?‰mile, 1836-1873 / 2008-06-20 00:00:00

EBOOK WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE ***


Produced by Dagny; John Bickers


WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE
by Emile Gaboriau
PREPARER'S NOTE
This text was prepared from a 1913 edition, published by Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York.


FIRST PART--FIRE AT VALPINSON

These were the facts:--

I.
In the night from the 22nd to the 23rd of June, 1871, towards one
o'clock in the morning, the Paris suburb of Sauveterre, the principal
and most densely populated suburb of that pretty town, was startled by
the furious gallop of a horse on its ill-paved streets.
A number of peaceful citizens rushed to the windows.
The dark night allowed these only to see a peasant in his shirt sleeves,
and bareheaded, who belabored a large gray mare, on which he rode
bareback, with his heels and a huge stick.
This man, after having passed the suburbs, turned into National Street,
formerly Imperial Street, crossed New-Market Square, and stopped at last
before the fine house which stands at the corner of Castle Street.
This was the house of the mayor of Sauveterre, M. Seneschal, a former
lawyer, and now a member of the general council.
Having alighted, the peasant seized the bell-knob, and began to ring so
furiously, that, in a few moments, the whole house was in an uproar.
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