, 1917-06-28


ambassador in Berlin.
Her majesty, in her gray silk gown,
sat there, pale and nervous. Somebody
tapped at the door, but she replied:
II am engaged. Come later"
II will endeavor to do my best" I
went on, providing that your majesty
will support me"
T>certainly will. These dispatches
must be stopped at all hazards" she
said. Cannot you yourself LAM and
Overtake the c%ourier?"
1t was a wild suggestion. Natzmer
had gone off in the steam pinnace an
hour before, and the boat, returning,
had already been hauled up. / could
not step ashore for at least a couple
of hours, and then at some point on
that rugged coast where 1 might be
compelled to drive by some circuitous
rout by carriole down to Trondhjem.
Further, the emperor would miss me,
and would consequently suspect.
In a few brief sentences l pointed
all this out to the empress.
"Try-do try-for our empires
sake !" she urged. 81 will assist you
with all my efforts. You must arrive
at the imperial chancellery prior to
those dispatches. The emperor is not
himself. Count Won Heltzendorff, you
are a trusted servant of our house.
Into your hands I place the solution
Of this most difficult problem"
"Wirl not your majesty allow me to
wire in your name to our legation in
| rhricfionio IN ronoI1 tho nnrriarcr II
suggested. 81 will send a wireless mes
sage which the minister, Von Petsch,
will receive within a couple of hours,
and watch will then be kept for his
arrival by train. To overtake him
now is, l feel sure, impossible.
For the next few seconds the kais.
erin was undecided. To reverse the
orders of her imperial husband was
almost more than she dared. In her
own sphere she was %autocratic, and
ruled her court just as sternly as did
the emperor rule his army. But to
override the emperor!
"Yes," she said, after a few mo
ments' further reflection. You are
quite right, count. 1 give you orders
to act just as you wish. Please give
your commands in my name"
In a few seconds / had written out
an imperial dispatch to be transmitted
by wireless, and to this the empress,
grave and sad-eyed, appended her sig.
nature.
A quarter of an hour later that mes.
sage to the German minister in Chris.
tiania was being taken down by the
wireless operator at Lagesund, in the
Christiania ford.
A Sudden Apparition.
That same evening I was reading In
my cabin when Rudolph Won Lantzsch
in the uniform of the Red Hussars of
Potsdam, entered. He was a tall, fair.
haired man, a typical Prussian cav
alryman.
"Well, He~ltzendorff,' he laughed
tiny remarks during the emperor's ser.
mon seem to have stirred up quite g
lot of trouble"
"Trouble for yourself, I fancy, my
dear comrade," 1 said.
swell after all, / only spoke the
truth. Didn't he declare to us thai
he has been sent by providence as the
var lord of Europe? Why, Heltzen
dorff, any man who would talk like
that is crazy"
"Hushl" 1 cried, starting up-tht
next second to find ourselves in the
presence of the kaiser himself.
We both started, staring at the fig
ure in naval uniform, pale and hollow,
eyed, standing before us like a sudden
apparitlon.
$50 1 now know the opinion you
hold of your emperor, Won Lantzsch +
his majesty said very slowly, his gaze
fixed upon his assistant personal ad
jutant.
"Your majesty, 1 have nothing to
retract," replied the hussar.
you declared me to be irrespon
sible."
For you words, your majesty; moi
for your actions" vas the cool re
tort.
The emperor, boiling over with rage
for he had never before had sucl
plain words spoken to him, made {
spring forward and struck the captain
full In the face.