The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1919-06-06

see." He leaned forward fixing
Barnes with pair Of steady, earnest
eyes. 'Six months ago certain royal
house In Europe was despoiled Of its
! jewels, its privy seal, its most precious
state documents and its charter They
have been traced to the United States.
l am here to recover them. That is
the foundation Of my story, Mr..
! Barnes.
without divulging the name of the
house l will say that its sympathies
have been from the outset friendly to
the entente allies-especially with
| France. There are two branches of
| the ruling family, one in power, the
other practically in exile. The state
is small one, but its integrity Is of
| the highest. Its sons and daughters
have married into the royal families
of nearly all of the great nations of
the continent. The presenter /
should say, the late ruler, for he died
on field of battle not many months
ago, had no direct heir He was
young and unmarried. l am not per-
mitted to state with what army he
was fighting, nor on which front he
was killed. 1t is only necessary to
say that his little state was gobbled
up by the Teutonic allies. The branch
of the family mentioned as being In
exile lent its support to the cause of
Germany, not for moral reasons but
in the hope and with the understand
| ing / am to believe. that the crown
| lands would be the reward The d.
rect heir to the crown is cousin of
the late prince. He is now a prisoner
Of war in Austria. Other members of
the family are held by the Bulgarians
as prisoners of war 1t Is not stretch
ing the Imagination very far to pic
ture them as already dead and out of
the way. All the close of the war, if
Germany Is victorious, the crown will
be placed upon the head of the pre-
tender branch. Are you following
me?"
"Yes," said Barnes, his nerves tin
Cling. He was beginning to see a
great light.
almost under the noses of the
| forces left by the Teutonic allies to
hold the invaded territory the crown
| jewels, charter and so forth, hereto
fore mentioned, as they say In legal
parlance, were surreptitiously removed
from the palace and spirited away by
persons loyal to the ruling branch of
the family. AS have stated, am en-
gagged in the effort to recover them.
"Now we come to the present stu
alton. Some months ago a member of
the aforesaid royal house arrived in
this country by way of Japan. He is
distant cousin Of the crown, and In
way remotely looked upon as the
heir apparent. Later on he seques-
tered himself in Canada. Our agents
in Europe learned but recently that
while he pretends to be loyal to the
ruling house he is actually scheming
against it. / have been ordered to
run him to earth, for there is every
reason to believe that the men who
secured the treasure have been duped
into regarding him as the avowed
champion of the crown. Now, Mr..
Barnes, without telling you how l have
arrived at the conclusion, l am pre-
pared to state that l believe this man
to be at Green Fancy, and that in time
the loot-to use harsh word-will be
delivered to him there. l am here to
get it, one way or another, when that
comes to pass"
"What led you to suspect that he
is at Green Fancy, Mr.. Sprouse?"
"History. 1t is known that this Mr..
Curtis has spent a great deal of time
In the country alluded to. AS mat
ter of fact, his son, who lived in Lon
don, had rather extensive business in
terests there. This son was killed in
the Balkan war several years ago. 1t
Is said that the man l am looking for
was a friend of young Curtis, who
married a Miss O'Dowd in London
the Honorable Miss O'Dowd, daughter
of an Irish peer and sister of the chap
you have met at Green Fancy. About
six weeks ago former equerry in the
royal household arrived In New York
Through him learned that the daugh-
the senior Mr.. Curtis was a frequent
guest had been In the United States
since some time prior to the beginning
of the war. She was visiting friends
in the States and has been unable to
return to her own land, for reasons
that must be obvious. l may as well
confess that her father was, by mar
riage an uncle of the late ruler.
"Since the invasion and overthrow
of her country by the Teutonic allies
she has been endeavoring to raise
money here for the purpose of equip
ping and supporting the remnants of
the small army that fought so valiant
ly in defense of the crown. These
ent interned in a neutral country.
leave you to guess what will happen If
she succeeds in supplying them with
arms and ammunition. Her work is
being carried on with the greatest Sc
crecy. To bring the story to a close,
l was instructed to keep close watch
on the man O'Dowd. l traced him
to this place. l was on the point of
reporting to my superiors that he was
in no way associated with the much
sought-after crown-cousin, and that
Green Fancy was as free from faint
as the village chapel, when out of a
clear sky and almost under my very
nose two men were mysteriously done
avyav with at the very gates of the