Devils Lake world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1914-1915, 1914-08-27
An Aristocratic
Thief
By F. A. Mitchell

My husband had been appointed
United States military attache at Ber-
lin and had gone there some time be-
fore me in order to secure a place to
live against my coming. | vas on my
way there from Paris, travelling on a
first class railway coach. Beside me
sat a 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 Ian
guage l did not understand. Directly
before me was a vacant seat, on which
I tossed my hand bag. This was very
careless of me, for it contained all the
money I had with me.
I had been up late nights in Paris
and vas very tired and sleepy. 1 fell
into a doze and from a doze into a
sound sleep. More than an hour pass
ed before l awoke, and when l did I
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 a periodical. Near him lay
my bag, just where I had placed it.
I opened it and looked for my pocket
book.
Now, 1 leave it to any woman if she
on awakening from q slumber to find
she had been robbed of money from a
bag lying beside a man would not look
up at him ac%cusingly. The mans eyes
were upon me-, and my looks told him
that 1 suspected him of stealing the
money I had lost just as plainly as it
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 m in French. l can speak
a little French, but can understand it
scarcely at all. At any rate, l didn't
catch what he had to say.
The a looked SO cut up that l
grew suspicious of him. But why he
had not left the train with it while 1
vas asleep 1 could only conjecture.
Perhaps the train had not made a stop.
He was not a cool thief by any means.
for without my taking any action
whatever be took out a roll Of crisp
bills and said to me in French:
"Combien?" ("How much?') which
l understood was asking me the
amount I had been robbed of. l held
up one finger and said, "Mille francs"
meaning that l had had 1000 francs
in my p~ocketbook. My money had
hoo~ hror6 NOM 1;Ivo <ho nofoo ho hol1
in his hand, and l did not doubt thes
were mine. I gathered that he pre-
ferred to return my money rather than
have me call a 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 l did not understand.
I 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 l made no move to'call any
one to arrest him drew a 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 a great hurry.
Ny husband had secured a 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 n Of the
diplomatic corps must do more or less
entertaining, and since l brought my
husband a fortune and we were abun-
dainty able to bear the expense we
proposed to do our full share; but, OF
course, I must go through the prelim.
inaries of being introduced at court.
All this had been attended to, and
I was a full fledged member Of Berlin
society. The first important function
I attended was a state ball at the pal
ace. I was standing talking to a lady
whose husband was a member Of the
diplomatic corps when l saw the EN-
peror coming with a gentleman who
was bedizened with decorations, the
emperor laughing at something the lat
ter was telling him. When they came
near enough for me to distinguish theil
features the marrow froze in my bones
The man to whom the emperor was
listening was the thief who had stolen
then returned. my money. shranl
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 thu
emperor, who looked at me with an ex
preston Of amused surprise.
Calling to a lady standing lear me
the emperor and the thie:' talked tt
her, and it was evident that they wer'
talking about me. Then the tire
approached me, and the Lady, afte
making the required presentation, tolt
me that the thief was Count Helm
rich Schmieden, n Of the emperor
most intimate friends. He had beel
telling his majesty Of how a lady on
train had been robbed and how b
rather than submit to arrest ha,
paid over the amount stolen. Just a
he had finished the story he espied me
The matter was considered an ad
,nl~o HI1 {o1r1 Ir kL1 r,~@vo~ o-I a.