nodded my gratitude, aad as clearly as was possible I told him our terrible story.

(To he continued daily.)

[PTBPIPrTKD RY SPECIAL AP. PvAXC Elf EXT.]