Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-11-05
AN INGENIOUS
BETRAYAL.

| question IN Parliament, and in his re-
ply the Under Secretary stated that it
was pure fiction. The members of the
Legation smiled knowingly when they
read his answer. They thought that,
| in the interests of his country, he had
| tri1ed with the truth.
They were mistaken; he had spoken
the truth. The representative who
called at the Legation came, not from
| the Foreign Office, but from my office.
| He was one of my men, SO cleverly
| made up that they were deceived by
| his remarkable likeness to the person
| he represented.
The attache upon whom my suspi-
cions had fallen, though not likely to
| make much headway in the diplomatic
| service, was really clever electrician,
| and the Legation was filled with useful
| mad ingenious devices Of his invention.
In diplomacy he was a mere waster;
| as an electrical engineer he might
| have won both fame and fortune.
| He had fitted one Of the spare rooms
at the top of the house as q workshop,
and spent most of his spare time in it,
| working in Il desultory fashion upon
the many incomplete inventions with
| which 1t was stored. During the inter-
views he had been in his room, and, If
my suspicious were well founded, it
was there | must seek the answer to
the question-How?
| There was q workbench at one end
| of the room. Under the bench was
cupboard, sufficiently large to admit of
my crouching and hiding myself In 1t.
l entered the cupboard and made my
self as comfortable as possible.
Through a crevice in the door l COM
manded view of the whole room.
| Just before 9 o'clock the attache en-
tered the workshop, and, after closing
| the door, threw thick curtain across
1t. Then he seated himself in an easy
chair and switched ON the light of a
single are lamp, without a globe, placed
on an insulated table, and connected
with an electric generator.
From my hiding place l gazed at the
brilliant light of the lamp, wondering
what connection there could be be-
tween it and the mystery l was trying
to solve.
Suddenly the Barons voice broke in
upon the silence. The sound was so
clear and so distinct that was almost
startled into an exclamation of sur
prise.
For moment 1 was puzzled as to
where it came from. Then 1 located it..
The lamp was talking!
On the ground floor of the house the
Baron was engaged in conversation
with the supposed representative of
the Foreign Office, and by some strange
| phenomenon the burning lamp was
transmitting the sound with such pur-
ity and distinctness that every word
was as audible as if We had been pres
ent at the interview.
For half an hour the conversation fol
lowed the lines agreed upon between
the Baron and my representative; then
there was pause, followed by a light,
gossipy conversation.
The attache had listened intently to
the conversation so long as it dealt
with the matters under concern. AS
soon as that part Of it ended he began
to arrange his summary. For some
time he wrote and re-wrote. Then he
read aloud what he had written. 1t
satisfied him.
a moment afterward he switched off
the light and left the room.
As soon as the sound of his footsteps
died away l crawled out Of my hiding
place and strolled into the attache's
room. He was busy arranging a bou
quet of choice blooms for q smart So
ciety lady of his acquaintance
THE ladies make great demands
upon our time and attention" he said
with n smile.
, Without speaking stood and
watched him. The message was not
as l had suspected, concealed among
: the flowers; it was woven into the bou
quet, and was easily readable BY
: means of the Morse code, colors taking
the place of dot and dash.
His arrangement of the flowers was
strikingly beautiful, and as he attached
his card to the completed bouquet an6
Instructed one of the servants where
to take it, 1 did not wonder that the
simplicity of his method had enabled
him to escape suspicion.
, The bouquet never reached its desti
: nation, and no message appeared in the
: Early Bugle that evening. Confronted
with the evidence of his guilt the at
tache made clean breast of every
t thing.
? He had fallen victim to the charm,
= of smart society lady, and in ordel
S to prove his love for her had consented
to supply her with information, and :
: bouquet of flowers had been the mean.
t of communication.
b For months past he had openly sen
@ her a daily gift Of flowers, so that tn,
b continuance of the habit occasionet
G neither surprise nor suspicion Upo1
$ receipt of the flowers she telephonet
the coded message to the editor of til,