, 1917-07-19


main a few days in Ostend, before we
return to Potsdam."
Next afternoon we had taken up our
quarters at a small but very select no.
tel on the Digue at Ostend, a place
called the Beau Sejour." It was
%patronized by old-fashioned folk, and
Richter was well known there.
There may have been some who sus-
pected that Richter was not the visit
or's real name, but they were few, and
1t always surprised me how well the
crown prince succeeded in preserving
his incognito-though, Of course, the
authorities knew of the imperial visit.
The English Girl Again.
The following day, about three
o'clock, while the crown prince was
carelessly going through some letters
brought by couriers from Potsdam, a
waiter came to me with a message that
a Miss King desired to see Mr.. Richter.
In surprise I received her, welcom-
ing her to Ostend. From the neal dress
of the pretty English girl I concluded
that she had just crossed from Dover,
and she seemed most anxious to see
his highness. I noted that she still
wore the beautiful golden butterfly.
When I entered his room to an
nounce her the crown princes brow
knit, and his thin lips compressed.
"H'ml More trouble for us, Heltzen-
dorff, 1 supposed Very well, show
her In"
The fair visitor was in the room for a
long time-indeed, for over an hour.
Their voices were raised, and now and
then, curiously enough, I received the
impression that, whatever might have
been the argument, the pretty girl had
gained her W point, for when she
came out she smiled at me in triumph,
and walked straight forth and down
the stairs.
The crown prince threw himself into
a big armchair in undisguised d~issatis-
faction. Towards me he never wore
a mask, though, like his father, he in
variably did SO in the presence of
strangers.
"Those accursed womeni" he cried.
"Ah, H~eltzendorff, when a woman is
in love she will defy ever satan him.
self! And yet they are fools, these
women, for they are in ignorance of
the irresistible power of our imperial
house. The enemies of the Hohenzol-
Terms are as a cloud of gnats on a sum-
mer's night. The dew comes, and they
are no more. 1t is a pity. Has not
one of our greatest German philoso-
pliers written: 1T is no use breathing
against the wind?'"
"True," l said. "But, surely, it is
a nuisance to be followed and worried
by that little English grill"
worried! Yes. You are quite
right, my dear Heltzendorff. But /
do not mind worry, If it is in the in
terests Of Prussia, and of our house
of Hohenzollern. I admit the girl,
though distinctly pretty, is a most ir-
responsible person. She does not ap-
peal to me, but I am compelled to hu-
NOR her, because I have a certain OBJ
ject In view"
I could not go further, or / might
have betrayed the knowledge I had
gained by eavesdropping.
was surprised tnat n Sh0uld
turn up here, in Ostend," / said.
Il had written to her. I expected
her."
"She does not know your real rank
or station?"
mo. To her / am merely Herr Emil
Richter, whom she first met away in
the country. She was a tourist, and 1
was Captain Emil Richter of the Prus-
sian Guards. We met while you were
away on a holiday at Vienna"
/ was anxious to learn something
about Miss Kings brother, but "Willie'
was generally discreet, and at that mo-
ment unusually so. One fact was plain,
however, that some secret report pre-
sented to the emperor had been shown
to her. Why? 1 wondered If his high
ness had been successful in coercin2
her into acting as he desired.
Certainly the girls attitude as she
had left the hotel went to show that,
In the contest, she had won by her
woman's keen wit and foresight.
A fortnight afterwards we were back
again at Potsdam.
A Surprise Package for "WlIIie."
About three months passed. The
crown prince had accompanied the EN-
peror to shoot on the Glatzer Gebirge.