, 1912-02-08

desperate man III Europe
Admitted"
HE is a scholar too
"All the more interesting
LAS a student III Mualrh he has
fought his three due Il" has n"rn
n war correspondent TmueI Lrr ii"
is a great fencer. II fine shot. II dar
ing rider
"And penniless What II COUNTRY
they have ovrr ther" hrvond ihr
Rhine. He would never have lroublpd
his head nbour II had they not iurrird
him. To stir up France TO wound ii"I
if possible. He will be u man of "rra'
courage and resource. said tn" secret
agent. drawing the palms of his hand
together
"ln the end. then. Germany Will
offer him money!
THAT is thc possible outlook
But. suppose he went 10 work on
his own responsibility"
in that case one would ne iustitiec
in locking him up as n mndmnn DO
you know anything about Alpine hut
teriies2"
VERY little" confessed the minister
There Is often great danger in get
ting at them: but the pleasure is com
mensurate"
Are there not rare butterflies In
the Amazonian swamps?" cyuically
"Ah. but this man has good blood
in him. and II he flies at all ne will
fly high Think of this man fifty
years ago: what n possibility he would
have eel But II is III of fashion
today Well. monsieur, | must be of
There is an old manuscript at the
BibIiotheQue wish to inspect"
Concerning this matter?"
butterflies" softly: Tor. | should
say. chrysnlides."
minister There were many other
things to-ing and fro-inG in the busy
corridors N his brain. Il shall hear
from you ~frenuentlyT
"As often as the situation requires
By the way, | v an idea When
cable o the word butterfly pre-
pare yourself accordingly 1t will
mean that the bomb is ready"
Good luck attend you. my savant,
said the minister, with a f~ricndliness
which was deep and genuine. He had
known NJ. terraud III other days
And. above all. take care of your
self"
Trust me, cunt" And the secret
agent departed to appear again in
these chambers only when his work
was done
"A strange man. mused the minis
ter when he was alone. "A still stran-
ger business for a genuine scholar. Is
he really poor? Doe he do this work
to afford him ease and time for his
studies. or. better still. doe he hide a
great and singular patriotism under
butterfly wingsY Patriotism? More
and more 1t becomes self interest. 1t
is only when a foreign mol starts to
tear down your house that you become
a patriot"
Now the subject of these desultory
musings wen directly to the Biblio
theque Rationale. The study he pur
sued was of deep interest t. him. 1t
concerned n butterfly of vast proper
tons and Kaleidoscope in color long
ago pinned away and labeled among
others Of lesser brilliancy. 1t had
cast n fine shadow in its brief 1ight.
But the species was now extinct. Al
least so the historian of this particu
lar butterfly declared. Hybrid? such
a contingency was always possible.
Suppose 1t does exist, as | and a
few others very well know 1t does.
What a fine joke 1t would be to see it
fly into Paris! But no. Idle dream!
sam -Inl sol, -. .... -l
now suppose we pay a visit to Berlin
and use blunt facts in place of diplo-
macy? 1t will surprise them"
Each German chancellor has become
in turn the repository of such political
secrets As fell under the eyes of his
predecessor, and the chancellor who
walked up and down before NJ. Fer
raud possessed severa which did not
rest heavily upon his soul simply be-
cause he was incredulous or affected
that he was.
'"ThA thing Ia preposterouh-"