Wyllard's Weird: A NovelBraddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
General
Wyllard's Weird: A Novel
Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
Murder -- Fiction; Mystery and detective stories
It seemed to him that the man who met Léonie Lemarque at the station,
who was known to have conducted her to another station, had in a
measure condemned himself by his silence. If he had not been guiltily
concerned in the girl's death, he would assuredly have replied to the
advertisement. He would have been apprised by that advertisement that
some evil had befallen Léonie Lemarque, and he would have been prompt
to come forward and tell all he knew of the girl who had been sent to
him for aid, a friendless orphan, a stranger in a strange land.
It seemed clear to Heathcote that Georges, the murderer, was still
living, still in dread of the gallows; and that the girl who went to
meet the friend of the murderer had fallen into a trap. The papers she
carried were doubtless of a compromising character; the girl herself
was the sole witness of the crime, the only living being who could
recognise the murderer. Papers and witness had disappeared together.
Heathcote was fond of Paris. It was not irksome to him to stay there
even in the dead season. He had the theatres for his evening amusement;
he had two or three friends who had not fled to the mountain or the
sea, and in whose drawing-rooms he was welcome. He had the National
Library in the Rue Richelieu for his club; and he had the ever-varying
life of the Boulevard for his recreation. Time therefore did not hang
heavily on his hands; and he knew that while he watched and waited in
Paris, Joseph Distin would not be idle in London. Every clue, were it
the slightest, would be patiently followed by that expert investigator.
In his saunterings in the Rue de Rivoli and on the Boulevards Mr.
Heathcote had hunted assiduously for a photograph of Marie Prévol; but
so fleeting is the fame of beauty, which leaves nothing behind it save
a tender memory, that for some time he had failed utterly in his quest.
Her name was hardly remembered by the people who sold photographs. And
yet twelve or thirteen years ago the portrait of Marie Prévol was in
every shop-window. It had been sold by thousands, had adorned every
album in Paris and Brussels, and had been hung over many a bachelor's
mantelpiece, worshipped by half the beardless boys in France and
Belgium.
At last Heathcote lighted upon an elderly shopman, who was a little
more intelligent and had a much better memory than the men he had
encountered hitherto. The man perfectly remembered Marie Prévol and her
photographs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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