¥He Crime of” “'SF-I K tKc Boulevard | CHAPTER VI—Continued. "We photograph a spurious bank note. It is magnified, and by the ab sence of a tiny dot the proof of the al teration is found. On account of the lack of a dot the forger Is detected. The savant Helmholtz was the discov erer of this method of detecting these faults. Two bank notes, one authentic, ihe other a forgery, were placed side by side In a stereoscope of strong mag nifying power, when the faults were at once detected. Helmholtz's experiment probably seemed fantastic to the forger condemned by a stereoscope. Oh, well, today ought not a like experiment on the retina of a dead man’s eye give a like result ? “Instruments have been highly per fected since the time when Dr. Bourion made his experiments, and If the law of human psysiology has not changed the seekers of Invisible causes must have rapidly advanced In their mysterious pursuits. Who knows whether at the Instant of the last agony that the dying person does not put all the Intensity of life Into the retina, giving a hundred fold power to that lfist. supreme look?’’ At this point of his reflections Ber nardet experienced some hesitation. While he was not thoroughly acquaint ed with physiology and philosophy, he had seen so much, so many things; had known so many strange occurrences and had studied many men. He knew— toy he had closely questioned wretches who had been saved from drowning at the very last possible moment, some of whom had attempted suicide, others who had been almost drowned through accident, and each one had told him that his whole life, from his earliest recollection, had flashed through his mind in the instant of mortal agony yes, a whole lifetime in one instant of cerebral excitement. Had savants been able to solve this wonderful mystery? The resume of an existence In one vibration! Was It pos sible? Yet—Bernardet still used the word. Ana wny, in an analogous »cuk»iuu, could not the look of a dying man be seized In an Intensity lasting an In stant, ns memory brought In a single flash so many diverse remembrances? “I know, since It is the Imagination, and that the dead cannot see, while the Image on the retina is a fact, a fact contradicted by wiser men than I." Bernardet thought on these mysteries until his head began to ache. “I shall make myself ill over it," he thought. “And there Is something to be done.” Then In his dusty little room, his brain over excited, he became enthused with one idea. Hts surroundings fell away from him; he saw nothing— everything disappeared—the books, the papers, the walls, the visible objects, as did also the objections, the denials, the demonstrative impossibilities. And absolute conviction seized him to the exclusion of all extraneous surround ings. This conviction was absolute. Instinctive, Irresistible, powerful, filling him with entire faith. "This unknown thing X will find. What is to be done I will do," he de clared to himself. Ho threw the pamphlet on tbe table, arose from his chair and descended to the dining room, where hts wife and children were waiting for him. He rubbed his hand3 with glee, and his face looked Joyous. “Didst thou discover the trail?” Mine. Bernardet asked very simply as a working woman would ask her husband if he had had a good day. The eldest of the little girls rushed toward him. “Papa! My dear little papa!" “My darling!" The child asked her father in a sweet voice, “Art thou satisfied with thy crime, papa?” "We will not talk about that," Ber nardet replied. "To table. After dinner I will develop the pictures which I have taken with my kodak, but let us amuse ourselves now. It Is my fete day. I wish to forget all about busi ness. Let us dine now and be as happy a3 possible.” CHAPTER VII. The murder of M. Rovere, committed In broad daylight In a quarter of Paris filled with life and movement, caused a widespread sensation. There, was so much mystery mixed in the affair. What could be ascertained about the dead man's life was very dramatically written up by Paul Iiodier in a sketch, and this, republished everywhere and : enlarged upon, soon gave to the crime i of the Boulevard de Clichy the Interest of a Judicial romance. All that there was of vulgar curiosity in man awoke as atavistic bestiality at the smell ol blood. What was this M. Rovere. former consul to Buenos Ayres or Havana, amateur collector of objects of vertu, member of the Society of Bibliophiles, where he had not been seen for a long time? What enemy had entered his room for the purpose of cutting his throat. Might he not have been assas sinated by some, thief who knew that I his rooms contained a collection ol I works of art? The fete at Montmarte was often In full blast In front of the house where the murder was oommlt i ted. and among the crowd of ex-prison birds and malefactors who are always 1 attendant upon foreign kirmesses might not some one of them have re turned and committed the crime? Tht j papers took advantage of the occaslor to moralize upon permitting these fetes I to be held in the outlying boulevards I where vice and crime seemed to spring spontaneously from the soil. But no one, not one journal—perhaps by order—spoke of that unknown vis itor whom Monlche called the Individ ual and whom the portress had seer standing beside M. Rovere In front oi the open safe. Paul Rodler in hli sketch scarcely referred to the fact tha justice had a clew Important enougl to penetrate the mastery of the crlm< I and In the end arrest the murderer i and the readers while awaiting devel opments asked what mystery was hid den in this in aider. Monlche at tlmei wore a frightened yet important air He felt that he was an object of curl oslty to many, the center of prejudices The porter and hie wife possessed i terrible secret. They were raised li their own estimation. “We shall appear at the trial," sail Monlche, seeing himself already befor the red robes and holding up his ham to swear that he would tell the trull the whole truth and nothing but th truth. And as they sat together in their lit tie lodge they talked the matter ove i and over and brought up every inciden i i M. Rovere’s life which might have bearing on the case. “Do you remember the young ma i who came one day and insisted on see ing M. le Consul?” “Ah, very well indeed!" said Mo niche. “I had forgotten that one— felt hat, hi-- face bronzed and a dro 1 accent. H<~ had come from away o ; somewhere. He was probably a Span lard." “Some beggar likely, a peer dev whom the consul had known in Amer ica. In the colonies, one knows not where.” "A bad face!” said Monlche. "M. Rovere received him, however, and gave him aid, I remember. If the young man had come often, I should think that he struck the blow, and also, I ought to add, if there was not the other.” “Yes, but there Is the other,” his wife replied. “There Is the one whom I saw standing In front of the coupons and who was looking at those other papers with flashing eyes, I give my word. There Is that one, Moniche, and I am willing to put my hand into the fire and yours, too, Moniche, If It Is not he.” “If he Is the one, he will be found.” “Oh, but If he has disappeared? One disappears very quickly in these days.” “We shall see; we shall see. Justice reigns, and we are here.” He said that "we are here” as a grenadier of the guard before an Important engage ment. They had taken the body to the morgue. At the hour fixed for the autopsy Bernardet arrived. He seemed much excited and asked M. Ginory if since their conversation In M. Rovere’s library he had reflected and decided to permit him to make the experiment— the famous experiment reported for so many years as useless, absurd, almost ridiculous. “With any one but M. Ginory I should not dare to hope," thought the police officer, “but he does not sneer at strange discoveries.” He had brought his photographic ap paratus. that kodak which he declared was more .dangerous to the criminal than a loaded weapon. He had devel oped the negatives which he had taken, and of the three two had come out in good condition. The face of the mur dered man appeared with a clearness which in proofs rendered it formidable as In the reality, and the eyes, those tragic, living eyes, retained their ter rible, accusing expression which the su preme agony had left in them. The light had struck full on the eyes, and they spoke. Bernardet showed the proofs to M. Ginory. They examined them with a magnifying glass, but they showed only the emotion, the agony, the anger, of that last moment. Ber nardet hoped to convince M. Glndry that Bourlon’s experiment was not a failure. u nuts was ine nour named for the autopsy. Twenty minutes be fore Bernardet was at the morgue. He walked restlessly about outside among the spectators. Some were women, young girls, students and children who were hovering about the place hoping that some chance would permit them to satisfy their morbid curiosity and to enter and gaze on those slabs where on lay—swollen, livid, disfigured—the bodies. Never perhaps in his life had the po lice officer been so strongly moved with a desire to succeed. He brought to his tragic task all the ardor of an apostle. It was not the Idea of success, the renown or the possibility of ad vancement which urged him on. It was the Joy, the glory, of aiding prog ress, of attaching his name to a new discovery. He worked for art and the love of art. As he wandered about his sole thought was of his desire to test Dr. Bourion’s experiment, of the real ization of hts dream. “Ah, If M. Gtn ory will only permit!” he thought. As he formulated that hope in his mind he saw M. Glnory descend from the fiacre. He hurried up to him and saluted him respectfully. Seeing Ber nardet so moved and the first one on the spot, he could not repress a smile. "I see you are still enthused." "I have thought of nothing else all night, M. Glnory." "Well, but.” said M. Glnory in a tone which seemed to Bernardet to Imply hope, “no Idea must be rejected, and 1 do not see why we should not try the experiment. I have reflected upon It. Where is the unsuitableness?” "Ah, M. le Juge,” cried the agent, "If you permit It, who knows but we may revolutionize medical Jurispru dence ?” “Revolutionize! Revolutionize!" he cried. Would the examining magis trate yet find it an Idiotic Idea? M. Glnory passed around the bufld ing and entered at a small door open ing on the Seine. The registrar fol lowed him, and behind him came the police agent. Bernardet wished to wait until the doctors delegated to perform the autopsy should arrive, and the head keeper of the morgue advised him to possess himself with patience and while he was waiting to look around and see the latest cadavers which had been brought there. "We have had In eight days a larger number of women than men, which is rare, and these women were nearly all habitues of the public halls and race tracks.” nuu now can you ten mat : "Because they have pretty feet.” Professor Morin arrived with a con frere, a young Pasteurlan doctor, with a singular mind, broad and receptive, and who passed among his companions for a man fond of chimeras, a little re tiring, however, and given over to mak ing experiments and to vague dreams. M. Morin Haluted M. Ginory and pre sented to him the young doctor, Erwin by name, and said to the magistrate that the house students had probably begun the autopsy to gain time. Tile body, stripped of its clothing, lay upon the dissecting table, and three young men with velvet skull caps, with aprons tied about their wuists, were standing about the corpse. They had already begun the autopsy. The mortal wound looked redder than ever in the whiteness of the naked ; body. Bernardet glided into the room, trying to keep out of sight, listening 1 and looking, and above everything not losing sight of M. Ginory's face—a face in which the look was keen, penetrat ing, sharp as a knife, a3 he bent over i. the pale face of the murdered man, regarding It as searchingly as the sur ’ geons’ scalpels were searching the wound and the flesh. Among those men In their black clothes, some with , bared heads in order to work better, others with hats on, the stretched out 1 corpse seemed like a wax figure upon » a marble slab. Bernardet thought of 1 those images which he had seen copied , from Rembrandt’s pictures—the poet , with the anatomical pinchers and the shambles. The surgeons bent over the body, their hands busy and their scis r sors cutting the muscles. That wound, t which had let out Ills life, that large i wound, like a monstrous and grimacing mbttth, they enlarged still more. The l head oscillated from side to si