An Artist In Crime

[Copyright, 1SÍ6, by Q. P. Putimm's Sons.] "Delighfeü torneetyou, Mr. Neuilly, I ain sure, " said Mr. Mitcbel, approaching and extending his harid so cordially that tlae eider' man took it, though he liad thought that he woukl rather handle hot coals than the hand of the man who he supposed was guilty of ■wronging the daughter of his old friend in the south. Mr. Mitchel did uot seem to notice his agitation, bnt, begging thera to be seated, he himself took a comfortable chair and continued, "Now, Mr. Barnes, I ara wonderiüg if it is possible that you have traced my wife's ruby as f ar away as New Orleans?" "I havenot been looking f or it. Isuppose you know why I wished to stop your marriage?" "Why, no; uot precisely. What was your reason?" "If you do not know it, why did you get married yesterday?" "I might reply that it is often don-, bat I will be houest and teil you that euch a procedure never occnrred toae till I heard that you were coming home. Then, you see, I thought that you might take the idea into your head - you do get odd notions, you must admit - that I ougbt not to get married just now. I knew youwell enongh to believe that if you did harbor a thought of that nature you would not hesitate to interfere. I did you no injustice there, for that ia justwhat jou tried to do, you see. Conseqnently,. as I had set mj heart on beicg married in the cat'bedral precisely at the time appointed, I just took the buil by the horns and persuaded my little girl to marry me yesterday. That is mj story in full, I assure you. Now, what was your object?" "You' know it very well, and all this yarning is pure bluster. You know well enough that Iwanted to use Miss Emily Bemsen as a witness against you, and that I could not do so after she became Mrs. Mitchel. " "Ohl Well, yes; I admit that idea was in my mind, Mr. Barnes. And now - what are you going to do about it?" "In the flrst place I shall arrest you for abducting the child who was in the care of Rose Montalbon. " Mr. Barnes expected some surprise froin his adversary, but he was disappointed. "Yes," said he, "and then?" "Theu I shall corupel you, through thé court, to reveal her present hiding place and to produce her. " "I think you might have trouble to do that were it not that I do not object to it. In fact, we will reverse your order af things and begin with the production af the child. Emily !" In answer to his salí his wife came into the room, bringlng with her a beautiful girl. Her husband arose, and takiag the little one by the haad coolly approached Mr. Neuilly and said : ' '.Rose, this is Mr. Neuilly He was a dear good friendtoyour moth er, and has come all the way from Ne- Orleans to see you. I think he would like to kiss yon, would you not, Mr Neuilly?" That gentleman seemed rnuch moved To him the visión of loveliness stand ing demurely before him brought bac the mernory of the long ago. She re mipded him of another little girl whos grówth into budding womanhood h had watched tenderly, having in hi youth loved her mother, the grandpar ent of the child before him. His suit had not been suecessful, and for love of that wornan he had remained a bachelor all his days. Now he could see changing expressions in tbis young face, which reminded hirn of both those women who had been dear to him. Without a word he drew her toward him, and kissed her once. ïhen he aróse, still holding her hand, and led her toward the door of the next room ; there he kissed her once more, this time on the forehead, and then bade her wait, shutting the door after she left him. Then, turning witb a fury in his heart and repressed passion in his voice, he exclaimed: "Mr. Mitchel, either you are the most contemptiblevillain on the face of this earth, or else there is som e hideous mistake here. Explain it, man 1 I must know at once!" "Must, Mr. Keuilly, is a word that I seldom obey. But I know how you have suffered, and have uo desire to prolong this interview a moment more than is absolutely necessary. First, however, I must understand the situation. What do you and Mr. Barnes here thinkit to be?" "I will explain briefly," said the detective, "provided your wife will witbdraw. " "My wife is now a part of myself, said Mr. Mitohel, prondly placing an arm around her as she stood beside him. "You need not hesitate to speak. She has promised to share my life with me, to take me as lam. She will begin tlJO TilSK Ut UliUC. uu uu. "So be it. I knp-w now tbafc Rose Mitchel, whowas murdered, was known iu New Orleans as Rose Moutalbon, and that she was your vife. I kave also discovered tbat you deceived a young creóle, the mother of that child who has juet left us; that when you deserted ■her she died broken hearted, while yon allowed the Moutalbou woman to take the girl and pass it ofE as her own ; though later she was kidnaped by yon The woman suspected that you would wish to rnarry again and swore to pre vent it. Her appearanoe tipon the scène just as yon were to become a husband mnst have been a rneiiaco to yon. Do you see the poiut? Mtirders have beei comruitted with less motive. I think therefore, that I have sufBcient evidence upoü which to arrest you." "You might arrest me upou lefS evi dence, " said Mr. Mitchel. "It i every day. But to oonvict me you woald havo u prove all this. " "How do you know that I cannot prove it?" "For the very simple reason tbatyour racts aro all wrong." "Very good. Mr.' Mitchel, but you wil! have to prove that. " "I am fnlly prepared to do so. To egin with, accordmg to your story, I abducted thischild. There you are only artly right. I did tak'e her away from ;he Montalbon, and I did it, as yon ruiglit say, by stealth and foree. But I ïad the fullest right to do so. " "You adrnit, then, that you aire her father?" "Ou the contrary, I deiiy it, and ;here is the weak point in your story. Your argument all depends upon my having been guilty of wrongiug that irl's mother and the Montalbon's havng me in her power. In point of fact, [ am not her father, and the Montalbon aad bnt a slim chance toblackmail me. " "But you admitted to me that you allowed her to doso; that you gave her a large amount in jewels. " "That is true, yet I did not subrait to blackmail. " "Mr. Mitchel. I seldom forget a man's words. Yon told me that day in the vaults that youwere inthewoman's ower i that she could. ventílate certain scandals which might break yon;1 engagement. Yet now you say you were not in her power and that you did not submit to blackmail. How can you explain such conflicting statements?" "Two conflicting statements may both be true, provided a lapse of time occurs between them. When I admitted that I liad been in the power of that woman, I thought so ; therefore I spoke the truth. When I say now that I was not, I 'also speak truly. Iu the interval I have learued to appreciate the character of the woman who is now my wife. That is all. I know now that the Montalbon's story, blazoned forth to the world, would not have afïected her faith in me. if I had tolil hei my qwö version. " "For heavens sake, gentlemen," interrupted Mr. JÑeuilly, "stop this argument and get down to the facts. I am impatient to know the truth. " "Yes, Roy," said Emily. "Why not simply teil the story as a uarrative, and let the whole truth be known?" "That is what I mean to do. I have only been enjoying a little sparring with Mr. Barnes. Bnt it is cruel to Mr. Neuilly, who, I hope, will pardon me. To begin at the beginning, I must go back to my youth in New Orleans. I was in love with a beautiful young girl. " Herehepressed his wife's hand, and she returned it, as though to say that she undeistood. "I think I need not mention the name of Rose's mother, Mr. Neuilly, uuless you have already done so." ' ' Heaveu forbid that I should have betra.r'1 che secret," said tho old man. "I did not suppose that you had, for I know you to be a trae man, tnougn i have rifver met you before. This statement may surprise you, but it is true. I ara not the man for whom you take me. He is now iu a lunatic asylum, while I am his cousin. I know it is supposed that I ara the crazyrnan, bnt that is an error, prornulgated by the Montalbon to serve her own ends. The faets then are thus: While a boy at school I loved ruy girl companion, little Rose's mother. Just before I left the south to enter Harvard, I told rny little sweetheart - she was then but 15 - that I would marry her upon my return. This was my first love and hers. I had a cousin, older than myself by ten years, handsome and wealthy, but a gambler and addicted to heavy drinking. This woman Montalbon, as you know, kept a gambling den, and naturally my unfortunate cousin was a constant visitor at the house. One night, while intoxicated with wine, she persuaded him to marry her, a clergyman being called in and a ceremony privately performed. Je became entirely sober only after sevral days had passed and then had tirely forgotteu about tüe marnage. The scheming levil, Moutalbon, did not remind hiin of it, but by patiënt work insidiously persuaded him that he should be a tnarried man. She eTen stiggested a bride, none other than my little sweetheart. Her object in this was twofold, ïnoney and revenge. By leading ruy cousin into a bigamons allianoe, with her own marriage certifícate as a weapon, she could readily extort money from him. Her reeuge was to be againstthe familyof my little sweetheart, against whoru she' thought she had a grievance. Her plotting was entirely successfnl. My consin was handsome, I was away, and ouce he had become thoronghly aoquainted with the young creóle 's charras he became so ardent a suitor that at length she listeued to his pleadiug andmawied him. Theu he was in the power of the Montalbon, and she bied him for five years, by which time little Rose had been bom. "Meanwhile I had completed my col lege career, but had not returned to New Orleans because of my deep poimnienc upon learuiug uiau my bwcciheart liad married another man. At this time I was in Paris, when one day I received a piteoijs letter from the girl ■wife, telling me that the blow had fait ou; that tho MontalboD had proóuced her marriage certifícate aud claimed her husband, thus dishonoring tho daughter of her enemy. The letter also begged my forgiveness for the wrong done to me. I read betweon the lines and recogqized Ü-crzcL a bikken hfar. the bleat ora laníb left tó die on the frezen plaiu. I hurried home with but one thoughtupperinost - to have revengeupon my consin. I arrived too late. Not only was the girl' dead, but my cousin had disappeared. "I heard that he had gone out west, and thither I foHowed biin. I would get track of him from time to time, but it Beemed fated always that he should have jnst left a place when I confidently expected to come up with him. Thus five years passed, aud at last I did meet him. I at once charged him with nis crime and asked f or revenge. He laughed at me and refused to fight. I then warned him that I should take his life at the first chance that offered, when I could do so either -ander seeming provocation or else where I could not be suspected. " "Are yon not admitting, " interrupted Mr. Barnes, "that you harbored a murderons spirit?" "Mr. Barnes, if all men were punisbed for their thoughts, the criminal class would be greatly enlarged. You cannot cali me to acconnt for anything except my acts. At last my chance carne. I followed him one dark night as hewent off prospecting in an entirely new direction; we were in a mining cotintry. He tramped most of the night, and I pursued. By dawn we were miles away from a habitation. I then made myself known to him and once more asked him to fight it out. He saw that I was ia earnest and that he was simply compelled to battle for his life. "Under these circumstances, of course, he fought as the worst coward would do wben driven to desperation. He decided to use pistols, thongh I wished to try our cause with knives. I confess that I wanted the satisfaction of stabbing him again and again. I wanted to see bis life's blood flow at each stroke. It seemed to me tame to stand off at a distance and send orie little leaden ball iu bis direction. Still I admitted his right of choice, and determined to aim as accurately as possible and to send my bullet straight. You see, I did not tbink of my own life. I had made this vengeance my one object, and af ter accomplisbmg that I thougbt there would be nothing more for me to do. Consequently I expected to kill him easily, and I did not care if his bullet found my heart or not. Perhaps I hoped it would. Just as we were standing up and preparing to fight, something occurred that almost completely unnerved me and changed the whole result. He loweredhis pistol and said : " 'Wait a moment; I have a favor to ask. I feel certain that you will kil me. You have been seeking my life so long that I am sure you will get it. I is fate. But I, too, have suffered in the last five vears. The favor that I ask is that if I die you will proraise to get my child out of that fiend's clutches. ' " 'Your child !' I gasped. 'I though it dirrl. ' " 'That was the Montalbou's lie. The little girl lived, and she took it. I hav made a will in favor of my child, leav ing her all my wealth ; you will find i in my coat. Oddly cnough, I namec you as executor. I knew that you hac loved the mother, though, as God is my judge, I did not know it when I mar ried her. But I am ready if you are. ' "Thus we stood up and fired at each otber. The startling uews just received made my airo bad, for instead of hitting him in the heart, as I could easily have done, my bullet struck him in the head. He feil, and I rushed toward him, to discover whether he was badly hurt. He was bleeding profusely, and I hastily bandaged uL the wound and so storjped the fl'ow of blood. I then went on to the next mining camp beyond. We returned with a litter, and took him back. There was a man among us who claimed that he had studied medicine, and he attended mycousin. He removed the bullet, and fonnd that the wonnd was not very deep, but the sknll was fractured. He was ill for two months, and then slowly recovered his health. Bnt his reason was entirely gone. I took him to New Orleans and placed him in an asylurn, and there he has been ever since. " "Very good, Mr. Mitchel," said Mr. Barnes. "But what proof have you that you are not the father and the luuatic the innocent cousin, as so many believe?' ' " Why, in the first place, though we had the same name, we are totally nnlike in feature. I think Mr. Neuilly will admit that he would not have recognized me, and he knew the gnilty man. However. we will take that up later. I have uo fear of not proving my identity. Too mauy people in New Orleans know ïue. To continue my tale, I determined to get possession of the child. I knew that the Moiitalbon would resist and that I would find it difflcult to prove my story. More than all, I knew That I could uot obtain legal possessiou of her without disclosing the secret of her birth, which I wished to avoid for her owu sake as well as for her mother's. Itherefore stoleher openly in the streets. Detectives were sent out to search for me, but perhaps Mr. Barnes wi.ll testify that I am not nmch afraid of detectives. Perhaps, too, he will uuderstand botter uow why I kuow sometliiug about detective ruethods. I led thera a dance for two years, until in disgust they abaudoned the search. Then I weut abroad, for I miist teil you that as long as I was houuded I re maiuèd close at hand. I enjoyed the es citemeut. It made me forget, or at least it gave me occupatiou. "I remained in Europe until my re cent return to Kew York. It was no' very loug after that when I received the letter from Montalbon and the photograph which I showed to yon. I recognized the pictui'e, though.of course I should uot have known the signature which was Rose Mitchel. I did not fear tho womaii, but I expected some eujoy ment at her discomfiture when I shoulc teil her to do her worst. I was uot pre pared for what occurred. Wkeu she me me, she begau by saying : "'I havo not the least idea of at tempting to blackmail you, though per haas I_could_do that. Bntlhaye that to ell which I thinfc you wonld De giaa o bny. ' I asked what it was, aud she ;old ine: " 'A certifícate of marriage between our cousin aiid the child's motber, a ertificate of marriage between hirn and myself, autedating that, aud another ertificate of marriage between myself nd another man who was alive at the ime that I inveigled your cousin into niarrying me.' " "Great heaven!" exclaimed Mr. ■euilly. "If she had those papers, they vonld prove that her marriage to your ousin was illegal, and that would make the marriage to Rose's rnotker jerfectly regular. " "Exactly so. I paid the woman $10,000, or the equivalent of that sum, for hose documents. Were they not worth t?" "Indeed, indeed they are. I would iave given twice the sum." "Now let rue show you the andacity of the wouian. She told me that in case . should refuse to pay her price she inended to claim me as her husband, exnibiting her certifícate and leaving me ;o prove if I could that she had married my cousin aud not myself. This, you see, would have been most unpleasant, and as the papers were well worth the )rice, in clearing the name of my cousin aud his wife and child, I paid over the money. " "I must again ask you," said Mr. 3arnes, "for proof that yoii are not the woman's husband." "Does not the f act that she sold me those papers indícate that?" "Not at all," replied the detective. 'Supposiug you to be really her husaancl, wishing to be married to Miss Reinsen, you would readily pay the woman her price for the paper which proved that your marriage to her had oeen fraudulent. Y ou ruight have f ound it difficult to prove the e'xistence of her Srst husbaiid without knowing his name, even though she had given you the hint that there was such a person. " "I declare, Mr. Barnes, you are a doubting Thomas. But I will give yon one more bit of evidence. " He went to his desk and returned with some papers. "Here is a confessiou which I exacted f rom thewomanat the time that I made the bargain with her. You see, it confirras my story. _ But even that you raight think inañufactured. Here perhaps is better proof. This," handing it to Mr. Neuilly, "is the certifícate of the marriage between my cousin and the Montalbon. As is sometimes done, you see, the woman has pasted the likenesses of herself aud my cousin upon the paper. Now, Mr. Neuilly, I ask you, is uot that the man who was known to you V ' "Yon are quite right, Mr. Mitchel. I reïognize the face perfectly. This is the niuu I have all along supposed to be a consummate villain. Now I must confess that ho was more sinned against than sinning. His oce crime was drinking, and the entanglement which wrecked hiswife's life and his otra was but a wicked plot of which he was innocent. I am glad that it is so, as it leaves the dear liltle girl without the dauger of hereditary taiut. " "Come, Mr. Bai-nes," said Mr. Mitchel. "What have you to say now?" Mr. Barnes' reply was calculated to startle his hearers, but seemed to have little effect. He said : "Mr. Mitchel, who do you think killed Rose Mitchel?" ' ' I don ' t thin k I am bound to answer, ' ' replied Mr. Mitchel quickly. "I wish you a good afternoon," said the detective dryly. " Will you go witu me, Mr. Neuilly?" Before the old gentleman could reply Mrs. Mitchel interposed : "Don 't go, Mr. Neuilly. You have een uothing of Rose yet, and besides we would like you to attend our reception touight. " "Ha, ha, Mr. Barnes! Is she not worthy of being my wife? She takes your witness awayfrorn you, for I thiuk you will stay, will vou not, Mr. Neuilly?" "It willbea joy todoso. Mr. Barnes, tmder the circurnstauces I know you will excuse me and forgive me, will you not?" "Certainly. You are right to stay. I will leave you all to your happiness. And I hope it will last. Good day. " With which he left them. ' ' Really it is too bad, ' ' said Mr. Mitcbel, "but these detectives are always so sanguine. Just think of it, Qneen, he thinks, or he thought perhaps would be more correct, that you were a murderer's wife. What do you say, eh?" For answer she kissed bim gently on the forehead, and then went out and brought back Rose. CHAPTER XVI. MR. BARNES DISCOVERS A VALUABLE CLEW. Immediately after the -wedding Mr. Mirchel aud bis bride started west, intending tospeud their boneymoon in the Yoseinite valley, having promised Mrs. Rernsen aud bora, buwever, to join them iu the White rnountainsbefore the end of the seasou. About the lst of July the Remseiis aud the Van Rawlstons went to Jefferson, N. H., a small town along the base of the Pliuy range of mouDtains. from whioh a ïiiagnifioeut view of the Presidential range, only ten miles' away, is tobo obtaiued. . About the middle of the rnonth Mr. Raudolph deterruined to visit the' sarue place and was inteusely disgusted on alighting from the stage, vvhich reaches the Wauiubeck hotel about 8 o'clock at night, to be greeted familiarly by Mr. Alphonse Thauret. It was evident that his rival did not intend to lose any chance to win the hand of Dora Remseu. If oue has auything of the artistic in his nature, he could scarcely fail to enjoy himself at Jefferson. The town is practioally a. single road, well up the side of tho mountain range. Thns the hotels all look out over a long and beautiful valley. From the piazza of the Wanmbeck, on a olear day, no less than 35 mountain peaks can be easily coTinted, tho Green mouBtains over in Vermont beiug visible as a distant liue of bine and not in the total. Of ccrarse the most conspicuotts and most admired peak is Mouut Washington. Onewho has not visíted the región might suppose that he would soon becoine sated -vvith the sight of the sanie monntains day af ter day. This is a great error. All the rnountains, and especially Mount Washington, are ever presenting new aspeots. All changes of atmosphere produce corresponding variations. The shadows of passiug clouds, the effects at stinrise or at sunget, the moonlight, the partly clondy weather when the top of the mountain is hidden, the mists and the rain, all offer such totally different coloring and picturesqoe effects that the artistic eye is never tired. Dora was an artist in every fiber of her being, as one would know who listened to her talking to Mr. Randolph half an hour after his arrival, as they sat together on the piazza. In his delight to be with her and to hear her, he would have forgotten the very existence of Mr. Thauret were it not that he sat near them in the rotunda at the end of the piazza, and so shared the entertainmenithat she offered. _ . (To bscontinued )