The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1895-12-12

myself.
AS last resort the daughters anpeal.
ed to the countess, offering all their
ready cash and a pension If she would
| only disappear. But visions Of the
Van Tromp diamonds and Of the Van
Tromp bank account were in her head,
and she was deaf to every appeal In
fact, she depised these heavy, matter Of
fact Dutch ladies and rather gloried to
think that she would soon be the female
had Of the Van Tromp house and step
mother to these two highly respectable
DANES, who would perforce have to live
In her shadow. But then of course the
countess was woman, and it is to be
feared that even good women love to
triumph over others She Of course
could have no love for this portly old
| gentleman Of 70. But it is pitiful to
think he was madly infatuated. The
poor old man, in spite Of his unroman.
tic appearance, had warm blood in his
veins and plenty Of romance In his
heart. At last, in spite Of gossip and
opposition, they We're married, and then
instead Of settling down, as the happy
groom had hoped, to life Of welded
bliss in one of his country houses at
Dordrecht, Lady Van Tromp insisted
on spending her honeymoon In Paris.
There they went, and the very day of
their arrival the bride resumed liaison
with beggarly count, who, not being
an actual criminal, yet was written
black enough in the books of the Paris
police and for whom the countess had
as warm an admiration as one of her
cold, calculating nature was capable Of
feeling.
Van Tromp speedily found his dream
Of bliss blown to the winds, but he was
not SO blind as not to see that his wife
not only did not love him. but was false
to him as we'll. Poor old Van Tromp
felt he had made his last throw for
happiness, and, hoping against hope,
dreamed she in time would learn to ap-
preciate his devotion and would love
him, and so tried to persuade himself
of her truth. The first anniversary of
the marriage found them at Baden
Baden, and there the unhappy husband,
thinking to give his wife pleasant
surprise, entered her chamber at an un-
usual hour, bearing diamond necklace
for present, and found her in posi-
ton which could no longer leave any
doubt as to her faithlessness. Selling q
chair, he felled her companion, who new
er stirred again, but the shock was too
great for the husband, who himself fell
to the floor and instantly expired, the
doctors said Of heart disease, and think
they were right. This event was only
few weeks old. The will had been read.
and it was found that he had literally
left everything to "my wife, Elizabeth >
Here my friend, the chief of police
and distant relative Of Van Tromp,
came to the front, determined quietly
on his own account to investigate Lady
Van Tromp. He found this last was at
least her third venture on the stormy
sea Of matrimony. He had fancy that
some one Of her husbands might still be
living and undiscovered. If this could
be proved, then her marriage to Van
Tromp was no marriage, and the ducats,
dollars and diamonds bequeathed by
Van Tromp to "my wife, Elizabeth"
would instantly melt into air-into very
thin air, so far as the countess was con-
cerned, provided, of course, they had
not actually passed into her clutches In
fact, they were legally hers, for the will
had been admitted to probate. Those Of
the family objecting could offer no val,
i'd opposition, and she had been put in
possession. but by strange neglect on
her part left everything intact, save q
deposit of 100000 gulden in the Bank
Of Amsterdam, which she secured and
set out for Naples with new lover.
The detective-whom will call Am
stel-discovered that she had first been
married when only Is years old to
young Swiss in Geneva, who soon left
her and fed to America He had subse-
quently returned to Europe. but Amstel
was unable to discover his whereabouts
or if he was living He suspected that
the Swiss was not only alive, but in
communication with the countess, and
that she, in fact, might be his legal wife
He had followed the countess from Ma
pies to Paris There she left her lover
and was now ON her way to Nuremberg,
as Amstel believed, to meet her first
husband, but she had arranged to re-
main few days with some old friends
Of hers Every movement she made
there would be watched, while Amstel,
going ON to Cologne to look up some
clews, intended to wait there until in
formed that she had departed, and when
the train arrived at Cologne he proposed
to enter it and follow my lady on, hop
ing to witness meeting between her
and the much hoped for husband. Hap
PLY we had arrived in Cologne at this
point in the story, and as Amstel was
to remain here we had to say goodby,
but for the whole 20 minutes Of my
stay we walked up and down the plat
form talking eagerly Of the case I had
become much interested, so deeply in
deed that had had leisure certainly
should have turned amateur detective
and Joined Amstel
The train started, and, promising to
write me in New York the outcome Of
the case, we shook hands warmly and