The Washington times., 1938-10-05

TIT WAS, 1 suppose, a fore
l. gone conclusion that, in due
time, I should inherit Liselotte.
There seemed to be no other
solution to the problem. Her
waiter-fiance, Charles, had
by now become one of my
most trusted collaborators and
it was, as I figured out, the
least l could do for his peace
of mind.
It is also possible that-with
that innate shrewdness which
tempered so strangely her no less
innate stupidity-LiSolette herself
had played cunningly to that end.
Stupid she is. but also faithful
and devoted" Charles said to me
when I announced my intention Of
engaging her for the three months
during which my sons governeSs
would be away in England, on
family business, Madame may
trust her with the boy-she adores
him
And so it happened that we
moved from Berne to the Bear
Hotel" in Chateau dock. the
child, LiSelotte and I.
A FAINT TRAIL
It was not quite the vacation in
the mountains it was purported
to be. There was a faint trail 20
follow and Charles had engineered
cleverly his own transfer to the
mountain resort in which our
Berne hostelry possessed branch
establishment.
That the trail was Of the faint
est was all in the days work, but
that it was worth following, we
were fully convinced. It led uner.
ringly to a Spanish Marquesa.
who had arrived recently in Switz-
erland; q middle-aged woman OF
vast proportions and wide connec-
tions among the great and ia
nous" in almost every camp. As
a neutral, she mixed innocently
with everybody, but there were
indications that she rather favored
the Central Powers.
One thing we had been able to
ascertain beyond doubt: the lady
received a bulky correspondence
from Spain, but that came by dip.
lomatic courier to the Spanish
Consulate in Geneva: from there.
it was brought periodically to
Chateau dock and delivered to
her personally by a young and
very wide-awake consular official,
On the day following his visit,
which always took place on q
Thursday afternoon, the lady
would invariably 60 to Berne for
the day and have her hair attend
ed to in q beauty parlor which we
were convinced was one Of the
secret rendezvous Of the German
Service.
The program had been some
what altered on that particular
Thursday. Charles, who was head
waiter at the villa Mont Blanc, "
the hotel in which the Marquesa
had taken her quarters. advised
me that the courier had come that
very morning, taken lunch with
the MarqueSa and departed on his
return journey by the LAS train.
It was now 3 o'clock and the Mar
ouesa had retired to her room.
THE MISLAID SATCHEL
Great events hinge sometimes
on flimsy causes. One of our great
est coups was due to two facts:
Liselotte's fanatical devotion to
me and the fact that had mislaid
a handbag. This was large pig,
skin satchel, which LiSelotte ad'
mired particularly and I had
promised her that, when I tired OF
it, should present it to her.
I mentioned the loss to LiSelotte
that morning and we turned out
all my possessions looking for it
It was nowhere to be found and
finally decided that I must have
left it in one of the tea rooms
frequented, or else locked it up by
mistake in a trunk I had sent tc
the hotel storage room the previ
Gus day.
| Anyway, there were more i'm
portant things to worry about anc
I had forgotten all about it by thu
time LiSelotte took the boy out fol
his customary walk early that
afternoon.