The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-15


/ from his despatch box
1t was some time before he could suffi-
| ciently command his voice 10 speak, then
rising, he laid one hand on my shoulder.
and with the other he grasped my hand,
shaking il cordially.
This is wonderful. wonderfulr' he ex-
claimed.
But tell me who is the thief. Who is
the villain2"
Before I answer that question. count,
permit me to retire fer a few minutes" 1
said The count bowed an assent and 1
left the room. In a few minutes 1 return
ed, accompanied by Ferdinand. who hur-
| rying acrossrthe room. fell at his fathers
feet, and covering his face with his hands,
exclaimed in German:
Father, father. 1 am the guilty per-
sonr'
An ashen paIeness spread over the
counts face, and he looked as if he had
been stricken with some mortal illness. l
felt that l had no business to be present
father and son, nor can l crafty my
readers curiosity by recounung what
| took place But I may tell how I was
enabled to solve the problem, and restore
the missing papers.
At my very first interview with Ferdi-
nand was struck with his apparent want
of sincerity, and when l went to the
counts bedroom and found that his sons
adjoined / began to think il was within the
bounds of possibility that the son him
self was the guilty person. 1t must be
remembered that ] particularly inquired
OF the count now many people were in his
confidence with regard to the papers, and
his answer was only his private and bust
ness secretaries besides his son. My first
thought was that one of these two per-
sons was, or perhaps BOTH were guilty.
But when ] found that Ferninands room
communicated with his fathers my sus-
picion fell upon him.
This suspicion was strengthened when.
unknown 10 anyone. picked up in Ferdin-
and's room a small piece Of wax on which
was the faint impression OF the wards OF
a key. When my request to be left alone
in the room was granted l made a tho
rough examination of Ferdnand's room.
In the draw of a cabinet l found some
letters written in Russian. They were
from lady, and addressed to the young
man, and here at once was suggested a
reason for the evil deed Cherchez la
Femme! The woman was found, so it
would seem. My want of knowledge of
RUSSIAN prevented me from reading them
but l was acquainted with a few of the
endearing epithets used by Russian low
ers and from this ! was enabled to make
out that they were love letters. In the
same drawer was d photograph of a most
beautiful woman. On the back Of the pho
tograph was the name and address of the
photographer.
The name was Russian, the address St
Petersburg. All the letters were signed
with a Christian name only, so that
had no means Of knowing who the writer
was but | guessed she was represented
by the photograph which ! took the liber-
~ of temporarily appropriatng, and from
the inquiries 1 subsequently, made / found
the original OF the photograph was the
daughter of Russian lady well known in
London society, where she was regarded
as spy and an intriguer of exceptional
cleverness. This discovery strengthened
my hand, and disguised as a French priest
l managed to sit next to Ferdinand at his
fathers dinner table; and, when the wine
had circulated, l led him into converse
ton, and incidentally asked him if he
could tell me if a certain Russian lady
(the one | have referred to- resided in
London. lie became confused and turned
the conversation without directly answer
ing my question.
Determined to keep him under close sur
VIGILANCE, l followed him when he left
the room. He had previously wished M.
goodnight, saying he was going out. He
did go out, and hailing a hansom he drove
to the Grosvenor mansion, another house
ne went to, l learnt, was the residence OF
the Russian lady and her daughter They
rented the house furnished They were
rich, lived in good style, and Were noted
for their princely receptions.
The following day / called and requested
to see the daughter on matter OF urgent
business. She was very handsome. but
older than Ferdinand by four or five years.
After short conversation l came to the
conclusion that she was as unprincipled
as she was clever; but when I had made
sure of my ground l unhesitatingly ac-
cused her of having instgated the count .
SON tn rI,f, \,
she denied this with a display of pas
slonate Indignation, but it was too insin-
cere to deceive me; and telling her who l
was, pointed out that if she wished to
avoid public scandal which would prob
ably be the social ruin of herself and the
young man, she would give up the papers
After much denial, many protest a tons
and Intellectual attempts to wriggle of
the horns of the delimma on which l had
impaled her, she burst into tears and find
ing that they did not effect me, she gave
in at last, confessed that she had the
papers, but declared that Ferdinand vot-
unfairly brought them to her l need
scarcely say l did not believe that She
acting no doubt under her mothers
prompting, lured him to his fall
left that house with the papers in nv
possession, and my next step was to see
Ferdinand and get him to realize how
terribly serious the position was in which
ne ndQ pldceu nlInSelI When he learnt
how much knew he made a clean breast
of it. He said that the lady had perfect
ly fascinated him, and since he had made
her acquaintance he had been like one in
a trance. So madly was he infatuated
that he believed he would have hesitated
at nothing that would have won him his
charmer's favor. At that time it was pref
ty well known that owing to certain men
acing movements on the part of Russia
directed principally against Hungary, the
Austrian amba ssador had managed to en-
ter into d treaty with England bearing
upon the point The Russian adventures
for she was little better than that-had
used the silly young man as a means of
betraying the secrets to the Russian gov
eminent, and had 1 not been fortunate in
making the discovery did, those papers
would very soon have been on their way
to Russia.
l felt that 1t was far better that the err
ing young man should, if possible, settle
the affair with his father without any in
reference on my part. l have reason to
know, however, that the count was flu
rious To be deceived by his own son in
such way was heart-breaking. and he
banished him from his sight A day or
two later Ferdinand returned to Austria
in disgrace, and subsequently went to In