The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-05-11
JENNIE Baxter: JOURNALIST
BY ROBERT BARR.
II.-Tne Diamonds OIL he Princess.
Copyright, 400, by Robert Barr. ]

osity piqued by the remark of the editor.
"'That is rather long story, replied
Mr.. Hardwick, 'sand before 1 begin it
would like to ask you one or two
questions. Can you manipulate type
writer?''
''That depends on what make it is.
The ordinary typewriter I understand
very thoroughly.
"Goodl Have you any knowledge of
shorthandg'
"a workable knowledge. can write
about 100 words minute. .
Admirable, admirablel Your com
ing to this office was an inspiration
You are just the person I have been
looking for. y
''You didn't seem to think SO yester-
day, Mr.. Hardwick, said the girl, with
sly glance at him.
"Well, many things have happened
since yesterday. We are now dealing
with today and with Princess Won
Steinheimer.
"she is German princess, of
course?'
"a German princess, but an Ameri-
can woman. She was Miss Briggs of
Chicago, daughter of Briggs, the rail
way millionaire, worth somewhere be.
tween twenty and twenty-five millions
dollars, of course. A year or two ago
she married Prince Konrad Won Stein
heimer. You may remember having
read about it in the papers?"
GsOl, i,o III INF I
match-the girl after the title, he after
the money"
81 suppose so; but be that as it may,
she was the only daughter Of old Briggs
and had spent a good deal Of her time
in Europe, and during her stay in Eu-
rope she had accumulated a vast stock
of diamonds some CT them very notable
stones. don't know what the whole
collection is worth; some say $1,000,
600, while others say double that
amount. However that may be. Miss
Briggs became the Princess Won Stein
heimer and brought to Austria with her
81 900, 600 in gold and diamonds, which
her father gave her as her dowry; but,
of course being an only child, she will
come in for the rest of the money when
the old man dies. ("
sis he likely to die soon2 dom
suppose the prince gave himself away
for a mere million p
sob, you forget the diamondsl AS to
the likelihood CT old Briggs death. it
didn't strike me as imminent when
had conversation with him yester-
day
"Yesterday2 Is he here in London.
then?''
eyes; he has come over to disentan-
gle the mystery about the diamonds
"And what is the mystery? You take
dreadful long time to tell story, Mr.
Hardwick.
The story is important, and it must
be told in detail; otherwise you may go
on long journey for nothing. Are you
taking down what say in shorthand?
That is right, and if you are wise you
will not transcribe your notes SO that
any one could read them they are safer
in that form. The Won Steinheilner
family have two residences, house in
Vienna and an ancient castle in the
Tyrol, situated on the heights above
Meran, a most picturesque place, I un
derstand, but very shortly you will
know more about it than do, because
The Bugle expects you to go there as It's
special correspondent. Here the dia-
mond robbery took place something like
two months ago, and the affair is stin
as great a mystery as ever. The prin-
cess was to open the season at Meran,
which is fashionable resort, by giving
a fancy dress ball in Schloss Steinhei-
mer, to which all the Austrian and for
eign notables were invited.
''It was just before the ball com
menced that the diamonds were first
missed. In fact, the princess was about
to put them on-she represented some
gorgeously decorated character from the
Arabian Nights the discovery
was made that the diamonds We're gone
She was naturally very much upset over
her loss and sent at once for the prince,
her husband, insisting that the police
should be notified Immediately and de-
tectives called in, as was perfectly nat
ural. Now, here comes strange fea-
ture OF the affair, and this is that the
prince positively forbade any publicity
and refused his sanction when she de-
manded that the police should be in
formed, and yet the prince knew as well
as anybody the very considerable value
of the stones :
"What reason did he give for his re-
fusal?" asked Miss Baxter. looking up
from her notes
81 am not quite certain about that,
but think he said it was mira dig. for
the Steinheimers to call in the police.
Anyhow, it was an excuse which did
not satisfy the princess, but as guests
We're arriving and it was desirable
there should be no commotion to mar
the occasion the princess temporarily
yielded to the wish of her husband, and
nothing was said about the robbery.
The great ball was the talk of Meran
for several days, and no one suspected
the private trouble that was going on
underneath the public event. During
these several days the princess insisted
that the aid Of the police should be in
| voked, and the prince was equally siren
uOus that nothing should he said ahont