The Ordway new era., 1920-04-09
CHAPTER xiI.--contlnued.

thought so. without waiting Tor any
more compliments finished, "YOu see,
you'd discovered you couldn't get In
while was in, so II you wished to get
In, you had to come while was out
and I gave you the chance. Perfectly
simple"
"a mere decoy-such ms anybody
might USE" Billy tossed at him.
81 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 Mt his hand
:uffs. Permit me to congratulate you,
madame. You are ze first person-man
or woman-in Europe or Amerlca-
who has caught De Ravenol in trap.
Madame, you are clever-you are
brave-you are a so sagaclous intel
lect. And now. madame. permit me to
ask you. what are you going to do wis
met"
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, It was
well-like pulling up fishing line
when you think you've got bite and
finding you've got a piece of Il forest in
tow. I 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
me-and he was really impressive in
nf IA run nj aI
sloppy-he slowly uttered: MADAME
before you call In re police, 1 have
somesng of great Importance to your
self to communicate"
He paused. I nodded.
"ZOSE DIAMONDS WHICH HAVE
BEEN STOLEN BELONG 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" 1
saw an army with banners. And be-
hind nll their immediate significance,
stood an ironclad background that
spelled determination. A minute be-
fore we had been dealing with man;
am free to admit that neither Billy
nor doubted the truth of the state
ment once 1t 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 my 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 I captured by an ade-
quately explained ownership that was
almost ready to pull the diamonds
from their hiding place at the bottom
of the sideboard drawer and send them
hack-per monsieur-to the Emperor
William with my compliments, when
Billy burst out, "Where's your prooff"
in way that struck me as irreverent.
not to say rude.
Monsieur repressed sneer and re-
piled that certain proofs would be
forthcoming 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 80. there lived In
one of the states comprising the now
United Fatherland, 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
boosted 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-
tion 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 n son and n
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 powerful
ducby 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
wheri post-hnste comes trusty mes
senger md delivers himself of the
tnie he has ridden all day to bring
that Oscar has been smitten through