The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-05-17
A FAIR NIHILIST.

trip to France, soon after the Franco Prust
sian war, he had met at a reception thu
superb daughter of General de ContreL
mont, whom the Partisan world already
knew under the name of "la belle Made
leine." Michael was hard hit, in spite OK
his 40 years and his confirmed bachelor
hood.
Mother" Madeleine remarked ono
evening to tho widow of the hero Of GRAY
elotte, would you be satisfied to sec me d
princessP
mot quite for you are beautiful enough
tn be queen
In fact, do not recall ever having met
In any assemblage SO perfect tpye of hui
man beauty. l can see her still as she ap
peared one evening at the opera some
weeks after her marriage. There were In
tho orchestra, Ishould judge, SO spectators
who were or had been moro or less in love
with her. Ii was probably the most mem
orable night of Madeleine's younger years.
She felt that she sated her vengeance then
on sex that inspired her only with ha-
tired, for among these men who would
have beggared themselves now to be loved
by her forE, single hour there was not one
who had lot, before that, found her too
poor to lIftfSe her the companion Of his life.
That evening an American widow, many
times millionaire, but nevertheless q
very pretty woman, made the following
ayowal as she sat in her box:
Il do not hope to look like the Princess
Michael, for that would be to ask toe
much But to have simply her teeth i
would give my hotel in the Champs Ely
secs and everything in it, even to my jew
els. With such teeth as hers woman
mo- IN IL, ,
according to the circumstances, and the
world Is at her feet.
sThat is to say, at the feet of her teeth"
said a diplomat. but am afraid the
princess is not destined either to smile on
to yawn. His excollency, her husband,
looks neither amusing nor agreeable. La
belle Madeleine will live to regret Paris
more than once"
In truth, the prince was not agreeable,
even on his marriage day. But few
years later he was even less so, as the
princess could testify. To his wife's CO.
quotry he owed it that he had become jeal-
GUS as tiger, and to the favor of the czaI
that he had been made minister Of police
1t Is scarcely tonable that these two facts
combined are calculated to make q man
Rmiable.
However, he had found means to make
HIS luuCliOlS StlDScrNe prlVut9
jealousy. He had selected from his best
men in the secret service the coachman who
drove his wife's carriage and the concierge
who kept the door of his hotel. And in adl
dition he had the cabinet noir."
AT first tho unhappy minister of police
read dozens of declarations of love, adj
dressed to his wife in every key and every
measure. Then the number of these mis-
siyes fell off, not that the princess had bel
come less beautiful, but that the admirers
became moro wary. Those who had con-
flded their avowals to tho postal and tele+
graphic services of his imperial majesty
had not failed to notice that i'll luck sud
denly fastened itself upon them in tho
most diverse and unexpected forms. tIb
must be, !" said one of these victims, "thab
the princess has the evil eye, or that her
husbands eyes are too good"
The replies, of course, as well as the first
letters, passed through the "cabinet noir
also, and his excellency had abundant op+
portunity to convince himself that he was
the husband of a most outrageous flirt
but nothing more, from which he derived
o comparative satisfaction. 1t is consolins
when one hears a cry of ''Firel" in the
house to know that the con1agration ID
confined to an ill swept chimney. As tb
sweeping the chimney himself, the poor
prince had scarcely the time, for the life OK
the czar was as much assailCd by nihilistb
as the affections of his wife by signing
swans.
Therefore his unbounded surprise may
be imagined when he read the following
note, written in a too familiar hand, though
signed only with an initial;
II seems that the emperor starts for yarsovih
earlier than had been expected. Hold yourself
| in readiness to travel at the hrst call, for whp
| knows when we shall have such another
chance2 l have not kept you in ignorance Of
| the difficulties of tho enterprise. Be read II,
then, to succeed at the first attempt and with
out any preliminary trials. You will present
| yourself at my house friend of my family
travelling In Russia for pleasure. See my moth
er before you leave. She will give give yol
some sort of a commission or message for ms.
and 1t will serve to introduce you in case Of
need.
The poor princes reason nearly left him
by the time he had read this terrible note.
| So this conspiracy that he fought night
and day with Steel prison and exiie-this
monstrous, pitiless war of whole army
of monsters against a single man-corI
frontcd him even at his own firesidel IT
was his own wife-his beautiful Made
lelne-who said to the assassin, THE hour
is come; be readyln
What was the good of keeping up the
tighti What fatality ranged even foreign
ers against his unfortunate sovemigni
This woman had eyerything-youth beau
| ty, luxury, admiration-yet she was a nj
hilistl What could possess herP What
bitterness was 1t that drove her thus tb
crime, at the risk of the dungeon and pal
let of straw that wonld bruise her tender
flesh, of the gallows rope that would crush
her ivory throat, of the Siberian SHOWS
that would turn to Ice her snowy littlb
feet9
Alas" thought the unhappy man, ~
have utterly failed to make her happy
have been too jealous She hates me, and
her hate has devised this refinement o
cruelty"
| However, what was he to dof Eli
thought OF killing his wife and himself
afterward, leaving the public to imagii1.
for itself some story of love surprised fol
tho loyal subject preferred that form o
dishonor to the other. Then he wanted tt
throw himself on his knees before tho enl
pcror and tell him all, after which u,
would disappear forever with the gully
woman.
The sentiment of duty brought him tt
| himself He held tho olew to plot. II,
must discover its furthest qualifications
anu to that end he must let the letter At
its course. OF his own accord the ASSASSIN
would deliver himself into the hands o
Justice. Already the minister possessct
tho mans c-Nicholson-some Eng
lishman or American, perhaps an expetf
In dynamite machines or simply Russian
student who had taken false name.
The letter went on its way, and thu
evening the prince and princess were d,
the opera in their box-he pale, trembling
as if with fever, grown Is years older IL
i annnnranca. sha IN ore snductira and IalnI.