Zizi, the Little Detective
by Frances T. Richardson
CHAPTER I.
Hardly had the Paris world, or more particularly the world in the neighborhood of Montrouge, ceased talking of the frightful murder that had been committed in that quarter on July 28, when another, more frightful if possible, took place in the Quartier Montmartre.
In the first instance an old man had been murdered in his bed, his valet left for dead in an adjoining room, and the apartment searched so thoroughly that a considerable sum of money which the old man had, as he thought, successfully hidden, was found, and the murderer decamped without leaving the slightest clue whereby to trace him.
The search for this villain had not ceased when, on the night of August 13, Mme. Viardot, a widow and a wealthy householder, was killed in her dressing-room. She had evidently been sleeping on a couch in that room on account of the extreme heat of the weather, and the sum of fifty thousand francs, which she had that day withdrawn from the bank for the purpose of making a payment upon some property she had recently bought, was abstracted from the secretary in her bedroom. There were indications that the poor woman had struggled with the assassin; but not a sound had been heard by her maid, whose room was [nearby], nor was it possible to surmise how the murderer had entered or left the house.
Mme. Viardot had attended to some rather tiresome business during the day, and had retired early, while her maid after performing her usual duties had followed her mistress’s example.
She had slept so soundly as not to have heard the slightest sound, and in the morning, after waiting to hear Madame’s bell, had knocked at her door to remind her that she had intended to go to early mass, as it was the anniversary of her husband’s death. She had received no reply, and, after knocking once or… Read More