The herald., 1896-01-28


O'Clock in the afternoon, Detective Beothy
was in his room, running his eye over some
letters and telegrams, his hat on his head
and glove on his left hand. He had only
just come n.-ez5 vas on the point Of going
to the derz where the director was
to take Official leave of all the employees.
The leave-taking was fixed for 1870. and
I Reothy had yet to don his decorations and
orders. In the evening the new director
would enter upon his duties, and Beothy in
tended to report to him his success in the
will case. Just as he was reading one Of the
last pile of letters the servant came in and
announced Princess Lidoff.
| 1.-The deuce take her' he muttered, vegD
ungallantly, what can have brought her
here at this unreasonable timer"
| The well known fact that he and the out
going director were at daggers drawn made
| it absolutely incumbent upon him to be
punctual in putting in his appearance at the
Office He hesitated little, and then, turn
| ing to the servant, said:
"Show her in
| She entered the room, followed by maid
servant from the hotel, who carried band
| box.
put it on the floor, there; now you may
| CO." said Princess Lidoff to the girl, who,
having deposited the bandbox on the carpet
near the door, curtesied and left the room.
I'm what can I be of any service to you,
Princess?" asked Beothy, with as much af-
fability as he could command. 1t could have
been very much, for the lady looked at
him with curious expression and said
nothing. Then all at once she arose, and,
| trembling all over. exclaimed:
1t is unbearable, horrible, maddentng.
Oh, M. Beothy, my husband is not at homo.
and so I've come to you
Il am afraid, Princess, do not quite fol-
low you. Have you heard anything furtheB
about Miss Militch since had the honor to
speak with you yesterday"
"The mana mana stranger they say,
brought it--that bandbox, with the horrible
thing herewith Olga's hat and-and-''
| May open the bandbox, madam" asked
| Beothy, cutting short her unintelligiblo
| phrases.
''Yes, yes. But If they've murdered her,
I shall never recover the blow"
| Beothy paying no attention to the Prin-
cess rambling talk, had already unfastened
| the lid Of the bandbox and taken out first,
lady's hat, the ribbon Of which was stained
with blood and then a female hand, which
| was rolled up first in wadding and then in
soft, white paper.
| st was stranger, you say, who brought
| the bandbox?' inquired Beothy turning to
the Princess, but, noticing the deadly pallor
| of her face and the convulsive twitching
about her lips he sprang forward and was
just in time to keep her from falling on the
floor. She had nervous attack or an epi-
leptic fit, and he laid her gently on the OTTO.
man and rang the bell. To the servant who
appeared at once, he gave orders to bring
cold water, smelling salts and other restora-
tives, and if the lady got worse to send for
the doctor; if she got better, to have her
removed to her hotel. Meanwhile he would
have to go to the department.
The official leave taking occupied more
, time than Detective Beothy had antici-
pated. The director arrived nearly an hour
late during which Beothy eprang about tho
room IKE hen on hot girdle. The
| speeches, too, were unreasonably long.
| Beothy, who also made a speech, while
| his mind was running upon the mystery Of
the dead hand, was more than once in
danger of talking balderdash or wholly
breaking down. All the time he was work.
ing out the problem of his mind, and every
thing that drew his thoughts off the sub
| ject irritated and confused him. The mo-
ment the tedious ceremony was over he
rushed off to the Arpad Hotel to make
INQUIRIES about the bringer of the bandbox.
| The answers which, as they contained a
detailed description of that individual,
Beothy considered highly satisfactory, were
duly jotted down in his notebook, and the
| detective rubbed his hands joyfully. The
bringer of the bandbox was obviously, he
| concluded identical with the Bittner, the
presumed murderer. The beard and one
or two other details which did not tally
with the photograph were such as might
| have been altered by the man himself for
the purpose Of misleading the police. He
was tall, the servants said, and could not
speak Hungarian. He had handed the
bandbox, and said he would wait to see
whether there would be any answer, but
4 before the servant returned he left. prom
Using to call again when the Prince himself
would be at home.
| Beothy determined to follow up this clew
at once and have the man arrested before
the Prince got wind of the matter; and he
took his measures accordingly. Before
leaving the hotel, however, he asked as to
whether the Princess had returned, and was
told that she had come back all right and
had gone out for drive.
"And the Prince?"
"He is out. He left at noon, saying he
would not return before evening""
That's all right said the detective,
and he walked across the street to the
telegraph Office
On his way home he called on an old
friend of his, doctor, whose opinion he was
desirous of obtaining as to the dead hand
For Beothy was very well aware that the
horrible memento might be merely ruse
TO lead the police to believe that Olga Mil
itch had been murdered, whereas she might
be alive and we'll. possibly a consenting
party to the abduction. The doctor, having
examined it, said it was the hand of a fe-
male who was unaccustomed to hard work
"a eeamstress. or perhaps an arietocrat It
looked exactly as if it had been prepared
for an anatomy class. But that, of course,
proved nothing. There were some cuts on
the fingers, but the doctor declared that, in
his opinion, they had been inflicted during
life. AS for the stains en- the ribbon they
were undoubtedly blood spots, but he would
have to examine them more carefully at
home before affirming that the blood was
human
"All right, then; bring me an answer a.
soon as ever you can,' said Beothy. "I must
now call upon our new director, as l have
very important report to make him."
But the detective did not call on his new
chief that evening. He was not in a fit
frame Of mind to talk with him or with
anybody. He tore his hair and swore like
trooper instead, and conducted himself
generally like a madman. He did call ON
Princess Lidof. however, as soon as he dis
covered that Bielerstern's will was no long.
er in the mahogany box But the couple
had not returned. They have not returned
to this day. Their "nameev duly appeared
in the Hue and Cry, but they had disap-
peared as completely as if the earth had
opened and swallowed them. Their bill at
the hotel amounted to over 800 guldens,
What they received for abstracting the will
nobody ever learned.
Beothy never told soul that he had had
the will in his possession-it would have
ruined him for life as a detective to have Il
known that he had been so completely be-
fooled by a pair of thieves hired by .
ballet girl. Nor was it until year after his
death that his son narrated the story in hin
D1a cin0 hxy tIn ~ 4