Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-09-14

An Aristocratic
Thief
BY F. A. Mitchell

NAAtt0 SHUTS hiAAitaAg ott0NAG ~ AtCh-
lin and had gone there some time be-
fore me in order to secure place to
live against my coming / was on my
way there from Paris. travelling on a
first class railway coach. Beside me
sat man. and before him sat anoth-
er man. the two being evidently travel
ing companions. for they were talk
ing very earnestly In German. a lam
guage l did not understand. Directly
before me was a vacant seat. on which
| tossed my hand bag. This was very
careless of me. for it contained all the
money / had with me.
| had been up late nights in Paris
and was very tired and sleepy. l fell
into Il doze and from a doze into a
sound sleep. More than an hour pass
ed before l awoke. and when | did
found that the man who had been seat
ed beside me was the only other per-
son except myself In the compartment.
He had changed his seat to one oppo-
site me next the window and was
reading n periodical. Near him lay
my bag. just where l had placed 1t.
| opened it and looked for my pocket
book.
Now, leave IL to any woman If she
on awakening from n slumber to find
she had been robbed OF money from
bag lying beside man would not look
up at him accusingly. The mans eyes
were upon me, and my looks told him
that l suspected him of stenling the
money l hnd lost just as plainly as 1t
could have been expressed in words.
He looked frightened and said some
thing to me in German, but he might
as well have spoken in Sanskrit. Then
he tried me In French. | can speak
a httle French, but can understand it
scarcely at all. At any rate. didn't
catch what he had to say.
The man looked so cut up that I
grew suspicious OF him. But why no
had not left the train with 1t while
was asleep l could only conjecture.
Perhaps the train had not made stop.
He was not a cool thief by any means.
for without my taking any action
whatever he took out a roll OF crisp
bills and said to me in French:
''Combien?" CHOW muchrD which
understood was asking me the
amount / had been robbed of. / held
up one finger and said. Mile francs"
meaning that l had had 1000 francs
| in my pocketbook. My money had
| been brand new, like the notes he held
in his hand, and l did not doubt they
were mine l gathered that he pre-
ferred to return my money rather than
have me call guard at the next sta
ton and have him arrested. He count
ed the roll in his hand, and it amount
ed to exactly 1000 francs. Then he
handed 1t to me. saying something in
French which did not understand.
/ was very glad to get my money
| back at all and especially so easily.
When we reached the next station the
thief looked at me anxiously and on
seeing that made no move TO call any
one to arrest him drew n long sigh OF
relief. This was the only stop We
made till we reached Berlin, and when
we rolled into the station and the
coach door was opened by the guard
the rascal jumped out and disappeared
in great hurry.
Ny husband had secured house In
the capital, had engaged servants and
had everything ready not only for our
comfort. but TO enable us to entertain
guests. OF course every one of the
diplomatic corps must do more or less
entertaining. and since | brought my
husband fortune and we were album
dainty able TO bear the expense we
proposed to do our full share; but OF
course, l must 70 through the prelim-
inaries of being introduced at court
All this had been attended to, and
was a full f1edged member OF Berlin
society. The first important junction
attended WINS state ball at the pal
nee. l was standing talking to lady
whose husband was a member OF the
Diplomatic corps when i saw the en-
peror coming with a gentleman who
was bcdlzened with decorations. the
emperor laughing at something the lat
ter wns telling him. When they cnms
near enough for me to distinguish their
features the marrow froTe in my bones.
The man to whom the emperor was
listening was the thief who had stolen.
then returned. my money. shrank
away. but not In time. He saw me,
and the expression on his face denoted
as much surprise as mine did conster-
nation. Then he said something to the
emperor. who looked at me with an ex'
preston of amused surprise
Calling to lady standing near me,
the emperor and the thief talked TO
har aud h wac avfdapf TINT fhav xvarp
talking about me. Then the three
approached me, and the lady. after
making the required presentation. told
me that the thief was Count Helm.
rich Schmieden. one of the emperor's
most Intimate friends. He had been
telling his majesty of how lady on q
train had been robbed n how hs
rather than submit to arrest had
paid over the amount stolen. Just N
ba had fnished the story he espiad MIA