Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-01-26
CHAPTER VII.

0dAEIER Wa.
coLETTE.
A few words will suffice to explain
the presence of the young girl In the
apartment of the Duke Of Reichstadt.
Colette, the daughter of soldier dur
ing the time of Napoleon, had nothing
of the timidity of the young girl Of to-
day. Besides, the brief time which re-
manned did not admit Of hesitation or
scruples. The preparations for taking
away the duke had all been made, the
day had been fixed, and 1t was too
late to recede. 1t was her part to act
rapidly and without hesitation or fear.
Unhappily, the interview between the
duke and Colette in the wood had been
interrupted. Reichstadt. carried away
by enthusiasm for Colette, had no OBJ
lection to the plan. but was too much
excited to remain sufficiently long In
the park to permit the young girl to
give him any explanation of the de-
tails. 1t was to repair this omission
that Colette. intending to instruct the
duke, had entered his apartments and
had been witness to the sacrilegious
search OF Metternich and Otto de Falk
enstein. When she heard the last part
of the conversation between the two
and understood that the secret of the
conspirators was known, cold per
SEPARATION stood upon her forehead. She
seized upon the curtains behind her to
sustain herself.
But how, considering that the door
had been locked (the two accomplices
having been obliged to force it In order
to carry out their infamous project,
had Colette been able to enter and con-
ceal herself in the dukes apartments?
1t was thus: When the Emperor Ma
poleon, the conqueror Of the Austrians,
fixed his residence, between two victo-
ries, at Schonbrunn, he occupied the
apartments which by chance years aft
erward fell to his son. But, the officers
of the staff necessarily coming to him
at all times, their general, who wished
to be alone, putting aside ceremony.
was accustomed to descend into the
park to breathe the night air and drive
away the austere thoughts which are
the companion of power. So he caused
to be constructed secret passage. con-
cealed by tapestry. Silvere whom the
emperor had attached to his person and
from whom he had nothing TO conceal,
knew of this passage. When, therefore,
Colette returned to the cottage after
her interview with Reichstadt and told
her adopted father that she had failed
to fully accomplish her mission. Silvere
did not hesitate to confide the secret TO
her. Colette profited by the informa-
ton and on the night of the ball stole
through the passage to the apartments
of the prince to deposit the letter of the
conspirators. The presence of Meter
mich and Otto and their discovery of
the plot, which would ruin everything,
instantly changed her plan. Taking
counsel with no one but herself, she re-
placed in her bosom the letter which
she had taken out. Then, approaching
the table and Selling pen which lay
upon a silver escretoire, she wrote with
a feverish hand:
Monseigneur-Meet US tomorrow night, the 9Th Of
May, not at midnight, but at 10 O'Clock.
At the ruined convent OF Camaldules
Your highness must be accompanied by some
one insist that it be the Count de Falkenstein-
CoLETTE.
Then, raising the bronze mask, she
placed the note where it would be
found.
Knowing by the sound of carriage
wheels that the guests were departing,
the ball was finished and the duke
would soon return, she raised the hang
ings and disappeared. saying:
II have two hours-two hours. God
is just. Hope"
A league from Schonbrunn, In
wooded valley separated from Wagram
by high hills, stands the Monastery of
Camaldules. 1t was built in the early
part of the twelfth century by the fol-
lowers of st. Romuald and had pass
ed through many revolutions and wars.
Its location at some distance from the
road had been a safeguard, the ava
Ianche of armies which for centuries
had passed and repassed its walls not
suspecting its existence. 1t was not
until the imperial wars, when iaborers
were needed, that the monks left the
monastery and dispersed to other
abodes of their order The monastery,