Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-01-23

questioning on the part OF Nandal that
Nine. du Barry, in company with an
other woman. beautifully dressed"
had been seen on the street. No one
knew the other woman.
Bit by bit they traced madame, and
finally the clew led 10 the bank.
sit is surely an ,,apement." said
| Vandal. "She has drawn her money"
"Then they are on the way to Ameri-
ca" said Rcber
The trail ended at the bank. 1t was
in quarter where no one knew Nine.
! du Barry. They returned to the house
much discouraged. 1t was imperative
that the American be found before he
had time to warn the Prince of Denes-
lia of the plot against him.
At the house they found a telegram
from Nine. du Barry at Strassburg 1t
was addressed to Vandal:
81 am in Strassburg without money.
| Have been the victim of a police
agent
What mystery is this~ demanded
| Casparin. Have the police regained
possession of the American? He may
not be so bad. We must go to Strass-
burg
ITO Strassburg? Why not send mon
| ey to madame to returnY
| ''Such would be the thing If we were
certain the man was dead. But we are
in doubt. If he is alive, as indeed
| seems probable, he is either in the
| !, <,f 81
| with madame. In the first instance,
we must take ourselves out of Paris
at once. and, in the second, we must
get to Strassburg as soon as possible.
| You see we kill two birds with one
| stone. We must go to Strassburg"
| The four We're soon in a train bound
for Strassburg. Vandal had the tele-
gram from madame. 1t bore the name
of no hotel. 1t had been sent from the
railway station.
Having reached strassburg they went
no farther than the station to begin
their search.
They found madame asleep on one Of
the benches with two Infatuated en-
ployees angrily ordering her TO sit up
|
She opened her eyes, saw Tandal
and leaped to her feet with a cry like
that of a tigress.
ooh! All! You have come, then"
she said. "Have you brought knives
and pistols to kill beast? Well, that
is what you must do. 1 have sat here
since last evening. I am nearly dead
| wi Of O,
ger. For the love of the good God, get
me something to eat"
Vandal obediently took her to the
cafe, and she attacked her meal with
the eagerness Of the furnishing.
And now," said Casparin, while
you are eating, madame, please tell us
what happened to you, and why an
agent OF police brought you here
Bah! Those police! 1 was asleep
In my room. l woke to find young
man there. He ordered me to be quiet.
He said he was an agent of police in
search of prisoner. He declared he
had searched my house and was as
sured the prisoner was gone. I knew
he had not found that little room up
/
Well, he then had other fish to fry.
He was after some spies against the
| government. You were one, VandaI:
| you, your highness, were another. He
commanded me to obey and threatened
to take me to the Palais de Justice.
You all know whether that would be
agreeable. 1 obeyed He made me
dress him as woman. Oh, laughed
when l disguised him! l gave him
that fine silk gown you gave me, Van
dal-that one with the flowers on it.
Well, you will know that madame
when you meet her. She has on that
gown. Then we went to the bank. I
drew thousand francs, and he took
1t all. We came to Strassburg, and
here am. Where the agent of police
Is l do not know. When we arrived
here, he told me to remain here while
he went to engage a carriage. That
was the last 1 saw of him or my thou
sand francs"
Reber and Robello gazed wondering.
ly. Vandal looked at Casparin for the
solution Of this great mystery.
My friend, you have been badly
sold," said the prince. 1.-THE supposed
agent Of police was no other than our
prisoner. He climbed from his room to
yours. He assumed the role of police
! to brighten you into obedience. he
had no money, Of course, just coming
from the Palais de Justice. You kind,
ly accommodated him with thousand
francs.
"He brought you here and left you
without money in order to prevent
your telling us until he had had time
to escape.
This matter is more serious than il
seems. 1t proves that this American,
instead of being, as we supposed, a
youth who was easy to dupe, Is shrewd
and farseeing. He will be an enemy
worthy of our steel"
But undoubtedly he is now on the
way to America" said Reber.
Nonsense. One scarcely goes from
Paris to America by way of Strassburg
He had but a thousand francs II
would not carry him there after his
| nf hri