Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-08-24

had ever done so before.
l drew a long breath, for as crept
away unseen l recOllected the kaiser's
| unrelenting vindictiveness
Poor princess | knew that the red
talons of the Hohenzollern eagle would
sooner or later be laid heavily upon
/ her.
She left Berlin two hours later. but
half an hour before her departure
found hurriedly scrubbed note upon
my table explaining that she had had
"a few unpleasant words with the EN-
perOr," and that she was leaving for
Dresden a day earlier than had been
arranged.
A fortnight passed. Twice Baron
Won Metzsch came to Potsdam. and
was on each occasion closely closeted
with the emperor, as well as having
! frequent consultations with Judicial
| Councillor Lohlein. l had strong sus-
piciOn that the conspiracy against the
| lively daughter of the Hapsburgs was
still in progress, for l felt assured that
the kaiser would never forgive those
words of defiance from wOmal's lips,
and that his vengeance. slow and sub
| tie, would assuredly fall upon her.
l did not know at the time-not, in
deed. until fully three years later
how the actions of Won Metzsch, who
was creature of the kaiser, had from
the first been instigated by the all
highest. who, from the very day of the
princess marriage, had, nOtwithstand-
ing his apparent graciOusness toward
her, determined that Hapsburg
should never become queen of SaxOny.
For that reason, namely. because
the emperor i'm his Overweening vanity
believed himself to be the heaven-sent
ruler of the destinies of the German en-
pire, was much opposed to an Austrian
princess as potential queen ut Ores
den, and had set himself the task to ruin
the poor wOman's life and love and to
arouse such scandal concerning her
that she could not remain in SaxOny
with every finger pointing at her in
OpprObrium and scOrn.
! Decipher a Message for the Kaiser.
A fresh light, however. was thrown
upon what l afterward realized to be
an astounding conspiracy by the re-
ceipt of cipher message late one No
vember night at POtsdam. / was at
work alone with the emperor In the
pale green upstairs room, reading and
placing before him Il number of state
documents to which he scrawled his
scribbly signature, when the telegram
was brought.
'Decipher that, HeltZendOrff," he
commanded. and went on with the
work of reading and signing the docu-
Tents, while / sat down with the red
emily found that the message, which
was from Dresden, read:
Frau Won Fritsch today had an in
terview with GirOn, the French tutor
to the crown princess children, but
unfortunately the latter refuses to ad-
NIT any affection for Louisa. GirOn
angrily declared his intention to leave
Dresden, because of Won Fritsch's sug-
gestiOn. This course. / saw. would be
unfortunate for our plans. therefore l
urge the king to induce Louisa to re-
quest him to remain. She has done so.
but to no avail, and Giron left for
Brussels tonight. May be permitted
to come to discuss with your majesty
further elaboration of the plans?-
Won Metzsch.'
Thn hA
sage twice.
I'VE go to Erfurt tomorrow, do we
nOt?" he said. Telegraph in cipher
to Won Metzsch to meet us there to-
morrow evening ut seven. And de-
stroy that message" he added.
obeyed his orders, and afterward
continued to deal with the state pa
pers, much enlightened by the news
transmitted by the emperor's creature
l confess that l felt the deepest
sympathy for the helpless victim. At
the Schloss, high above the old-world
town of Erfurt, Won Metzsch had
long conference with the emperor, but
| was unable to Overhear any word of
it. All i know is that the controller
of the Saxon household left Erfurt for
Dresden by special train at midnight.
Poor, defenseless Louisa! You, my
dear LeQueux, to whom the princess a
few months afterward fled for advice,
know well how sterling, how wOmanly
and honest she was; how she was one
victim of many of the Inscriptions
intrigues by which the arrogant war
lord of Germany has until the present
managed to retain his throne.
Well. l watched the course Of
events: watched eagerly and daily. |
Twice had received letters from her
imperial highness, short notes In her |
firm, bold handwriting.
From Won Metzsch came several
cipher messages to the emperor after |
We had returned to Potsdam, but Zorn |
Won Bulach, my colleague, deciphered |
all of them. and, as he was not my |
friend. l did not inquire as to their |
purport. l knew, however, that mat |
tiers in Dresden were fast approaching |
a crisis, and that the unfortunate |
Hapsburg princess could no longer sus-
tain the cruel and unjust pressure be- |
ing put upon her undOing. That hun
dred of Germany's spies and agents
provOcateurs were busy realized
from the many messages by telephone
and telegraph passing between Berlin
and Dresden. and l felt certain that
the ruin of poor Princess Louisa was
oh