Show THE MAIDS OF PARADISE a L L by y robert WC W chambers hambers author of Cardigan the conspirators ids at aares arms etc elc lU mation crichl cri copyright amorim iw by P a t w birwin myers corili isby 1902 by PF C 0 iliff son PART ONE CHAPTER 1 I at the telegraph on the third day ot of august 1870 1 I left paris in search of john buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst on tho the ath of august I 1 lost all traces of mr air luckhurst buckhurst Buck hurst burst near the frontier in the village of Mors bronn on august fth about eight in the morning tho the military telegraph instrument in the operators room over the temporary barracks of the third hussars hussary clicked out the call lor for urgency not the usual military signal but a secret sequence under understood tood only by certain officers of the imperial military police the operator on duty therefore stepped into my room and waited while I 1 took his place at the wire who ho I 1 Is this came over the wire lit in the secret code and I 1 answered at once inspector of foreign division imperial military police on duty at Mors bronn alsace after considerable delay the next message arrived in the morse code Is that you scarlett and I 1 rep replied lid yes who are you why do you not use the code repeat the code signal and your number the signal was repeated then came the message this Is the tuileries Tull Tuil erles eries you have my authority to use the morse code for the sake of brevity do you understand I 1 am jarras the empress Is here instantly reassured by the message from colonel jarras head of the bureau to which I 1 was attached 1 I answered that I 1 understood then the telegrams began to fly all in the morse code tarras jarras have you caught buck hurst burst 1 I no jarras how did he get away I 1 theres confusion enough on the frontier to cover the escape of a hun dred thieves there was a long pause I 1 lighted a cigar and waited after a while awhile the in strument ment began again jarras the empress desires to know where the chateau called la trappe Is I 1 la trappe Is about four kuo kilo metres from Mors bronn near the hamet let of jarras it is understood that madame de Vass arts group of socialists are about to leave la trappe tor for paradise in hau ban it Is possible that luckhurst Ruck Buci hurst has taken refuge among them therefore you will proceed to la trappe do you understand I 1 perfectly jarras it if buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst Is found you will bring him to paris at once shoot him it if he resists arrest it if the community at la trappe has not been warned of a possible visit from us you will find and arrest the following individuals claude tavernier late professor of law paris school of law achillo achilla bazard ex instructor in mathematics fontainebleau artillery school dr leo delmont ex charity hospital paris mile sylvia elven lately of the odeon the countess de well known for her eccentricities tri cities you juwill will affix the government seals to the ort house as usual you will then than es escort c the people named to the nearest point on the belgian frontier the countess do de usually dresses like a common peasant look out that she does not slip through your fingers repeat your instructions I 1 repeated them from my memoranda there was a pause then click click the instrument gave the code signal 11 1 1 I 1 va look out that she do does es not slip through your fingers that the matter was ended and I 1 repeated the signal opened my codebook and began to translate the instructions into cipher for or safe tys sake 0 0 where the mountains towered in obscurity a curtain of rain joined earth and sky the rivers ran yellow brimful foaming at the fords some chere in that spectral forest prussian cavalry were hidden bidden watching the heights where our drenched divisions lay behind that forest a german army was massing fresh from the combat in the north where the tragedy of wis sem bourg had been enacted only the day before in the presence of the entire french army the awful spectacle of a single division of seven thousand men suddenly enveloped and crushed by seventy thousand germans germano the rain fell steadily but less leas heavily my civilian clothes for a hussar uniform sent a trooper to find me a horse and sat down by the window to stare at the downpour and think how best I 1 might carry out my instructions to a successful finish the colony at la trappe was as far as I 1 could judge a product of conditions which had a hundred years before culminated in the french revolution now in 1870 but under different circumstances all france was once more disintegrating socially opposition to the empire to the dynasty to the government had been seething tor for years now the separate crystals which formed on the edges of the boiling un der ber currents began to grow into masses which adhering to other masses interfered with the healthy functions of national life first among these came the international society of workingmen with all its ita affiliations the in as it was called in its wake trailed minor societies some mild and harmless some dangerous lang erous and secret some violent advocating openly the destruction of all existing esis exis tins tinZ conditions with one exception all those whom the police and tho the government regarded as inclined to violence left the group there remained with this one exception a nucleus of earnest thoughtful people whose creed was in part the creed ot of the internationals ale the creed ot of universal brotherhood equality before the law purity of individual living aa an example and an incentive to a national purity to this inoffensive group came one day a young widow the countess de placing at their disposal her great wealth asking only to be received among them as a comrade her history as known to the pollee police was peculiar and rather sad at sixteen she had been betrothed to an elderly bull necked colonel of cavalry the notorious count do de who needed what money she might bring him to maintain his reputation as the most brilliantly dissolute old rake in paris her dossier for alas the young girl already had a dossier was interesting particularly in its summing up of her personal chat character acter to the naive ignorance of a convent she adds an inno cence of in mind in d a purity of cond conduct act and a credulity which render rende r her an easy prey to the adroit who play upon her sympathies she Is dan dangerous gerou 3 olly as a source of revenue for dangerous dangerous men I 1 it was from her salon that young victor noir went to 10 his death at auteuil dauteuil on the I 1 oth of january and possibly the shock of the murder and the almost universal conviction that justice under the empire was hopeless drove the young countess to seek a refuge in the country where at her house of la trappe she could quietly devote her life to helping the desperately wretched and where ish she e could in security hold bold counsel with those who had chosen to give their lives to the noblest of all works charity and the propaganda of universal brotherhood and here at la trappe the young aristocrat first donned the robe of democracy dedicated her life and fortune to the cause and worked with her own delicate hands bands for every morsel of bread that passed her lips but the simple life at la trappe the negative protest against the empire and all existing social conditions the purity of motive the serene and inspired self abnegation could n not ot save the colony at la trappe nor the young chatelaine from the claws of those who prey upon the innocence of the generous and so came to this ideal com community munt one john buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst a stranger quiet suave deadly pale a finely molded man with delicately fashioned hands and feet and two eyes so colorless that in some lights they appeared to be almost sightless in a month from that time he was the power that moved that community even in its most insignificant machinery with marvelous 1 skill l ho he constructed ted out ot of that simple 61 inelo republic of 0 protestants an absolute despotism and he was the despot an intimation from the Tuil tuileries eries iea interrupted a meeting ot of the council at the house in paradise an arrest was that of professor reclus and the indignant young countess was requested to retire to her chateau of la trappe she obeyed hut but invited her guests to accompany her among those who accepted was backhurst buckhurst Duck Buck hurst about this time the government began to take a serious interest in john Buck burst on the secret staff of the imperial military police wore were always certain foreigners among others myself and a young man named james speed and colonel jarras had already decided to employ us in watching buck hurst burst when war came on franco france like a bolt from the blue giving the men of 0 the secret service all they could attend to there Is no reason why it should not be generally known that the crown jewels of france 0 were menaced from the very first by a conspiracy so alarming and apparently so irresistible that the emperor himself believed I 1 in eve even n n the beginning of the fatal campaign that it might be necessary to send the crown jewels ot of france to the bank of 0 england for safety or on the of 0 july the day that war was declared certain of the crown jewels kept temporarily at the palace of the Tuil tuileries eries leB were sent under heavy guards to the bank of france every precaution was taken yet the great diamond crucifix of louis XI was wag missing when the guard under captain siebert turned over the treasures to the governor ot of the bank ot of france instantly absolute secrecy was ordered so the news ot of the robbery never became public property but from one end of france to tho the other the g gend end ar arm merie erfe the police local municipal and secret were stirred up to activity within forty eight hours an individual answering Buck bursts de scrip tion had bad sold a single enormous diamond for two hundred and fifty thousand francs to a dealer in strasbourg a jew named fishel cohen an hour after he had recorded the transaction at the strasbourg diamond exchange he and the diamond were on their way to paris in charge of a detective A few hours later the stone was identified at the tuileries Tuil eries ls as having been taken from the famous crucifix of louis XI from fishel cohens agonized description of the man who had sold him the diamond colonel jarras believed he be recognized john buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst but how on earth buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst had obtained access to the jewels or how bow he had managed to spirit away the cross from the very center of the tuileries Tuil eries could only be explained through the theory of accomplices among the trusted intimates of the imperial entourage and it if there ebore existed such a conspiracy who was involved my chase after buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst began as soon as colonel jarras could summon me and as luckhurst buckhurst Buck hurst u had la baat a t been heard beard of in strasbourg I 1 went abw ak am w 41 across the meadow said the young girl him on a train loaded with red appert uproarious soldiers I 1 tracked buckhurst luckhurst Buck hurst to Mors bronn w where h e re I 1 lost all traces of him and now here I 1 was with my orders concerning the unfortunate people at la trappe staring out at the dismal weather and wondering where my wild goose chase would end halt half an hour later I 1 rode out ol of Mors Alors bronn clad in the uniform of the third hussars hussary Hus sars a disguise supposed to convey the idea to those at la trappe that the army and not the police were wera responsible tor for their expulsion A moist tern fern bordered wood road attracted me I 1 reasoned that it must lead by a short cut across the hills to the military highway which passed between and la trappe so I 1 took it and presently came into four our crossroads cross roads unknown to me this grassy carrefour car was occupied by a flock of turkeys busily engaged in catching grasshoppers their keeper a prettily shaped peasant girl looked up at m me 0 a as I 1 drew bridle then qu quietly betly resumed the book boo k she had been reading my child said 1 I will you kindly direct me with appropriate gestures to the military highway which passes the chateau de la Is trappe to be continued |