The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-03-01

musings went directly to the Biblio-
thcque Rationale. The study he pur-
sued was Of deep interest To him. il
concerned butterfly OF vast proper
tons and Kaleidoscope in color, long
ago pinned away and labeled among
others of lesser brilliancy. 1t had
cast a zine shadow III it's brief flight
hut the species was now extinct at
least SO the historian of this par
ticular butterfly declared. Hybrid
such contingency was always pos
sible.
Suppose it does exist as ] and a
few others very wclI know it does:
| what fine joke it would be to see
| it lily into Paris. But. no. Idle
dream, sim, ! shall wait and watch.
! And now, SUPPOSE We pay n visit to
| Berlin and use blunt Facts i'll place
I Of diplomacy? 1t viii surprise them,
! Each German chancellor has be-
/ come, in turn, the repository of such
! political secrets as fcll under the eyes
! OF his predecessor; and the chaneel
/ lor who walked up and down before
Monsieur Fcrraud, possessed several
. which did not rest heavily upon his
soul simply because he was incredu-
lous. or affected that h. was
The thing is prcposterous."
( As your cSceliency has already de-
( clarcd"
I What has il To do with France"
Much or little. 1t depends upon
/ this side OF the Rhine"
What Imagination! But for your
! credentials. Monsieur Ferraud.
should not listen to you one moment.
! Il have seen some documents"
''Forgcries" contemptuously
! Not In the least" suavely. They
are in every part genuine. They are
! friS ewfl
Tho chancellor paused, frowning,
Wen. oven then" '
Monsieur Ferraud shrugged.
This fellow, who was forced to
resign from the navy because Of his
tricks AT cards, why I doubt il he
could sir up q hrawl in Il tavern.
Really. If there was a word of truth
in the affair, we should have acted
before this. II is all idle newspaper
talk that Germany wishes war: far
from H. Still we lose point TO
fortity ourselves against the posi-
bility Of IL. Some one has been tell
ing Nou-nla- HiNes.- Hes
Ten thousand marks almost in
audibly.
What was that You said ." cried
the chancellor, whirling round alb
ruptly for the words startled him.
Pardon me WIS thinking out
loud about a sum of money"
All" And yet the chancellor rea-
liZed that the other was telling him
as plainly as he dared that the Ger
man government had offered such a
sum To forward the Very intrigue
which he was so emphatica!N deny
ing. Why not turn the matter over
to your own ambassador here"
The secret agent laughed. Pub
iifjtP Is e,.f,ar neither
ment nor mine desires Thank you"
II am sorry not to be of some ser
vice to you"
II can readily believe that. your
eXoellency" not to be outdone in the
matter OF duplicity. II thank you
for your time
Il hadn't the least idea that you
were in the service; butterflies and
diplomacy with a hearty laugh.
1T Is only temporary"
Your Alpine Butterflies compares
faVorabiy with The Life of the Bee"
THAT is very great compliment"
And with this the interview, extra /
ordinary in all ways. came to an end |
Neither man had fooled the other |
neither had made any mistake in his (
logical deductions; and in a way !
both We're satisfied. The chancellor /
resumed his more definite labors, and /
the secret agent hurried away to the I
nearest telegraph office.
so / am to stand on these two /
feet" Monsieur Ferraud ruminated, I
as he took the seat by the window
In the second-class carriage for Mu- /
nich. IAN the finer the sport. Ten |
thousand marks! He forget himself |.
for moment And might have
gone further and said that ninety I
thousand marks would he added to
those ten thousand IL the brIbe was
accepted and the promise fulfilled"
All. 1t would be beautiful to I'M
tangle this snarl all alone. 1t would
be the finest chase that had ever
fallen to his lot No grain OF sand.
however small. should escape him.
(To be Contnued.l