Having, ax he thought, made his ness safe by "regularizing the situation" as the French say, DIN. Lancel proceeded to attend to bu ness and provide his family with: every comfort, spending about Fra.
a year on his household Like many' another husband, drifted into a state of false security, and, us he rather naively expressed it, lio had no cause to suspect his wife, as she was always punctual at meals. His suspicions were at last aroused bya woman, who told him that his wit> frequently went to Marge's flat in the Rue de Chazelles, (The judge asked for the name of this woman, but the accused declined to give it, remarking that he did not want to" cause another drama).
took counsel with M, Blane, fan old friend, a private detective was engaged to watch Mme. Laneel, and, one day last January, the news earns that the guilty couple were together and that the moment was at hand to obtain undeniable proof of the wife's infidelity. M. Blane immediately mobilized three of his own employces—two women and a gitl—and, with these witnesses, M. Blane, and' the detective, the injured hu: band bore down on M. Marge's flat, where they found M. Marge and Mime. Lancel, the latter very lightly The Fatal Ending There were, of course, high words between M, Lamect and M, Marge, Move, Lancel having retired hurried: ly, and finally M. Lunest drew a revolver (which he said ko always carried with him) and shot his rival, inflicting a mortal wound. M. Lani maintained that M, Marge struck him and that he fired in self-defence without quite knowing what he w doing, so great was his excitement and exasperation; but, although there were so many witnesses, it was impossible to obtain any real con firmation of violence on the part of the victim. One of the women wit nesses, in the employ of M. Laneel's friend, M, Blane, began by saying that M. Marge undoubtedly struck Lancel, but when asked point= blank by counsel if she actually saw the blow, she had to answer in the negative.
Questions were put to the witnesses concerning a woman who was sean sitting ina cab near the flat in the Rue de Chazelles while drama was being acted, but everyone professed not to know' who she was or who supplied her with previous information as to the expected event. The only clue to her identity was supplied by the accused's counsel, who spoke of her as a jealous friend, of M. Marge, while counsel for Marge's parents called het a female Togo. There cannot be much doubt that it was she who poured suspicion into the ear of that very Parisian Othello, M, Lancel, Like many other successful wire-pullers, she preferred obscurity to the limelight.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.