Tombstone epitaph., 1917-07-15

From his countenance, as he re-read
that document, 1 saw that serious trou-
bic was brewing for somebody. His
majesty, seized by his mania for travel
would very often at five minutes no.
tice leave Potsdam and journey to the
farthest end of the empire. But the
papers were always at once informed,
and the kaiser never went out of his
country without first acquainting the
chancellor Of his intentions. In this
case. however, he slipped away by a
night train, and nobody knew until
next morning.
The Dark-Haired Woman.
On concluding the correspondence, I
went out for a stroll. when, not far
from the hotel, noticed a well-dress-
ed, rather handsome, dark-haired wom-
an approaching. To me her face SEEM
ed familiar, and / was puzzled to know
where I had seen II before.
l passed on, and. entering a cafe.
sat down to smoke and to think. Men,
ory of that woman's face still haunted
me. I felt that / had met her some
where, and had had good cause to re-
member her, yet, for the life of me,
could not recall the circumstances Of
our meeting.
An hour later. on returning to the
hotel, saw her speaking with the con-
cierge.
She was evidently staying there,
hence few minutes afterwards, when
she had ascended the lift, questioned
the man, and learned that she was
Madame Rosales, from Malaga, in
Spain. She had arrived with her hus-
band three days ago, but monsieur had
left the same morning for Paris, and
she was now awaiting his return.
The motive of the emperor, usually
so restless and pompous. in remaining
virtually a prisoner In the hotel, and
posing as merchant, was certainly
most mysterious, and even a chat with
Herman, his majesty's chief valet. ell
cited no information.
That night, as sat alone eating my
dinner-for Herr Zeller took his meals
in his private sitting room-the dark
haired woman sat at a table near me.
With her was pretty girl in a pale
pink dinner gown. evidently a friend
who lived in the town.
The pair chatted together and laugh
ed merrily over their meal, while l
watched them covertly.
Why, I cannot even now tell, but /
held Madame Rosales in distinct sus-
MI n
We had met before. Now. however, as
/ sat there in the corner eating my
meal / felt convinced that. on her
part, she had recognized me, and
further, that she had pointed me out
TO her companion.
Later in the evening made other In
quiries In the hotel, and learned that
Madame had several friends. The eve
ming that her husband left for Paris
tall, thin, pale-faced young man had
called upon her after dinner, and had
long chat with her In a corner In
the lounge. Afterwards they went out
together for short walk, and, return
ing. he smoked a cigar before he left.
On the following day another man, of
rather unkempt appearance, called and
lunched with her.
Needless to say, I watched madame
carefully, and managed during that
evening to catch several glances of her.
After the pair had dined they spent a
short time In the lounge. where they
both smoked cigarettes. Then, 1t being
a beautiful moonlit night, they put on
their coats and went for a stroll.
The Emperor Peeps In.
So interested had / become In the
woman that followed, and. unsus-
pected, I dogged their footsteps for
nearly half mile. until they entered a
dark, forbidding-looking house which
faced a weedy canal.
When the door opened a man greet
ed them, and slipping In quickly. they
disappeared.
They were there for over an hour
yet remained keeping constant vigil,
until at last madame emerged alone,
retraciDg her steps hurriedly to the
hotel.
Next morning I met her In the lift
at about eleven O'Clock, and we de-
scended together. She was dressed to
go out, but In the hall the porter hand
ed her a telegram. This she opened,
afterwards writing a reply. and tax.
ing ii herself to the post Office.
was much irritated because my