Unknown - "The Mabinogion"

H. Rider Haggard - "Marie"

Samuel Richardson - "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded"

Henry James - "The Reverberator"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: Madame Midas

F >> Fergus Hume >> Madame Midas




Vandeloup, seated in his shirt sleeves in the midst of a chaos of
articles of clothing, portmanteaux, and boxes, was, with the
experience of an accomplished traveller, rapidly putting these all
away in the most expeditious and neatest manner. He wanted to get
finished before ten o'clock, so that he could go down to his club
and show himself, in order to obviate any suspicion as to his going
away. He did not intend to send out any P.P.C. cards, as he was a
modest young man and wanted to slip unostentatiously out of the
country; besides, there was nothing like precaution, as the least
intimation of his approaching departure would certainly put Dr
Gollipeck on the alert and cause trouble. The gas was lighted, there
was a bright glare through all the room, and everything was in
confusion, with M. Vandeloup seated in the centre, like Marius amid
the ruins of Carthage. While thus engaged there came a ring at the
outer door, and shortly afterwards Gaston's landlady entered his
room with a card.

'A gentleman wants to see you, sir,' she said, holding out the card.

'I'm not at home,' replied Vandeloup, coolly, removing the cigarette
he was smoking from his mouth; 'I can't see anyone tonight.'

'He says you'd like to see him, sir,' answered the woman, standing
at the door.

'The deuce he does,' muttered Vandeloup, uneasily; 'I wonder what
this pertinacious gentleman's name is? and he glanced at the card,
whereon was written 'Dr Gollipeck'.

Vandeloup felt a chill running through him as he rose to his feet.
The battle was about to begin, and he knew he would need all his wit
and skill to get himself out safely. Dr Gollipeck had thrown down
the gauntlet, and he would have to pick it up. Well, it was best to
know the worst at once, so he told the landlady he would see
Gollipeck downstairs. He did not want him to come up there, as he
would see all the evidences of his intention to leave the country.

'I'll see him downstairs,' he said, sharply, to the landlady; 'ask
the gentleman to wait.'

The landlady, however, was pushed roughly to one side, and Dr
Gollipeck, rusty and dingy-looking as ever, entered the room.

'No need, my dear friend,' he said in his grating voice, blinking at
the young man through his spectacles, 'we can talk here.'

Vandeloup signed to the landlady to leave the room, which she did,
closing the door after her, and then, pulling himself together with
a great effort, he advanced smilingly on the doctor.

'Ah, my dear Monsieur,' he said, in his musical voice, holding out
both hands, 'how pleased I am to see you.'

Dr Gollipeck gurgled pleasantly in his throat at this and laughed,
that is, something apparently went wrong in his inside and a rasping
noise came out of his mouth.

'You clever young man,' he said, affectionately, to Gaston, as he
unwound a long crimson woollen scarf from his throat, and thereby
caused a button to fly off his waistcoat with the exertion. Dr
Gollipeck, however, being used to these little eccentricities of his
toilet, pinned the waistcoat together, and then, sitting down,
spread his red bandanna handkerchief over his knees, and stared
steadily at Vandeloup, who had put on a loose velvet smoking coat,
and, with a cigarette in his mouth, was leaning against the
mantelpiece. It was raining outside, and the pleasant patter of the
raindrops was quite audible in the stillness of the room, while
every now and then a gust of wind would make the windows rattle, and
shake the heavy green curtains. The two men eyed one another keenly,
for they both knew they had an unpleasant quarter of an hour before
them, and were like two clever fencers--both watching their
opportunity to begin the combat. Gollipeck, with his greasy coat,
all rucked up behind his neck, and his frayed shirt cuffs coming
down on his ungainly hands, sat sternly silent, so Vandeloup, after
contemplating him for a few moments, had to begin the battle.

'My room is untidy, is it not?' he said, nodding his head carelessly
at the chaos of furniture. 'I'm going away for a few days.'

'A few days; ha, ha!' observed Gollipeck, something again going
wrong with his inside. 'Your destination is--

'Sydney,' replied Gaston, promptly.

'And then?' queried the doctor.

Gaston shrugged his shoulders.

'Depends upon circumstances,' he answered, lazily.

'That's a mistake,' retorted Gollipeck, leaning forward; 'it depends
upon me.'

Vandeloup smiled.

'In that case, circumstances, as represented by you, will permit me
to choose my own destinations.'

'Depends entirely upon your being guided by circumstances, as
represented by me,' retorted the Doctor, grimly.

'Pshaw!' said the Frenchman, coolly, 'let us have done with
allegory, and come to common sense. What do you want?'

'I want Octave Braulard,' said Gollipeck, rising to his feet.

Vandeloup quite expected this, and was too clever to waste time in
denying his identity.

'He stands before you,' he answered, curtly, 'what then?'

'You acknowledge, then, that you are Octave Braulard, transported to
New Caledonia for the murder of Adele Blondet?' said the Doctor
tapping the table with one hand.

'To you--yes,' answered Vandeloup, crossing to the door and locking
it; 'to others--no.'

'Why do you lock the door?' asked Gollipeck, gruffly.

'I don't want my private affairs all over Melbourne,' retorted
Gaston, smoothly, returning to his position in front of the
fireplace; 'are you afraid?'

Something again went wrong with Dr Gollipeck's inside, and he grated
out a hard ironical laugh.

'Do I look afraid?' he asked, spreading out his hands.

Vandeloup stooped down to the portmanteau lying open at his feet,
and picked up a revolver, which he pointed straight at Gollipeck.

'You make an excellent target,' he observed, quickly, putting his
finger on the trigger.

Dr Gollipeck sat down, and arranged his handkerchief once more over
his knees.

'Very likely,' he answered, coolly, 'but a target you won't practise
on.'

'Why not?' asked Vandeloup, still keeping his finger on the trigger.

'Because the pistol-shot would alarm the house,' said Gollipeck,
serenely, 'and if I was found dead, you would be arrested for my
murder. If I was only wounded I could tell a few facts about M.
Octave Braulard that would have an unpleasant influence on the life
of M. Gaston Vandeloup.'

Vandeloup laid the pistol down on the mantelpiece with a laugh, lit
a cigarette, and, sitting down in a chair opposite Gollipeck, began
to talk.

'You are a brave man,' he said, coolly blowing a wreath of smoke, 'I
admire brave men.'

'You are a clever man,' retorted the doctor; 'I admire clever men.'

'Very good,' said Vandeloup, crossing one leg over the other. 'As we
now understand one another, I await your explanation of this visit.'

Dr Gollipeck, with admirable composure, placed his hands on his
knees, and acceded to the request of M. Vandeloup.

'I saw in the Ballarat and Melbourne newspapers,' he said, quietly,
'that Selina Sprotts, the servant of Mrs Villiers, was dead. The
papers said foul play was suspected, and according to the evidence
of Kitty Marchurst, whom, by the way, I remember very well, the
deceased had been poisoned. An examination was made of the body, but
no traces of poison were found. Knowing you were acquainted with
Madame Midas, and recognising this case as a peculiar one--seeing
that poison was asserted to have been given, and yet no appearances
could be found--I came down to Melbourne, saw the doctor who had
analysed the body, and heard what he had to say on the subject. The
symptoms were described as apoplexy, similar to those of a woman who
died in Paris called Adele Blondet, and whose case was reported in a
book by Messrs Prevol and Lebrun. Becoming suspicious, I assisted at
a chemical analysis of the body, and found that the woman Sprotts
had been poisoned by an extract of hemlock, the same poison used in
the case of Adele Blondet. The man who poisoned Adele Blondet was
sent to New Caledonia, escaped from there, and came to Australia,
and prepared this poison at Ballarat; and why I called here tonight
was to know the reason M. Octave Braulard, better known as Gaston
Vandeloup, poisoned Selina Sprotts in mistake for Madame Midas.'

If Doctor Gollipeck had thought to upset Vandeloup by this recital,
he was never more mistaken in his life, for that young gentleman
heard him coolly to the end, and taking the cigarette out of his
mouth, smiled quietly.

'In the first place,' he said, smoothly, 'I acknowledge the truth of
all your story except the latter part, and I must compliment you on
the admirable way you have guessed the identity of Braulard with
Vandeloup, as you have no proof to show that they are the same. But
with regard to the death of Mademoiselle Sprotts, she died as you
have said; but I, though the maker of the poison, did not administer
it.'

'Who did, then?' asked Gollipeck, who was quite prepared for this
denial.

Vandeloup smoothed his moustache, and looked at the doctor with a
keen glance.

'Kitty Marchurst,' he said, coolly.

The rain was beating wildly against the windows and someone in the
room below was playing the eternal waltz, 'One summer's night in
Munich', while Vandeloup, leaning back in his chair, stared at Dr
Gollipeck, who looked at him disbelievingly.

'It's not true,' he said, harshly; 'what reason had she to poison
the woman Sprotts?'

'None at all,' replied Vandeloup, blandly; 'but she had to poison
Mrs Villiers.'

'Go on,' said Gollipeck, gruffly; 'I've no doubt you will make up an
admirable story.'

'So kind of you to compliment me,' observed Vandeloup, lightly; 'but
in this instance I happen to tell the truth--Kitty Marchurst was my
mistress.'

'It was you that ruined her, then?' cried Gollipeck, pushing back
his chair.

Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders.

'If you put it that way--yes,' he answered, simply; 'but she fell
into my mouth like ripe fruit. Surely,' with a sneer, 'at your age
you don't believe in virtue?'

'Yes, I do,' retorted Gollipeck, fiercely.

'More fool you!' replied Gaston, with a libertine look on his
handsome face. 'Balzac never said a truer word than that "a woman's
virtue is man's greatest invention." Well, we won't discuss morality
now. She came with me to Melbourne and lived as my mistress; then
she wanted to marry me, and I refused. She had a bottle of the
poison which I had made, and threatened to take it and kill herself.
I prevented her, and then she left me, went on the stage, and
afterwards meeting Madame Midas, went to live with her, and we
renewed our acquaintance. On the night of this--well, murder, if you
like to call it so--we were at a ball together. Mademoiselle
Marchurst heard that I was going to marry Madame Midas. She asked me
if it was true. I did not deny it; and she said she would sooner
poison Mrs Villiers than see her married to me. She went home, and
not knowing the dead woman was in bed with Madame Midas, poisoned
the drink, and the consequences you know. As to this story of the
hand, bah! it is a stage play, that is all!'

Dr Gollipeck rose and walked to and fro in the little clear space
left among the disorder.

'What a devil you are!' he said, looking at Vandeloup admiringly.

'What, because I did not poison this woman?' he said, in a mocking
tone. 'Bah! you are less moral than I thought you were.'

The doctor did not take any notice of this sneer, but, putting his
hands in his pockets, faced round to the young man.

'I give my evidence to-morrow,' he said quietly, looking keenly at
the young man, 'and I prove conclusively the woman was poisoned. To
do this, I must refer to the case of Adele Blondet, and then that
implicates you.'

'Pardon me,' observed Vandeloup, coolly, removing some ash from his
velvet coat, 'it implicates Octave Braulard, who is at present,'
with a sharp look at Gollipeck, 'in New Caledonia.'

'If that is the case,' asked the doctor, gruffly, 'who are you?'

'I am the friend of Braulard,' said Vandeloup, in a measured tone.
'Myself, Braulard, and Prevol--one of the writers of the book you
refer to--were medical students together, and we all three
emphatically knew about this poison extracted from hemlock.'

He spoke so quietly that Gollipeck looked at him in a puzzled
manner, not understanding his meaning.

'You mean Braulard and Prevol were medical students?' he said,
doubtfully.

'Exactly,' assented M. Vandeloup, with an airy wave of his hand.
'Gaston Vandeloup is a fictitious third person I have called into
existence for my own safety--you understand. As Gaston Vandeloup, a
friend of Braulard, I knew all about this poison, and manufactured
it in Ballarat for a mere experiment, and as Gaston Vandeloup I give
evidence against the woman who was my mistress on the ground of
poisoning Selina Sprotts with hemlock.'

'You are not shielding yourself behind this girl?' asked the doctor,
coming close to him.

'How could I?' replied Vandeloup, slipping his hand into his pocket.
'I could not have gone down to St Kilda, climbed over a wall with
glass bottles on top, and committed the crime, as Kitty Marchurst
says it was done. If I had done this there would be some trace--no,
I assure you Mademoiselle Marchurst, and none other, is the guilty
woman. She was in the room--Madame Midas asleep in bed. What was
easier for her than to pour the poison into the glass, which stood
ready to receive it? Mind you, I don't say she did it deliberately--
impulse--hallucination--madness--what you like--but she did it.'

'By God!' cried Gollipeck, warmly, 'you'd argue a rope round the
girl's neck even before she has had a trial. I believe you did it
yourself.'

'If I did,' retorted Vandeloup, coolly, 'when I am in the witness-
box I run the risk of being found out. Be it so. I take my chance of
that; but I ask you to keep silent as to Gaston Vandeloup being
Octave Braulard.'

'Why should I?' said the doctor, harshly.

'For many admirable reasons,' replied Vandeloup, smoothly. 'In the
first place, as Braulard's friend, I can prove the case against
Mademoiselle Marchurst quite as well as if I appeared as Braulard
himself. In the next place, you have no evidence to prove I am
identical with the murderer of Adele Blondet; and, lastly, suppose
you did prove it, what satisfaction would it be to you to send me
back to a French prison? I have suffered enough for my crime, and
now I am rich and respectable, why should you drag me back to the
depths again? Read "Les Miserables" of our great Hugo before you
answer, my friend.'

'Read the book long ago,' retorted Gollipeck, gruffly, more moved by
the argument than he cared to show; 'I will keep silent about this
if you leave the colony at once.'

'I agree,' said Vandeloup, pointing to the floor; 'you see I had
already decided to travel before you entered. Any other
stipulation?'

'None,' retorted the doctor, putting on his scarf again; 'with
Octave Braulard I have nothing to do: I want to find out who killed
Selina Sprotts, and if you did, I won't spare you.'

'First, catch your hare,' replied Vandeloup, smoothly, going to the
door and unlocking it; 'I am ready to stand the test of a trial, and
surely that ought to content you. As it is, I'll stay in Melbourne
long enough to give you the satisfaction of hanging this woman for
the murder, and then I will go to America.'

Dr Gollipeck was disgusted at the smooth brutality of this man, and
moved hastily to the door.

'Will you not have a glass of wine?' asked Vandeloup, stopping him.

'Wine with you?' said the doctor, harshly, looking him up and down;
'no, it would choke me,' and he hurried away.

'I wish it would,' observed M. Vandeloup, pleasantly, as he
reentered the room, 'whew! this devil of a doctor--what a dangerous
fool, but I have got the better of him, and at all events,' he said,
lighting another cigarette, 'I have saved Vandeloup from suffering
for the crime of Braulard.'




CHAPTER XIV

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE


There was no doubt the Sprotts' poisoning case was the sensation of
the day in Melbourne. The papers were full of it, and some even went
so far as to give a plan of the house, with dotted lines thereon, to
show how the crime was committed. All this was extremely amusing,
for, as a matter of fact, the evidence as yet had not shown any
reasonable ground for supposing foul play had taken place. One
paper, indeed, said that far too much was assumed in the case, and
that the report of the Government analyst should be waited for
before such emphatic opinions were given by the press regarding the
mode of death. But it was no use trying to reason with the public,
they had got it into their sage heads that a crime had been
committed, and demanded evidence; so as the press had no real
evidence to give, they made it up, and the public, in private
conversations, amplified the evidence until they constructed a
complete criminal case.

'Pshaw!' said Rolleston, when he read these sensational reports, 'in
spite of the quidnuncs the mountain will only produce a mouse after
all.'

But he was wrong, for now rumours were started that the Government
analyst and Dr Gollipeck had found poison in the stomach, and that,
moreover, the real criminal would be soon discovered. Public opinion
was much divided as to who the criminal was--some, having heard the
story of Madame's marriage, said it was her husband; others insisted
Kitty Marchurst was the culprit, and was trying to shield herself
behind this wild story of the hand coming from behind the curtains;
while others were in favour of suicide. At all events, on the
morning when the inquest was resumed, and the evidence was to be
given of the analysis of the stomach, the Court was crowded, and a
dead silence pervaded the place when the Government analyst stood up
to give his evidence. Madame Midas was present, with Kitty seated
beside her, the latter looking pale and ill; and Kilsip, with a
gratified smile on his face which seemed as though he had got a clue
to the whole mystery, was seated next to Calton. Vandeloup,
faultlessly dressed, and as cool and calm as possible, was also in
Court; and Dr Gollipeck, as he awaited his turn to give evidence,
could not help admiring the marvellous nerve and courage of the
young man.

The Government analyst being called, was sworn in the usual way, and
deposed that the stomach of the deceased had been sent to him to be
analysed. He had used the usual tests, and found the presence of the
alkaloid of hemlock, known under the name of conia. In his opinion
the death of the deceased was caused by the administration of an
extract of hemlock. (Sensation in the Court.)

Q. Then in your opinion the deceased has been poisoned?

A. Yes, I have not the least doubt on the subject, I detected the
conia very soon after the tests were applied.

There was great excitement when this evidence was concluded, as it
gave quite a new interest to the case. The question as to the cause
of death was now set at rest--the deceased had been murdered, so the
burning anxiety of every one was to know who had committed the
crime. All sorts of opinions were given, but the murmur of voices
ceased when Dr Gollipeck stood up to give his evidence.

He deposed that he was a medical practitioner, practising at
Ballarat; he had seen the report of the case in the papers, and had
come down to Melbourne as he thought he could throw a certain light
on the affair--for instance, where the poison was procured.
(Sensation.) About three years ago a crime had been committed in
Paris, which caused a great sensation at the time. The case being a
peculiar one, was reported in a medical work, by Messieurs Prevol
and Lebrun, which he had obtained from France some two years back.
The facts of the case were shortly these: An actress called Adele
Blondet died from the effects of poison, administered to her by
Octave Braulard, who was her lover; the deceased had also another
lover, called Kestrike, who was supposed to be implicated in the
crime, but he had escaped; the woman in this case had been poisoned
by an extract of hemlock, the same poison used as in the case of
Selina Sprotts, and it was the similarity of the symptoms that made
him suspicious of the sudden death. Braulard was sent out to New
Caledonia for the murder. While in Paris he had been a medical
student with two other gentlemen, one of whom was Monsieur Prevol,
who had reported the case, and the other was at present in Court,
and was called M. Gaston Vandeloup. (Sensation in Court, everyone's
eye being fixed on Vandeloup, who was calm and unmoved.) M.
Vandeloup had manufactured the poison used in this case, but with
regard to how it was administered to the deceased, he would leave
that evidence to M. Vandeloup himself.

When Gollipeck left the witness-box there was a dead silence, as
everyone was too much excited at his strange story to make any
comment thereon. Madame Midas looked with some astonishment on
Vandeloup as his name was called out, and he moved gracefully to the
witness-box, while Kitty's face grew paler even than it was before.
She did not know what Vandeloup was going to say, but a great dread
seized her, and with dry lips and clenched hands she sat staring at
him as if paralysed. Kilsip stole a look at her and then rubbed his
hands together, while Calton sat absolutely still, scribbling
figures on his notepaper.

M. Gaston Vandeloup, being sworn, deposed: He was a native of
France, of Flemish descent, as could be seen from his name; he had
known Braulard intimately; he also knew Prevol; he had been eighteen
months in Australia, and for some time had been clerk to Mrs
Villiers at Ballarat; he was fond of chemistry--yes; and had made
several experiments with poisons while up at Ballarat with Dr
Gollipeck, who was a great toxicologist; he had seen the hemlock in
the garden of an hotel-keeper at Ballarat, called Twexby, and had
made an extract therefrom; he only did it by way of experiment, and
had put the bottle containing the poison in his desk, forgetting all
about it; the next time he saw that bottle was in the possession of
Miss Kitty Marchurst (sensation in Court); she had threatened to
poison herself; he again saw the bottle in her possession on the
night of the murder; this was at the house of M. Meddlechip. A
report had been circulated that he (the witness) was going to marry
Mrs Villiers, and Miss Marchurst asked him if it was true; he had
denied it, and Miss Marchurst had said that sooner than he (the
witness) should marry Mrs Villiers she would poison her; the next
morning he heard that Selina Sprotts was dead.

Kitty Marchurst heard all this evidence in dumb horror. She now knew
that after ruining her life this man wanted her to die a felon's
death. She arose to her feet and stretched out her hands in protest
against him, but before she could speak a word the place seemed to
whirl round her, and she fell down in a dead faint. This event
caused great excitement in court, and many began to assert
positively that she must be guilty, else why did she faint. Kitty
was taken out of Court, and the examination was proceeded with,
while Madame Midas sat pale and horror-struck at the revelations
which were now being made.

The Coroner now proceeded to cross-examine Vandeloup.

Q. You say you put the bottle containing this poison into your desk;
how did Miss Marchurst obtain it?

A. Because she lived with me for some time, and had access to my
private papers.

Q. Was she your wife?

A. No, my mistress (sensation in Court).

Q. Why did she leave you?

A. We had a difference of opinion about the question of marriage, so
she left me.

Q. She wanted you to make reparation; in other words, to marry her?

A. Yes.

Q. And you refused?

A. Yes.

Q. It was on this occasion she produced the poison first?

A. Yes. She told me she had taken it from my desk, and would poison
herself if I did not marry her; she changed her mind, however, and
went away.

Q. Did you know what became of her?

A. Yes; I heard she went on the stage with M. Wopples.

Q. Did she take the poison with her?

A. Yes.

Q. How do you know she took the poison with her?

A. Because next time I saw her it was still in her possession.

Q. That was at Mr Meddlechip's ball?

A. Yes.

Q. On the night of the commission of the crime?

A. Yes.

Q. What made her take it to the ball?

A. Rather a difficult question to answer. She heard rumours that I
was to marry Mrs Villiers, and even though I denied it declined to
believe me; she then produced the poison, and said she would take
it.

Q. Where did this conversation take place?

A. In the conservatory.

Q. What did you do when she threatened to take the poison?

A. I tried to take it from her.

Q. Did you succeed?

A. No; she threw it out of the door.

Q. Then when she left Mr Meddlechip's house to come home she had no
poison with her?

A. I don't think so.

Q. Did she pick the bottle up again after she threw it out?

A. No, because I went back to the ball-room with her; then I came
out myself to look for the bottle, but it was gone.

Q. You have never seen it since.