Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1899-02-23

key of the Princes bedroom was dis
covered on the floor inside. Of course.
one would have supposed that the per-
son last in the room had locked the
door behind him. and then had taken
out the key and pushed it under the
door; but the extraordinary thing was
that the key would not go under the
door.,-I tried it myself. The door was
too close to the floor to allow of tho
key being pushed underneath
Won Mitschka, for the first time since
had known him, burst into hearty
laugh.
Confess, now" said he, chat a
thrill-a very gentle one, perhaps, but
a perceptible thrill of-of some feeling
it would be hard to name-let us say Il
vague fear. not of the supernatural,
but of the mysterious. of the ineNplica-
ble-ran through your veins as you re
allied that fact and what it meant?'
well. was uncommonly surprised:
and don't mind admitting to you that
for an instant l WAS conscious OF some
such feeling as YOU describe. The room
was empty. 1t had no other outlet.
The lock was q special one. which had
been put on under the Princes super
vision. and the key was unquestion-
ably the one that belonged to the lock.
1t could not have been thrust under the
door. lyor put into the room in any 9th
er way. by the PERSON, 'twhoever he
was, who was known to have gone into
the room. locking the door after him.
How did the key get there:
And what was your answer to the
question:" asked Won MitSchka, With
a smile.
THAT in spite of Ivanovitch's pro-
testations that the thing WAS impossi-
BILE, there must have existed a second
key to that door. The pretended prince
left the key of the door on the floor to
nystify the police. and when he locked
the door behind him on going out OF
the room, he used the second key
You naturally think so; and l sup
pose the police thought the same. But
YOU are wrong. There was no second
key. The thing was managed in this
way. When the door was burst open.
in the person Of the lieutenant of po'
lice and his men, the gendarmes ad
vanced first into the room. Their
backs were at that moment turned to-
wards the servants grouped together
outside the door
of course
sit WAS but natural that one or two
of the servants should follow the po-
lice few steps into the ROOM
Yes
"Well. one of them happened to have
n hole in his trousers pocket: and my
own idea is that the key must have
slipped through the hole OH the floor.
When the police locked around, there
was the key ready for them to pick
up
"Childishly simpler I exclaimed;
eand yet 1 assure you that the fact
that the key had been picked up in the
bedroom by the police puzzled me ex.
tremely. I thought, of course. that the
police had gone into the room alone.
But YOU have not vet told me the most
important part Of the story. How did
the pretended Prince get into the
Princes carriage without the know
ledge Of the coachman and footman?
And, above all. how was the real
Prince abducted:'
'There was not so much difficulty
about that as you would suppose"
said the chief. 1--WE had carriage,
painted to resemble that of the Prince,
with coachman and footman in clothes
identical in appearance with those
worn by his servants. This carriage
kept well in front of the waiting We
hicles. We had private warning that
the prince was. taking leave Of his
hostess: and our carriage got so close
to the entrance that the coachman was
al)lesto give the official at the door the
name of the Prince, just before the
Prince. appeared in the yestibule.
Hence. there was no necessity to call
the Princes name alo,ll and his coach
H., off TO 81 q
critical moment. The Prince descend
ed the steps. saw what looked exactly
like his own carriage waiting at the
door to receive him, got into it and was
driven away.
4sAnd the false Prince:"
FiHalf an hour later, one of our peo-
pie called out to the Princes coach
man. and told him that the Princes
carriage had been called. and that the
Prince was waiting for him. The poor
Min made his way as fast as he could
towards the. grand entrance. and a
few, steps from it. he met 4 man of the
same height and build as his master.
walking towards the carriage. with
the collar Of his cloak turned up over
his ,ears.--ThiS. man put his hand on
the door of the brougam. opened H..
and signed to the cOachman to stop.
The man was attending to his horses.
and. of course. he did as he was bil
without, peering into the face of the
person WHO had~.Agnalled to- him to
stop WHO 'buthis master could have
been sSpected> to act. i'll such way?
As.for the footlHa u.s. he same agent
who had told the cnfchman that he
was wanted smoke at that moment to
the footman. distr9cnRg his attention;
and the poor fellow, literally did not
know. that anybody. Had got into the
carriage till he heard the door bang.
OF course he was ready to swear, hon
est1ys enough. that the Prince had left
the French Embassy at that hour in
his own carriage"
"And the real Princa?"
<s.The real 1hGTe aSNs driven off at a
rapid bacpfH tie. tApestion of his own
house Suddenly the brcugham turned
into a. side street, and before the
Prince could as much as let down the
window to ask the reason of this. he
was whirled into the yard Of one Of the
houses, and the gates We're shut be-
hind him. There was-a short scuffle.