The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet

The Mystery of the Boule
Cabinet

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Title: The Mystery Of The Boule Cabinet A Detective Story
Author: Burton Egbert Stevenson
Release Date: November 12, 2003 [EBook #10067] [Date last updated:
February 27, 2005]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE MYSTERY OF THE BOULE CABINET
A Detective Story
BY

BURTON E. STEVENSON
With Illustrations by THOMAS FOGARTY
1911
To
A.B.M. Fellow-Sherlockian

CONTENTS
I A CONNOISSEUR'S VAGARY II THE FIRST TRAGEDY III THE
WOUNDED HAND IV THE THUNDERBOLT V GRADY TAKES A
HAND VI THE WOMAN IN THE CASE VII ROGERS GETS A
SHOCK VIII PRECAUTIONS IX GUESSES AT THE RIDDLE X
PREPARATIONS XI THE BURNING EYES XII GODFREY IS
FRIGHTENED XIII A DISTINGUISHED CALLER XIV THE
VEILED LADY XV THE SECRET OF THE UNKNOWN
FRENCHMAN XVI PHILIP VANTINE'S CALLER XVII ENTER M.
ARMAND XVIII I PART WITH THE BOULE CABINET XIX "LA
MORT!" XX THE ESCAPE XXI GODFREY WEAVES A
ROMANCE XXII "CROCHARD, L'INVINCIBLE!" XXIII WE MEET
M. PIGOT XXIV THE SECRET OF THE CABINET XXV THE
MICHAELOVITCH DIAMONDS XXVI THE FATE OF M. PIGOT
XXVII THE LAST ACT OF THE DRAMA XXVIII CROCHARD
WRITES AN EPILOGUE

ILLUSTRATIONS
CLUTCHING AT HIS THROAT, HE HALF-TURNED AND FELL
"I GRABBED HER AGAIN, AND JUST THEN MR. VANTINE
OPENED THE DOOR AND CAME OUT INTO THE HALL."
"A MOMENT LATER M. FÉLIX ARMAND WAS SHOWN IN"
WITH HIS BACK TO THE DOOR, STOOD A MAN RIPPING
SAVAGELY AWAY THE STRIPS OF BURLAP

CHAPTER I
A CONNOISSEUR'S VAGARY
"Hello!" I said, as I took down the receiver of my desk 'phone, in
answer to the call.
"Mr. Vantine wishes to speak to you, sir," said the office-boy.
"All right," and I heard the snap of the connection.
"Is that you, Lester?" asked Philip Vantine's voice.
"Yes. So you're back again?"
"Got in yesterday. Can you come up to the house and lunch with me
to-day?"
"I'll be glad to," I said, and meant it, for I liked Philip Vantine.
"I'll look for you, then, about one-thirty."
And that is how it happened that, an hour later, I was walking over
toward Washington Square, just above which, on the Avenue, the old
Vantine mansion stood. It was almost the last survival of the old régime;
for the tide of business had long since overflowed from the
neighbouring streets into the Avenue and swept its fashionable folk far
uptown. Tall office and loft buildings had replaced the brownstone
houses; only here and there did some old family hold on, like a sullen
and desperate rear-guard defying the advancing enemy.
Philip Vantine was one of these. He had been born in the house where
he still lived, and declared that he would die there. He had no one but
himself to please in the matter, since he was unmarried and lived alone,
and he mitigated the increasing roar and dust of the neighbourhood by
long absences abroad. It was from one of these that he had just
returned.

I may as well complete this pencil-sketch. Vantine was about fifty
years of age, the possessor of a comfortable fortune, something of a
connoisseur in art matters, a collector of old furniture, a little
eccentric--though now that I have written the word, I find that I must
qualify it, for his only eccentricity was that he persisted, in spite of
many temptations, in remaining a bachelor. Marriageable women had
long since ceased to consider him; mothers with maturing daughters
dismissed him with a significant shake of the head. It was from them
that he got the reputation of being an eccentric. But his reasons for
remaining single in no way concerned his lawyers--a position which
our firm had held for many years, and the active work of which had
come gradually into my hands.
It was not very arduous work, consisting for the most part of the
drawing of leases, the collecting of rents, the reinvestment of funds,
and the adjustment of minor differences with tenants--all of which were
left to our discretion. But occasionally it was necessary to consult our
client on some matter of unusual importance, or to get his signature to
some paper, and, at such times, I always enjoyed the talk which
followed the completion of the business; for Vantine was a good talker,
with a knowledge of