The Ordway new era., 1917-07-27

hand" :. o,, and
then, with an artificial laugh des'"'.u,
at certainly is not mine. l oh.e
had bag very similar, but mine WIS
NOT of such good quality
Are you really quite certain COUNT
| ess? | demanded.
"OuItc," she declared. "But why
,rouh,c about that bag while there is Il
noint much more important-the shlet!
and whereabouts Of his imperial hlen-
/ nsssP" she went on in great state VI
AGITATION. Tell me, count, eNac.l!
what occurrcd-as far rs you Know.
I rccounted to her the facts Just hs
,hcv have already been written down.
and as | did so l watched her race no
ticing upon II an expression fuil OF sus,
pIclon of myself She was, 1t seemed
70 me, undecided as TO the exact extent
of my knowledge.
How did you know that the young
mans name was krahlT she ASKED
eagerly. You had perhaps met MIN
before-ehT
The Search.
To this leading question maintained
n sphinxllke silence. That the little
old woman who had so unexpectedly
become n lady-in-wsiting was playing
some desperate double game felt
sure. but its exact import was still an
enigma.
"In any case" she said, would ii
not be as well to return 10 the Ncue
Schenke and make searchT
| smiled. Then, in order to let her
know that l was acquainted with lta-
llan. the language she had spoken on
that well-rcmembered night in her own
conservatory, | exclaimed:
"Ahe, ale voltc con eli occhi nperu
ST far del sogni." (Sometimes one can
dream with ones eyes open.)
Her thin eyebrows narrowed, and
with shrug of her shoulders the
old woman replied:
"Dal falso bene viene II vero male"
(From an affected good feeling comes
Il real evil.)
/ realized Mt that moment that there
was more mystery in the affair than
had yet conceived. His imperial high
Hess was lhiSSlIG. tlouSh VIZ
female element of the affair had be-
come eliminated by my recognition of
her own handbag. She. too. had been
in secret to the foresters -house-but
with what object?
Half an hour later we were back at
the little house in the forest.
The guests had all returned to the
,lr nrlt Ln
commissioner, remained, with n for
ester and his underlings. Already
search had been made in the surround
ing woods, but without result. OF his
imperial highness there was no trace.
In the long room, with Its pitch-pine
walls, and lit by oil lamps, the old
countess closely questioned Eckhardt
as to the result of his inquiries. But
| the police official, who had become full
of nervous fear, declared that he had
been sent off by his highness, and
had not since found any trace OF him
He spoke of the little silk bag, of
course, and attached great Importance
to it.
Within half an hour we had reor.
ganized the beaters from the neighbOr.
hood and, with lanterns, set out again
to examine some woods to the east
which had not been searched. About
ten O'Clock we set forth, the countess
accompanying us and walking well
Notwithstanding her age, though
could see that 1t was fearful anxiet,
that kept her active. To the men witt
, us every inch of the mountain side
was familiar, and for hours We
. searched.
r A Startling Discovery.
Suddenly, not far away, a horn wa.
blown, followed by loud shouts. Quick
. ly we approached the spot, and Eek
! hardt and myself, as we came up
looked upon Strange scene. Close t,
: the trunk Of a great beech tree lay tn,
form OF the crown prince, hatless, out
/. stretched upon his face.
Instantly 1 bent, tore open hi
shooting jacket, and to my great relic
found that his heart was still beating
He was, however, quite unconscious
though there seemed no sign of ,
= struggle. AS he had left his hat an,
gun In the house, 1t seemed that h
n mad gone forth only for a momen,
And yet we were quite mile from tn
forester's house!
q The countess had thrown herself uu
on her knees and stroked his brow tan
=, derly when I announced that he wa
st still living. By her actions saw Tim
e she was filled by some bitter self-re
Is prOach.
with the lanterns shining aroun
.e mm-surely a weird and remarkabl
8 scene which would, If described by TN
Journalists, have caused great ser
n sation In Europe-the crown princ
1 was brought slowly back to conscion,
- = ness. until at last he sat up, dased an
IN wondering. -