, 1912-03-07

~ NAdehy. Whht II nnu.
And the poor little glove and the
rose leaves!' murmured the girl in
pity. at seems like a crime to dis
turb them"
We shan't. my child. Our midnight
friend wasn't digging yonder for fad
ed keepsakes. These papers are the
Things" The admiral cut the string
and opened one Of the documents.
HIM! Written In French. So is this"
looking at another, land this. Here.
Laura, cast your eve over these and
tell us why some one was hunting for
them"
Fitzgerald eyed Breitmann thought.
fully. The whole countenance OF the
man had changed. Indeed. 1t resem-
bled another face he had seen some
where, and it grew in his mind. slow
". but surely. as dawn grows. that
breltmann was not wholly Ignorant In
this AFFAIR. He had not known who
had beer working at night. but that
dizziness of the momen gone. the
haste In opening the case, the eager
ness Of the search last night-all these.
to Fitzgerald's mind. pointed to one
81 shall watch him"
Laura read the documents to herself
first. Here and there was a word
which confused her. but she gathered
the full sense Of the remarkable story
Her eyes shone like winter stars.
Father" she cried. dropping the
papers and spreading out her arms.
FEATHER. it's the greatest thing in the
world. A treasured"
whats that. Laura 2" straining his
ears.
"A treasure. hidden by the soldiers
Of Napoleon. put together franc by
franc in the hope of some day rescu
Ing the emperor from st. Helena. IL
is romance! A real treasure of 1--WE
millions of francs!' clapping her
hands.
"Where?" 1t was Breitmann who
spoke. His voice was not clear.
"Corsica!'
"Corsica" The admiral laughed like
a child. Right under his very nose all
these years and he cruising all over
the chart! Laura, dear. there's no
reason in the world why we shouldn't
take the yacht and go and dig up this
pretty sum-"
N reason in the worid.' But the
secretary did not pronounce these
words aloud.
"A telegram for you. SIR" said the
butler. handing the yellow envelope to
Fitzgerald.
Twill you pardon me?" he said.
dra awning off to a window.
&c ahead" said the admiral. finger
ing the medal of the Legion of Honor
Fitzgerald read:
Have made inquiries. Your man
never applied to any of the metro
politan dailies. Few ever heard OF
him."
He damned the message into a pock
ct and returned to the group about the
case. Where should he begin? Brett
mann had lied.
The story itself was brief enough. but
there was plenty of husk to the grain
The old expatriate was querulous.
long winded. not niggard with his ink
when he cursed the English and damn
ed the Prussians. and he obtained
much qualification in jabbing his quill
bodkin into what he termed the sniv-
cling nobility of the old regime. Dog
Of dogs, Was he not himself noblei
Had not his parents and his brothers
gone to the guillotine with the rest
of them? But he. thank God. had no
wooden mind. he could look progress
and change in the face and follow their
bent. And now all the crimes and her
oisms of the revolution. all the glo-
rious p~ageantry of the empire. had
come to nothing. A Bourbon. thick
skulled. sordid. worn out. again sat
upon the throne. while the great man
~languished on a rock in the Atlantic.
Fools that they had been not to have
hidden the little king of Rome as
against this very dog. 1t was pitiful.
He never saw a shower in June that
he did not hail curses upon it. To
have lost Waterloo for a bucketful Of
water! Thousand thunders! Could he
ever forget that terrible race back to
Paris? Could he ever forget the shame
of It? Grouchy for a fool and Butcher
for a laundering ass. Well, they would
soon tumble the Bourbons into oblivion
again.
A rambling desultory tale. Just a
little corporal from Corsica; think Of
It. And so on. all keyed with ire
mendous interest to the listeners and
to Laura herself. 1t was the golden
age of opportunity. of reward. of sud
den generals and princes and dukes.
All gone. nothing left but a few battle
flags. England no longer shaking In
her boots. and the rest of them divid-
ing the spoils. No; there were some
left. and in their hands lay the splen-
did enterprise.
Quietly they had pieced together this
sum and that, till there was now stored