Evening star., 1922-08-27

unfortunate experience you Will nave
| come. l feel. with a certain opinion
upon the problem which disturbs me.
And l am sure, monsieur. you will
not deny me the beneht of that
opinion
The prefect OF police looked up
like one who with hesitation requests
a favor from another.
Lord Valleys replied imme mediately.
Il shall be very glad to give you
my opinion upon any point in the
matter" he said. Surely l have been
spared little. I have had every ex-
perience of humiliation The Grim
inal law Of England is a bunsling and
cruel device. Those who find them
selves concerned with 1t l profoundly
pity. There IL no consideration OF
family or culture that in any way
mitigates its severity or in any direc-
tion preserves one from odium, once
the machinery of q criminal court of
England is on its way. The expert
ence Of it In a horror to me, mon
sieur: but il it can result in any
benefit to you or to another am will
ing to recall it. What is the prob
lem. monsieur. upon which you would
have my opinion?''
1T is this. monsieur" replied the
project of police. rs it your conclu-
sion. upon this experience of life.
that there is Providence of God
that undertakes to adjust the affairs
of mankind--to assist the helpless
and to acquit the innocent.-or do
you believe that it is the intelligence
Of man that accomplislles this result?
What is it. monsieur that moves be-
hind the machinery Of the world
chance. luck. fortune or some sort
of Providence.
Lord Valleys seemed to reflect
while the prefect of police was speak
ing, and he now replied with little
hesitation.
Chance, monsieur" he said, 'is
| unquestionably the greatest and most
mysterious factor in all human affairs
but it is modified and diverted by the
human will. Human intel.
hgence. monsieur, and chance are the
two factors.
THE prefect of police continued to
look down at his hands. II have
been of a different opinion. Lord
Valleys he said. II think there is
an intention behind events. sort
of will to justice. to righteousness,
as one has aaid. 1t is not chance as
we usually define the word. and the
human will cannot circumvent 1t
1t is strange. as / see it.
Lord Valleys. This thing We call
human intelligence seems to be able
to aid. to assist. to advance the
vague. immense. persistent impulse
behind events. and to delay and to
disturb it. but not ultimately to de-
feat it,
Take the extraordinary events that
have happened to you. Lord Valleys.
and tell me. if YOU can. how they
could have arrived by chance!
your uncle, Lord Winton. took the
title and the whole properties of your
family by the accident of birth. Your
father. the second son. having no title
and no fortune, entered the diplo-
| matte service and was allotted to
one of the little courts of south
eastern Europe. He married your
mother there. and YOU were born and
grew up in the atmosphere OF Serbia.
There was little chance that you would
ever have fortune or title. Lord VIM
ton had two sons. One Of them mar
ried an American; the other remained
unmarried. There were three lives
between you and this title and it's
immense estates in England. :.
What chance was there, monsieur,
that these persons should be removed
and these benefits descend to you?'
He paused.
But they were removed. monsieur.
and the benefits have descended. The
war appeared. Both sons of Lord
Winton lost their lives in it; Lord
Winton is himself murdered; and you
come, monsieur. from a paupered
kingdom of southeastern Europe to
be a peer Of England with an i'm
mense estate. Even the American
granddaughter of Lord Winton takes
nothing under this extraordinary
English law of entail. Would you
call this chance. monsieur"
Lord Valleys found no difficulty at
all with the inquiries. He replied di
rectly.
Monsieur" he said. "it was all
clearly chance except the murder of
Lord Winton. That was. Of course.
design-a design which the wise Eng
lish authorities attributed to me.
and which they spared no effort to
fix upon me. That they were unable
to do SO is not, 1 think. attributable
to this thing which you call Prov
idence. 1t is attributable. rather. |
think, to the intelligence of my legal
counsel and TO myself
He lokoed directly at Monsieur
Jonquelle. His big. placed face lifted;
his voive was even and unhurried.
II am not embarrassed to discuss
it. monsieur" he continued. When
the war had ended with the death
OF Lord Winton's sons, I was. by
virtue OF what you have so aptly
called the accident of BIRTH next in
succession TO the tile. / thought 1t
sent myself to Lord Winton. and I
went to England for that purpose.
Lord Wintoh was an eccentric
person. AS he grew older, and after
the death of his sons, hfs eccentricity
became more dominant. l did not
md him on his Estates at Ravens
croft: he was at this time in Lon
don in a little old house which the
family has always owned in a street
toward Covent Garden.
"On the night that 1 called to see
Lord winten, 1t was quite late. II
found his alone in the house. He
vas courteous. and I cannot complain /;