The Elbert County tribune., 1920-03-26
CHAPTER xII--continued.

thought so. Without waiting for any
more compliments I finished, ''You see,
you'd discovered you couldn't get In
while was in. SO IL you wished to get
in, you had to come while was out
and gave you the chance. Perfectly
simple"
"a mere decoy-such as anybody
might use." Billy tossed at him.
"I hope you're convinced-it was
mere decoy." said /. pointing to the let
ter In his hand.
you have convinced me-" he re-
piled bitterly. looking at his hand
cuffs. Permit me to congratulate you,
madame. You are re first person-man
or woman-in Europe or America-
who has caught De Ravenol In trap.
Madame, you are clever-you are
brave-you are a so sagacious intel
lect. And now. madame, permit me to
, ask you, what are you going to do wis
me7"
1t wasn't so much what he said as
the way he said 1t that drove sud-
den chill through my bones. I'd been
asking myself that for several min
utes; but as monsieur put 1t. 1t was
well-like pulling up a fishing line
when you think you've got a bite and
finding you've got piece of n forest in
tow. / had to say something. however.
and this was the thing that seemed
called for:
'Give you up to the police"
Monsieur rose unsteadily to his feet
and holding out his manacled hands to
h tn,
spite of his being so rumpled and
sloppy-he slowly uttered: MADAME,
before you call in re police. 1 have
somesing of great Importance to your
self to communicates"
He paused. l nodded.
'ZOSE DIAMONDS WHICH HAVE
BEEN STOLEN DELONG TO ZE EN-
PEROR OF GERMANY"
With those words monsieur actually
turned the tables on us! 1t was at
once his statement of our mistake and
our misfortune. Billy says he "saw
warships carving Atlantic waves"
saw an army with banners. And be-
hind all their immediate Significance,
stood an ironclad background that
spelled determination. A minute be-
fore we had been dealing with man /;
now we were dealing with power.
am free to admit that neither Billy
nor 1 doubted the truth of the state
ment once it was uttered-there was
an atmosphere about monsieur and his
manacled hands that carried convic-
ton; and while many details were still
unexplained, his statement did explain
the diamonds. Which was the main
thing. for I'd always said they never
belonged to any bur crowned head.
There are some things in this world
much too large for private parties to
carry the responsibility of. And so
completely was l captured by an ade-
quately explained ownership that l was
almost ready to pull the diamonds
from their hiding place al the bottom
of the sideboard drawer and send them
back-per monsieur-to the Emperor
William with my compliments, when
Billy burst out, "Where's your proof?"
in way that struck me as irreverent,
not to say rude.
Monsieur repressed sneer and re-
piled that certain proofs would be
orihcoming at the proper moment !;
and that meanwhile, throwing himself
upon our mercy and to illuminate the
mistake we'd made, he would tell us
everything-and would start with the
legend of the so precious stones.
Once upon time. about the four
teenth century. or so, there lived in
one of the states comprising the now
United Fatherland, a very powerful
grand duke or kinglet. with two grown
sons and In another neighboring prov
ince the size of Greater New York
lived another very powerful duke. who
boasted a beautiful daughter.
Those were the days when war was
cheaper than peace. But since war
between these two kinglets would in
evitably lead to the total extermina-
ton of both parties and leave nothing
to show for their prowess but heaps
of fire-scorched stones and few half
witted peasants-whO had no right to
be alive, anyway-these wise kinglets
bethought them that by uniting their
forces-and incidentally a son and
daughter--they could together conquer
the surrounding territory for as much
as ten square miles.
Now, Oscar. the prospective bride
groom, was busily engaged In dra-
matte border war with a powerful
duchy the size of Nantucket. SO there
was naught for 1t but to dispatch the
handsome younger brother. Fritz. to
plight his brothers troth by proxy.
The dates were set, and all seemed
moving along its appointed course.
when post-haste comes trusty mes
senger and delivers himself Of the
tale he has ridden all day to bring
that Oscar has been smitten through