Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-02-09
70 being found, let us have suppes.
am diving Of hunger"

woman ate with hearty appetite. She
was more beautiful and gayer than
ever. fairly sparkling with wit and the
life of the party.
To tell the truth. I had no appetite.
The Princess even had the audacity to
rally me about It.
"Come, NJ. de Clomat," she called
out-I was at the farther end Of the
table" you are solemn rs an owl to.
night Have you left your wits ut the
lake with my muffT'
My wits. They certainly deserted
me. How could I have failed to think
Of the one thing to do? Fortunately.
the Princess ingenious phrase had put
me In mind of 1t.
"The fact is. madame" replied, II
am not very well. feel quite chilly
In truth, I had not a dry stitch on me
"and I am afraid was imprudent In
not going home directly. With your
permission, and that Of these ladies, I
shall do 80 Mt once"
Two minutes later was in cab on
my way to the lake in the Bots. Heav.
ems! how far II is from the Cafe Anglais
to the Skating Club. Mt 9 o'clock In the
morning. with the thermometer 20 de.
grees below freezing point, when one
Is In cab, and his head full of awful
ideas!
Evidently" said I to myself, "thc
husband suspects something. TO-mor.
row, that Othello will move heaven and
earth to find his wife's muff--and my
note. And n fool note It IL, now that
think 1t over in cold blood. But one
needn't write like voltairc to get
woman into horrible hole. must
find that mum. The Princess gayety
was only feigned--1 could see that IN
the look she gave me Just now. Not
only my life depends on II, but hers,
too. oh, the devil fly away with love"
At the lake the last torches were be.
Ing extlnguishcd. The glittering arena
was almost empty. At the buffet, in the
dressing room, on the Ice. every where,
my search was useless. I had offered
100 frans reward for the mum, but In
vain. Many things had been lost that
night; handkerchiefs. gloves, jewels
and even-pardon my fidelity to detail
three or four clrclets Of silk elastic If
various hues. That was all. There
was no more sign Of mum than there
was Of the Venus dc Milo, who had no
need Of nun, and for IN excellent
reason.
Perhaps It had been stolen. Perhaps
whoever had found It intended to dc.
pOsit It with the police next morning.
Perhaps It had already been left with
some officer Of the police. In any event,
I must be before the Prince. without
losing another minute, I jumped into
my cab again. The driver, half dead
with the cold and more thnn half drunk
with the brandy he had taken to warm
himself up, stared at me with Devil.
dered mir when ordered him to drive
me to the nearest police station. There,
after having aroused the unhappy man
In charge. I charged him to deliver tho
famous mum only to mo II It should be
brought to him, promising him good.
~ sum II he returned It to me. At three
other stations did tho samc. II I had
had time, would have visited oil tho
twenty-four stations In tho city.
minded neither fatigue nor cold.
must save woman-an adored WON.
an, but not too clever. Tho idea Of for.
getting her nun In such weather! She
would have forgotten her umbrella on
Mount Ararat In tho delugc!
One last precaution. and tho most o..
scntial, remained to be taken. abso-
lutcly must 80 to the prefecture of pO.
lice. The first difficulty was that the
Siberian cold-it was now In the
morning-had been too much for my
driver. The unhappy man was dead
drunk on his seat. had to climb up
beside him, gather up the reins, and
drive his old nag with one hand, with
tho other passed around my Jeliu, who
was snoring away like steam engine
emitting fumes that feared would In
toxicate me myself, by simple odo,
alone.
At the prefecture had a relative. an
uncle whom I never went to see, be-
cause he always read me lectures. The
good man certainly did not suspect that
he was going to receive his nephew
that night. His functions being sucl
that no might be called on at any hour
he lived In the same building. ! hat
no scruples In having him aroused. so
after having set my driver near thu
stove to thaw, I irrupted into my
unclc's apartment In such dishevelet
state that the old man-who reall!
loved me-seized me In his arms.
my God, bOy!' he cried. "What ter
rible business Ia this!"
"There has been no murder done yet
my dear uncle" stammered, for wa
so cold my tongue refused to do IT
work. II have come to beg your al,
to prevent the killing Of two persons
In ut least one Of them you IRE strongl!
Interested"
Thereup0n. my teeth chattering lik
tho clatter Of mill, told him tn
story Of the note and the mum.
My uncle began by giving me TWEEN
ty-minute lecture, which, however, ha'
the virtue Of giving me time to &c
warm again.
"And as for your discreetness," h
concluded, "this Is no time for sue
/ foolishness. You must tell me the hus
, bands name. In order to prevent hi
finding what he Is loking for, and als
what he Is not looking for"
D l had to give In. Besides, my uncl
. is the most discreet of men, and, to te