The Tupelo journal., 1911-11-10
CHAPTER XVI.
In Which They Both Win.

In Which They Both Win.
Mr.. Grimm dropped into q chair
with his teeth clenched, and his face
like chalk. For = moment or more he
sat there turning 1t all over in his
mind. Truly the triumph had been
robbed Of its splendsr whom the blow
fell here-here upon = woman he
loved.
There's NO shame in the confess
sion Of n who 10 fairly beaten" lisa
bel went on softly. after , little.
There are many things that you
1d0nt understand, / came to Washing
ton with an authority from my sov-
ereign higher even than that vested
In the Ambassador; I came as l did
and compelled Count di Rosini to OBJ
tain an invitation to the state ball
for me In order that l might meet a
Representative of Russia there that
night and receive an answer as to
whether or not they would join in the
compact. l received that answer; its
substance is of no consequence now.
And you remember where l first
net you! 1t was while you were in
tvestigating the shooting of Senior Al
varex In the German embassy. That
shooting, a. you know, ~ done by
Prince d'Abruzxi, so almost from the
beginning my plans ven wrong be-
icAuse Of the assumption of authority
by the prince. The paper he took
nom Senior Alvarez after the shoot
ting was supposed to- bear vitality upon
Nexico's attitude toward our plan,
but. as it developed, 1t was about An
other matter entirely"
Yes. | know" said Mr.. Grimm.
The event of that night which you
did not learn was that Germany
agreed to join the compact upon con-
Iditions. Mr.. Rankin. who was at
itached to the German embassy in an
advisory capacity, delivered the an
swer to me, and l pretended to faint
lin order that / might reasonably avoid
you"
II surmised that much" remarked
Mr.. Grimm.
J "The telegraphing l did with my
fan was as much to distract your at
tention rs anything else, and at the
same time to identify myself to Mr..
Rankin, whom l had never met. You
knew him. of course; l didn't"
She was silent a while as her eyes
steadily met those OF Mr.. Grimm, Fl
'nzlly she went on:
When next / met you it was In the
legation; you were inves-
'figating the theft of the fifty thousand
In gold from the safe. 1
thrust myself into that case. because
il was afraid of YOU; and mercilessly
a .woman's name in your
eyes to further my plans. made you
believe that Senorita Rodriguez stole
that fifty thousand dollars, and ] re-
turned it to you, presumably, while
We stood In her room that night. Only
iit was not her room-it was mine! /
stole the ffty thousand dollars! All
the details. even to her trip to see
Mr.. Griswold in Baltimore in company
with MI. Cadwallader, had been care
fully worked out: and she did bring
me the combination of the safe from
Mr.. Griewold on the strength of .
forged letter. But she didn't know 1t.
There was NO theft, of course. had
mo intention Of keeping the money. 1t
was necessary to take 1t to distract
attention from the thing ! DID 10
break q lock inside the safe to get =
sealed packet that contained Vene-
~Kuela's answer to our plan. sealed
that packet again, and there was
never a suspicion that it had been
opened"
only a suspicion" Mr.. Grimm o
nected.
Then came the abduction of Mon
sieur Boissegur, the French ambassa-
dor. | plunged into that Ease as did
in the other because | was afraid Of
you and had to know just how much
you knew. 1t was explained to you
g an attempt at extortion with de-
tails which | carefully supplied. AS a
matter OF fact, Monsieur Boissegur
opposed u plans, even endangered