The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-09-08

secretary, Major Lentze, and Eckardt,
the commissioner of secret police for
his highness' personal protection.
After a restless night-for there
were many stoppages-I spent next
day with the crown prince in long and
firing discussions on military affairs.
l e~ndeavored to obtain from him some
reason why we were proceeding to
Nice, but to all my inquiries he was
smilingly dumb.
Only a fortnight before he had had
a quarrel with his wife.
"Cilli is a fool!" he had declared
openly to me, after she had left the
room in anger.
We had been busy arranging a pro-
gram of official visits in eastern Ger
many, when suddenly the crown prin-
cess entered, pale with anger and de-
certain anonymous letter which she
held in her hand.
KINDLY read that !" she said haugh-
tily, land explain what it means"
The crown prince grinned, that cold
sinister expression overspreading his
| ~countenance, a look which Is such a
marked characteristic of his.
Then, almost s%natching the letter
from his young wife's fingers, he read
it through, and with a sudden move
ment tore it up and flung it upon the
carpet, saying:
ST rnfucn RI diSar1cS onu rInCiUnnd
letter! Really, if we were to notice
every letter written by the common
scum we should, indeed, have sufficient
to do"
His wife's arched brows narrowed.
Her face betrayed ~fiercest anger.
Il happen to have inquired, and l
now know that those allegations are
correct !" she cried. "This dark-haired
singer-woman, Irene Speroni, has OBJ
tanned great success IN the variety
stage in Italy. She is the star Of the
Sala Margherita in Rome"
"Well?" he asked in defiance. "And
what of it, pray?"
"That letter you have destroyed tells
me the truth. I received it a few
days ago, and sent an agent to Italy
in order to learn the truth. He has
returned tonight. See!" And sud
denly she produced a crumpled snap
shot photograph of the crown prince
in his polo-playing garb, and with him
"a smartly-dressed young woman,
whose features were in the shadow.
EYES," she cried bitterly. you re-
fuse, of course, to look upon this piece
of evidenced! I now know why you
went to Wiesbaden. The woman was
singing there, and you gave her a pair
of emerald and diamond earrings
which you purchased from Vollgold
in Inter den Linden. See! Here is
the bill for them!
And again she produced a slip of
paper.
The scene ended in the poor woman,
in a frantic paroxysm of despair, tear
ing off the splendid necklet of dia-
monds at her throat-his present to
her on their marriage-and casting it
full into his face.
Then, realizing that the scene had
become too tragic, l took her small
hand, and, with a word of sympathy,
led her out of the room and along the
corridor.
AS l left her she burst into a sudden
torrent of tears; yet when l returned
again to the crown prince l found his
manner had entirely changed. He
treated his wife's natural resentment
and indignation as a huge joke, and it
was then that his imperial highness
declared to me:
"Cilli is a fool!"
Listen, H~eltzendorff," his highness
exclaimed suddenly. "In Nice l may
disappear for a day or two. l may be
missing. But if 1 am, please don't
raise a fuss about it. I'm incognito,
and nobody will know. 1 may be abb
sent for seven days. If 1 am not back
by that time then you may make in
quiry."
But the Commissary of Police Eek
ardt! He will surely known I re-
marked in surprise.
"No. He won't know. / shall evade
him as I've often done before" re-
piled his imperial highness. Il tell.
you of my intentions SO that you may
curb the activities Of u most estima-
BILE friend. Tell him not to worry, and
he will be paid a thousand marks on
the day Count von Grunau reappears."
1 smiled, for 1 saw the influence Of
the eternal feminine.
mo, Heltzendorff. You are quite
mistaken" he said, reading my
thoughts. 'There Is no lady in this
! case. l am out here for secret pur-
poses of my own. For hat reason l
take you into my confidence rather
than that unnecessary inquiry should
be made and some of those Internal
journalists get hold of the fact that
the Count Won Grunau and the crown
prince are one and the same person. l
was q fool to take this salon. / ought
to have Travelled as an ordinary pas
senger, 1 know, but" he laughed, "this
is really comfortable and, after all,