The Washington weekly post., 1899-06-13

II
ican heiress. sE so many OF them do. TIE
girl begins lie in Austria on 81 .ooa. 90. Say
fEo9.0oo. and a case Of diamonds seid 70 be
wcrth another Seo.ooo at least-probably
more No; much danger Of running
through that very speedily. is there.
Sniths'
NO. should think not"
so the average man would think" con-
tnued the detective. However. I have
lcng since got out of the habit OF think
ing: therefore. ] make sure. The first
problem I set to myself is this: How
much money have the Prince and Princess
spent since they were marrledf ] ind
that the repairs on the Schloss Stein
heirner. situated in the Tyrol. cost some
thing like fi0.ca. II is huge place, and
the cteInheirners have not had an keiress
IN the family for many centuries. The
Prince owed a good deal OF money when
he was married, and IL took something
Ike ls0.Go TO settle those debts-Father
expensive, as continental Princes go; but,
II one must have luxuries. one canno;
save money. Not to weary you with de-
tails. I found that the 600 was ex-
heusted something more than two months
ago-in fact. just before the alleged rob-
berry. The Prince Is, OF course, without
money; Otherwise he would not have mar
ried a { icago heiress, and, the Princess
being without money. what does she nat
urally dor
Pawn her own diamonds cried Smith
enthusiastically.
The detective smiled.
81 thought 1t much more probable she
would apply 10 her father for money. j
asked him IL this was the ease, giving
him the date, roughly speaking. when
such a letter had been sent The ED
man opened his eyes at this. end told me
he had received such a letter. But YOU
did not send the money! / ventured.
No. he said: I did not. The fact =.
money is very tight In Chicago just now,
and cabled her to run on her debts for
awhile This exactly pore out the con-
clusion at which / had already arrived.
So now. having failed to get money from
her father, the lady turns to he dia-
monds. the only security she possesses
The chances are that she did so 3afare
her fathers cable message came, AMI tndt I
was the reason she so confidently wished
information TO be given to the police. She
expected 10 have money to redeem her
Jewels. and, being a bright woman. sne
knew the traditional stupidity OF the +
fetal police and so thought there was no
danger of her little ruse being discovered.
But when the cable message came saying
no money would be sent her u different
complexion was put upon the whole af-
fair. for she did not know but II tAe police
were given plenty of time they might
stumble on the diamonds. All that Is
necessary for me TO do now is TO lind out
how many persons there are in Vienna
who would lend large sums of money on
valuable jewels. The second is to find
with which one OF those the princess
pawned her diamonds. In my o0;nion, ;he
diamonds never left Vienna. Y0r see.
the ball had been announced, and iTme-
date money was urgently needed. She
pawned the diamonds before she lett the
capital Of Austria, and the chances are
she did not intend any one TO know they
were missing: but on the eve Of tnc ball
her husband insisted that she should
wear her diamonds, and therefore. being
a quick witted woman, she announced
they had been stolen. After having mace
such a statement, she, of course. had TO
stick 10 it, and now, failing to get the
money from America, she is exceedingly
anxious that no real detective shall be
employed in investigation.
At Dover Miss Baxter having notes of
this interesting conversation in short
hand, witnessed the detective bid good
by TO his friend Smith who returned TO
London by a later train. After that she
saw no more Of Mr.. Cadbury Taylor ard
reached the Schloss SteinAeimer al
Meran without further adventure.
Miss Baxter found life az the schloss
much different from what she had eX-
pected The Princess was a young and
charming lady, very handsome, but in
state of constant depression. Once OF
twice Miss Baxter came upon her with
apparent traces of weeping On her face
The Prince was not an old man, as she
expected, but young and of a manly stall
wart appearance. He evidently possessed
a fiendsh temper and moped about the
castle with a constant frown upon his
brow.
The correspondence Of the Princess was
in the utmost disorder. There were hun
dreds uirn hundreds OF letters, many OF
which size could not tell whether they
had been answered or not. and Miss Bax-
ter set TO work tabulating and arranging
them. Meanwhile the young newspaper
woman kept her eyes open. She wan
dered about the castle unmolested, looked
into odd corners, talked with the ser
wants. and, in fact, with every one, but
never did she como upon a clew which
promised to lead TO a solution of the dia
mOnd difficulty. Once she penetrated into
a tuTret-room, and came Unexpectedly
upon the Prince. who was sitting Oh the
window ledge, looking absently out on
the broad and smiling valley that lay
for miles below the castle. He sprang 70
his feet and looked so fiercely at the in
truder that the girls heart failed her
and she had not even the presence OF
mind to turn and run.
What do you want?" he said to her,
shortly, for he spoke English perfectly.
You are the young woman from Chi
cago. 1 suppose"
"No." answered Miss Baxter. forgetting
for the moment the role she was playing
81 am from London"
We'll, it doesn't matter: you are the
young woman who is arranging my wife's
correspondence?
Yes"
The Prince strobe rapidly forward and
grasped her by the wrist, his brow dark
with a forbidding frown. He spoke in q
hoarse whisper:
Listen, my good GIRL Do you want tC
get more money from me than you will
get from the Princess in ten years serv
ice? Hearken. then, 20 what l tell you
If there are any letters from-from-men
will you bring them 10 me?'
Miss Baxter was thoroughly frightened
but she said TO the Prince sharply:
If you do not let go of my wrist III
scream. How dare you lay your hand on
me?'
The Prince released her wrist and
stepped back.
Forgive me" he said. I'm very mis-
erable man. Forget what | have said"
How can / forget it?' cried the girl
gathering courage as she saw him quai
| before her blazing eyes. What DO yoU
want me To dor
Il want you TO bring 10 me any letter:
written by-by-'
Written by Won Schaumbergp'' cried
the girl. noticing his hesitation and till
ing in the blank.
A red wave of anger surged up in the
| Princes face.
Yes he cried. Bring me letter Il
her from Won Schaumberg. and III pay
] you what you ask.
1T is contrary 10 my duty 10 th'
| Princess" she began hesiIatiagly, wheT
he stopped and turned Hereby upoa her
4.