第76章

"To all the many questions he then asked me I returned only incoherent replies, but I was careful to be again raving about buried riches upon the next visit.In this way I kept him by me long enough to influence him, and in less than a month he was completely subject to my will.I tested my power over him in divers ways.Any delicacy I wished I compelled him to bring me.In this way I was enabled to regain a portion of my lost strength.When I concluded the time had come for me to make good my escape, I caused him to come to my cell at midnight and remove the bricks from the slit while I put on the disguise he had brought me.Once out of my stone tomb we carefully walled it up again and then departed to find my imaginary hidden treasure.We made our way without trouble to Algiers, for my companion had money, and sailed thence via Gibraltar for England.During the trip my companion jumped overboard and was drowned in the Bay of Biscay.Thus I was completely freed from Ceuta and its terrible pest-hole.

"From England I sailed to New York, reaching America penniless and in ill health.Things not going to my liking in New York, I came to Boston and took up my old callings of gambler and detective.It was at this time that I saw John Darrow's curious notice in the newspaper, offering, in the event of his murder, a most liberal reward to anyone who would bring the assassin to justice.

"Mon Dieu! How I needed money.I would have bartered my soul for a tithe of that amount.It was the old, old story, only new in Eden.Ah! but how I loved her! She must have money, money, always money! That was ever her cry.When I could not supply it she sought it of others, and this drove me mad.If, I said to myself, I could only get this reward! This was something really worth working for, and if I could but get it, she should be mine only.I at once set to work upon the problem.

"It was not an easy thing to solve.I might be able to hire a man to do the deed for me, but he would hardly be willing to hang for it without disclosing my part in the transaction.It was at this time that I first met M.Latour on Decatur Street.He at once impressed me as being just the manI wanted, and I began to gradually subdue his will.In this circumstances greatly aided me.When I found him he was in very poor health and without any means of sustenance.His daughter was able to earn a little, but not nearly enough to keep the wolf from the door.Add to this that he had a cancer, which several physicians had assured him would prove fatal within a year, that he was afflicted with an almost insane fear that his daughter would come to want after his death, and you have before you the conditions which determined my course.My first thought was to influence him to do the deed himself, but, recalling the researches of M.Charcot in these matters, I came to the conclusion that such a course would be almost certain to lead to detection, since a hypnotic subject can only be depended upon so long as the conditions under which he acts are precisely those which have been suggested to him.Any unforeseen variations in these conditions and he fails to act, exposes everything, and the whole carefully planned structure falls to the ground.When, therefore, the time came which I had set for the deed, I found it possible to drug M.Latour, abduct him from his home, and to keep him confined and unconscious until I had killed Mr.Darrow in a manner I will describe in due course.As soon as I had committed the murder and established what I fondly believed would be a perfect alibi in my attendance at the examination, I secretly conveyed the still unconscious M.Latour to his rooms and awaited his return to consciousness.I then asked him how he came in such a state and what he was doing in Dorchester.He was, of course, ignorant of everything.Little by little I worked upon him till he came to believe himself guilty of John Darrow's murder.

"I had availed myself of his interest in the subject of cancer to get him to the library.It is one of my maxims never to take an avoidable risk, for which reason I made Latour apply for the books I wanted, as well as for the medical works he desired to peruse.As he was ambidextrous, I suggested the use of the two names Weltz and Rizzi, the former to be written with his right and the latter with his left hand.I was actuated in all this by two motives.First, I was manufacturing evidence which might stand me in good stead later, as well as minimising somewhat my own risk in getting the information I needed; and, secondly, I was getting Latourinto a good atmosphere for my hypnotic influence.Not a word of all these matters did he relate to his daughter, whom he loves with a devotion I have never seen equalled.Indeed, it was this very affection that made my plan feasible.When I had convinced him he was a murderer I showed him Mr.Darrow's curious advertisement offering a reward, should he be assassinated, to anyone bringing about the conviction of his assailant.