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Show ! least, it Is necessary to assume that he did not. "It seems to me, said the king at last, with frank brutality, that a ruler who does not scruple to accept a subsidy from Italy, and whose every visit to my court of recent years has had for Its one object the borrowing of fresh funds, shduld not press, me on matters of policy, In fact, he said concluding, it is impertinent, and I resent it in the strongest- - possible " manner. , The rough old man controlled his indignation. Prince Niklas has the saving grace of humor, which lends a finishing touch to a rough character. My dear he answered, in the Calabrian peasant dialect of Italy, which he had mastered during a long sojourn In the south at an early and unchronicled period of his life, it is the privilege of a father-in-lato remonstrate with a young man who is about to lose his situation and become unable to support his daughter in her proper station of life. You are aware, Victor, he added, that Italia Irredenta Is not forgotten among your people. I imagine that all my readers are acquainted with the meaning of this expression, but for the benefit of any who are not I will explain that Italia Irredenta unredeemed Italy is the name given to that portion of the Austrian dominations on the north and east shores of the Adriatic which Is inhabltated by Italians and has not yet been regained by the Italian people. It 1b, of course, the existence under Austrian rule of this strip of territory that is thq cause of all Italys heartburnings against the dual mon. (Copyright, 1915, by It Is no diplomatic achievement my own that I have now to recc'd, but the cleverest trick ever played In all the annals of International relations, and by no less a personage than his highness, Prince Niklas of Montenegro, or Chernagara, as the Inhabitants of that barren district call their coun' ' try. Prince Niklas has always been, for me at least, one of the most fascinating personalities in Europe. It is the complex nature of the man that appeals to me, that Is to say the many characters that he possesses and that crop out in him at unexpected moments. A warrior ruler, bearing the scars of Innumerable battles, a poet of high renown, chivalrous, ardent the hero of his little people, he Is also famed for his financial necessities and his willingness to accept monetary assistance from any quarter In which It presents Itself. The greatest coup of his reign was, of course, the arrangement of the marriage of his charming and accom pllshed daughter Helena to the crown W. O. Chapman.) son-in-la- I dont know how I am going to get home, in fact. reKihg Victor reflected. Having In fused one favor, he was naturally com the mood to bestow another in Vienna at ambassador H.s pensatlon, bad telegraphed him that day that If Niklas account was overdrawn.. his Austria with war to went Niklas conVienna funds would at once be to of sum money a to place fiscated; the insure would bis credit there crafty old mans keeping the peace.,.; . Prince Niklas saw his irresolution, and produced a piece of paper from his waistcoat pocket. If you will send that to the ambassador at Vienna, he said, "you I will earn my eternal gratitude, and assure you you shall hear no more of pleas for neutrality on the part Italy." folKing Victor read the paper as lows: Place In the Chernagara vaults liras 100,000 at par Paris our order, and we demand be promptly entered to H. H. account and be credited all, allow- tumbling up the stairs and calling her by her childish diminutive. Finding her in tears, be surmised at once that his mission was going to be a hard one. He found a maid of honor in the corridor, and grasping her by the wrist, dragged her Into the queens apartment, and stood by, his rugged face wrinkled with anxiety, while she applied eau de cologne and smelling &QC6. salts. Nothing ever satisfied old Nik"Dl San Giovanni, said the king, las during bis visits io Rome unless the paper toward th marquis, tossing her majesty evidenced signs of faintdo you think of this? what ing, a high-breaccomplishment, in The Marquis shrugged his shoulders. the old fellow's opinion, unknown in "If your majesty wishes it to be paid, Montenegro, and proof positive of genIt will not seriously affect your revtle manners. enues, he answered. I have spoken of the acute Italian "Then wire It to our ambassador at mind of Pietro Della Campagna, my Vienna," said the king, and, Ignoring friend. - At that time he had an affal? the old princes protestations of gratiwith a certain maid of honor tbt tude, he stalked out of the room. same whom old Niklas had dragged so As soon as he had gone old Niklas unceremoniously into Ms daughters besides being a poet, prides himwho, rooms. - Whether she Jilted him or self upon his penmanship, sat down tq married him I do not know; perhaps embellish the document with much the affair is still dragging its slow archy. flourishing of capitals and chirolength along. Anyway, about ten minNow, Victor, continued the old graphic Idiosyncrasies. Now, whether utes after the application of the smell- man grimly, if you go too far in sup- the marchese suspected something, prince of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, now ing salts, Pietro, Ignorant of what is port of Austria and Germany you whether he was privy to the conspirruling as Victor Emmanuel III. By this happening Inside, goes on duty outside are going to lose your throne. You acy. or whether he was merely taken master-strok- e of policy he secured one her majesty's apartments. Then out haven't any Job. And how do you ex- In, Della Campagna did not Inform me. of the great powers as a Arm prop for comes the maid of honor, stops, conto support my daughter as a con- But the form In which the document pect his rather unstable throne, and bound siders, and, in turn, drags the valiant noisseur of coins? went ultimately to the telegraph office the dynasty of Italy securely to the sentryman bodily inside the queens This bantering allusion to the kings was as follows: wheels of the chariot of his own for- drawing room. Place In the Chernagara vaults hobby of coin collecting tunes. There he found old Niklas pacing up Ever since the marriage Victor Em and down and glancing anxiously at an inner door, behind which, he unmanuel has allowed his father-in-lacertain fixed annual stipend. There Is derstood, her majesty was resting. This gentleman and I, sir, are her nothing Indiscreet In mentioning this it Is a matter of common knowledge. majestys most faithful servants said When war between Germany and the maid of honor to the prince. Austria, on the one hand, and fiance, . That doesn't help, stormed the old and England on the other was seen to man. Who's going to make the king be inevitable, Niklas was in great per- see. that hes on the wrong track? Who's going, to stop him from losing plexity. Austria had also Invaded Serbia his crown it the queen can't? and bombarded Belgrade, the capital His language was simpler and more Montenegro, allied to Serbia by blood elementary than that, but I translate and treaty, had not yet declared her- It diplomatically. Then he sat down and explained the self upon her side, as she was shortly to do. And the cause of Niklas heslta--. entire situation to the maid of honor tlon was that Italy, as the third part- and the young officer. Naturally Piener of the triple alliance, was ex- tro felt proud. When a man thinks pected to take sides with her Teu good deal of himself ideas flow quick tonic confederates. If she did so, the ly. It did not take Pietro long before first fruits of the alliance would be he got the germ which was to prove the Invasion of Montenegro by Italian the undoing of the Germanic confederation. troops. ' When he expounded It Niklas was Of course we all know now how at first aghast. Then he swore and promptly Italy disavowed her responsl bilitles toward her allies, on the blew his nose, and clapped the young ground that the triple alliance was for fellow on the shoulder and offered him defense and not aggression. We know the premiership of Montenegro if bis how ardently Italys decision to re- scheme succeeded. So the three sat main neutral was greeted In France down at a table, and soon three inand England.- Still, the unprejudiced ventive minds were running along the person may - candidly confess that same groove. Niklas learned from Pietro that Italys game was a very shrewd one, end dictated more by fear of the Brit- King Victor was determined to draw ish fleet than by qualms of conscience. the sword In aid of Austria. The Idea Perhaps Italy might legitimately have of the cipher, as I have said, was Piestretched a point in favor of her part- tro's, but the maid of honor gave It ners. It was So, at least, thought Victor th touches of verisimilitude. a bold thing and a clever one, and Emmanuel III. In those first days of the war Italys Pietro said that it made his head feel for days afterward. decision was awaited with the most like a mill-rac- e Intense anxiety by all the warring na- However, the scheme was practically tions. And it is an open secret that worked out when a page tapped at the Forgive Ms, Victor! Ho Exclaimed In Penitence, Catching the King's King Victor was in favor of carrying door and announced that his majesty Hand and Raising It to His Ups. Do What You Wish 8o Long as You see be to Niklas constd would Prince out. at any sacrifice, what he pleased Me for My Indiscreet Bluntness of Speech. I Was Pardon Thinking in the audience room in the west ered to be his treaty obligations. of My Daughter's Future. Only rent by wing. Picture, then, the Qulrlnal. Prince Niklas snatched up the pa roused his majesty to white-ho- t fury. liras 100,000 at par Paris our order, dissension, the Marquis dl San Giovanni upon the anxious seat and irres- per, which had Just been completed, He Jumped out of his chair. and we demand be promptly entered I have heard enough! he ex- to II. H. account and be credited all olute, Victor demanding war, and his and bestowed a kiss upon the cheek You will leave Italy at once allowance. Under H. M. signature. Dl own household. In the person of his of my friend Pietro. Pietro went down claimed. gracious consort, frantically appealing on his knee and kissed the prince's and never presume to return. The Giovanni. to him not to engage in a struggle hand. Then, after the door had closed meeting Is at an end, he added, speakBy Our Royal Warrant, 4th. Aug. which must mean the invasion of her upon them, he kissed the maid of ing to the Marchese dl San Giovanni, It R. V. father's little country. Upon this honor, but not on the band. After who had been trying vainly to catch Why was the dispatch sent in English? Because English has begun to scene enters old, rugged Prince Niklas this had been done, since the maid of Niklas eye. of Chernagara, bent upon securing honor was growing anxious to attend But, as he was stalking indignantly supplant French as the language of Victor's neutrality. upon her mistress, Pietro resumed his out of the room, with one of those dra- diplomacy. But to an Italian ambasI got the story of his exploit from a post outside the apartment, looking, as matic changes of mood that charac- sador? There I can enlighten no one. well terize the southern Slav, Prince Niklas Prince Niklas was proud of his Eng-Hsfriend of mine at the Italian court-- one can be Imagined, unusually and, as soon as the Marchese of the Black aristocracy, that is pleased with himself. Meanwhile Nik threw himself upon his knees before had signed and had affixed the royal to say, a sponsor of the Papal claims las was on bis way to the audience him. barring bis way to the door. Forgive me, Victor!" he exclaimed seal, he took the precious paper In his who, with a foot In either camp, Qulr- room. There a stormy scene ensued. King in penitence, catching at the king's hands and ran like a boy to the telelnal and Vatican, was not averse from telling a tale, for the confounding of Victor, conscious that he was being hand and raising it to his lips. Do graph office. And that was the Innocent dispatch King Victor. Fletro Della Campagnas pressed on all sides against his will what you alsh so long as you pardon clever Italian mind was, In fact, the and conscience, stood as stiff as a me for my Indiscreet bluntness of which sent Europe wild with wrath first to penetrate the mystery of the poker when Prince Niklas saluted him. speech.1 I was thinking only of my and Joy a few hours later, when the ran that the Italian ambassador Montenegrin cipher, before the dis- He took the offensive, too, like a good daughter's future. "I can attend to that. replied his at Vienna had called upon the from the Italian minister at tactician, and poured hot shot into patch Emper' Vienna convulsed the Qulrlnal all ex- the, arguments which the old man majesty stiffly, trying to get past the or Frans Joseph and informed him that Italy would maintain neutrality In cept King Victor with laughter. But pressed upon him, that he should de- Importunate old man. But you will forgive me? pleaded the Impending atruggle. I had better tell the story imperson- clare his neutrality. This done, the outburst of threats My duty lies where my conscience Niklas, rising to his feet ally for the first portion, at any rate. I will accept your apology, an- against Italy prevented Victor from "I am You see the spectacle In the Qulr- lies," declared his majesty. lnal: Victor pressed on all sides to bound by treaty to support Germany swered Victor, now half relenting. disavowing his ambassador's stateThere was another matter I wanted ment. As for old Niklas, he had hur-rlcdeclare neutrality, and obstinately re- and Austria, and if I fall now I shall back to Montenegro by the first solved to vindicate what he consid- deserve to be called a poltroon, as to speak to you about, said Prince You know that the mobilisa- boat, and was already ered to be his country's faith, by Join- well as faithless. Besides," he added Nlklaa massing hla ing Austria and Germany; PI San Gio- irritably, "what the devil do you come tion of the Montenegrin troops has fighting men upon the slopes of Chernagara, to lead them In aid of Serbia vanni prophesying revolution should to me with arguments about the affairs cost me a lot of money. You are a fool to go to war, Nlk- against the hereditary focman, across he comply; and the beautiful queen of Italy for?" Because the balance of power is at laa said the king bluntly. I shall the border. for the first time in her life at odds Who betrayed the royal cipher? with her husband. Enter, then, old stake," answered Prince Niklas. It be compelled to occupy your terria may be doubted whether he knew what tory. of There suaveness with Della Campagna, graceless the Niklas. who, ( futher-in-lawe have camp though he proved himself In and the leverage of a that was, or whether he did not have But, my dear fellow-ruler- , In his mind a scale loaded with gold not yet gone to war, replied Niklas betraying Niklas confidence, would demanded audience. He got It, two hours after his arrival pieces. However, he had not become suavely. Mobilisation does not nec- not budge an Inch. In vain I pleaded In the large audience room In the west constitutional sovereign during the essarily mean war. However, as I my past assistance to him In a certain was saying, It has cost me a good diplomatic embroilment. Della Camwing of the Qulrlnal, looking out down past few years for nothing. The old man floundered along, cun- round sum a hundred thousand liras, pagna was adamant, llut he did exthe muddy Tiber. The Marchess dl Son Giovanni was the third of the ningly giving, the impression that he In fact, and if 1 have to call on you pound to me the cipher, which was party, and the only witness. Yet some- was pleading a weak cause, and con- to preserve my throne tor me, when 1 changed on the following day. Do you see anything strange about how the report of the meeting was scious of it, and that he had nothing fly In the face of my country's wish that message. Mr. X spread abroad with tolerable accuracy else In mind. His majesty grew more and refuse to fight" he asked. I aranned It closely. The letters, of So you want a hundred thousand afterward. Probably the old man bab- and more angry. . Trines Niklas was bled to hts cronies In the one-storcourse, were the customary abbreviaclumsily flicking him on the raw, and Iras? demanded Ktn Victor. , . the Marchese dl 8an Giovanni sat glum reaponded the. old tions. II. H. stood for hts highness. Immediately, palace at Ccttlnje. Niklas had not been Idle during and silent at the table. He knew his man. Ths bank at Vienna wires me II. M.. represented his majesty. It R. those two hours of waiting. He went master but then he did not know the that tuy - account Is overdraws. I V. meant merely "Itallae Rex Victor,' i first, of course, to find his Yet there daughter, driving force behind Niklas words. At thought 1 had some money left, bu- t- op "Victor, king of Italy v d well-know- . . . d son-in-la- r t was one peculiarity. -- The marchese had been written down Dl Giovanni, Instead of Di San Giovanni." Half a minute, and I would have inserted the San, admitted Della CamBut you know I am1 pagna ruefully. poor at English, In spite of five years at St. James, and there wasnt time. The marchese was privy to the whole thing, you scoundrel!" I shouted " ' fiercely. He smiled and shrugged his shoul ders. There was no getting around that affectation of naive simplicity. I said, I have Well, my friend, studied the cipher in' a hundred ways, and I can't find in that any declata tion of Italys neutrality. Of course I presuming that the letter appearing most frequently stood for e. But that carried me nowhere. Now, If It la a code cipher, all I can say Is you have refined the cede to a degree unknown among other nations Besides, what code would haveCher-nagar? In it, or the name ft the started by a mar-chese- ' ? 1 Della Campagna sat down beside me and drew a pad from his pocket. 'He placed It on his knee and took out a pencil. "The essence of all codes is that they must be undecipherable without a key, he said. No code has ever been Invented which cannot be decoded, unless the letters are interchangeable. The key gives the order of change. Our key Is or was, rather the day of the month. This being the fourth day of August, the key to all code messages sent on that day was 4. Now we have to consider another factor. The body of the message conwords, but by reading tains twenty-sione hundred thousand instead of 100,000, as this system demands, although In decoding we adhere to the exact form of the message, we get 28 words. Twenty-eigh- t words, then, make up the message, sans signature and phraseology. We have now the two numbers, 28 and 4. Add 4 to 2 and we get 6. Add 4 to 8 and we get 12, or 2 beyond the ten. In place of 28, therefore, we have a new number, 62. The sixth letter of the telegram forms the first letter of the real message. The second letter forms the second letter. Take our number 62 and repeat the process, which gives us 10 and 6. The tenth letter following, therefore, forms the third letter of the real message. The sixth letter after that forms the x fourth letter. Repeating the process still once more, we take our number 106, by adding 4 to each portion we get 4 and 10. Now, my friend, observe how it works out in practice. Figuring upon his pad, he wrote down the following series of numbers: 6, 2. 10, 6, 4. 10, 8, 4, 2, 8, 6, 2. 10, 6, 4. 10, 8, 4, 2, 8, 6, 2, 10. 6, 4, 10, 8, 4. 2. AH even numl&rs, you see, Della On odd days Campagna continued. of the month, of course, the figures are odd. You will observe that we have a complete cycle of ten numbers before the process repeats itself. In other words, where one might decodl-fthe code had we fixed values for the letters, he now finds himself under the necessity of decodlfying a code In which each letter may stand for any other, and may be from two to ten spaces apart from Its neighbor on either hand. It is a good system, and far better than a code book, which always gets stolen In the end. Resuming his pencil, Della Campagna wrote out the telegraphed message again, dividing It, not between the words, hut after each series of letters corresponding to the series of figures, and capitalizing the end letters Instead of those at the beginning of the words. The message now read as follows: placel nT he ChernagA ravauL, tall ras 100.000A tparparl souR oR demanD bE promptlyeN teredT ohhA ccountandB ecredltE dalL nderhM si gnaturedlG lovanN ibyO urroyalwaR rsnt4thA uglT rV. What do you make out of that? Inquired Della Campagna, handing the pad to me with a smile. Pretty good English for an Italian, even If I did spend five years as an attache at the Court of St. James don't you think so? ' I put the capital letters together and found the following line upon my pad: y der-andw- E low-ance- U ITAI.1AIRREDENTABELLUMIGNOR ATV I stared at It In perplexity. It seemed strangely familiar to me; yet for the life of me I could not make It out, or think of any word ending in the letter V. Surely, my dear friend, you have not forgotten your Latin? Della Campagna demanded. And then the puzzle existed no longer. Mechanically my eye sorted out the words: or nonor, and that she wouia true to him. It 1, not oftenw18 destinies of Europe are by 8 young officer-- , prink ctUr the deadly wrath of the Franz Joseph when he th message if, indeed, the Itfn bassador did not discreetly purport And 1 think S,,U who sacrificed his financial I" need. the sake of his fatherland, wm I tS? V VX?' himself the most impoverished arch in Europe If he from the war. a4 f SECRET of happiness Many Things Contribute to Connai whic i, w.. ! Should ( Enjoy. u would be well with us all if could learn that happiness Is a ,1 cettc thing. It is the science of rifice. It Is the art of denial, u the gospel of simplicity. Try to tom yourself to the great, grand, realities of being, and Joy will nui over you in billows. The greatest grandest, and gravest reality hi w of man Is that old, aweet splendor called love, It has a thousand forms hut In every form love is an ascetic thing. It is a giving up and a gtnn. out It Is the enduring harmony life for man In the mass and for man as an adventurer in search of joy. it we had the courage to solve all ow political and social and domestlc'prob-lemby resorting fearlessly to the touchstone of love, there would little suffering left in the state and in the separate soul. But we have not the courage, cowards that we are. Yet we need not be cowards all our lives long. We can attain tbs valiant peace that love confers if we resolve to live in single and separate moments dominated by its law. Our soul can be set like an Aeolian harp, ready to be breathed upon by the I e.tr ! t Z s wind of hope good salt sea. that blows across I0NOTAT. vRREDEST The V at the end stands for 'Victor. it la customary in sending a message to append one'a name or Initials, you know," explained Della Campagna patiently. the war, I , Well. I dont think much of your Iatln, Della Campagna. It sountla more like mediaeval Latin than the language of Virgil and Cicero, but, an r I award the cake ? to you, ti'0U.Rvht you W0U,1 e amused." he youn fellow suavely. And now, excuse me. I have an appointment with a lady. youn fe"ow awing m,h. h, faceful stride, and I confess I hoped that It waa the maid '!tf.arr,,n,a arch-plotte- the The things that corrode our hearts are easily abandoned. The rapture that Is born of stern denial costs nothing. It Is free to all It Is not to be bought with gold. All that we need Is the strength of will to make our lives clear and clean and sane In the service and adoration of selfless love. Can we do It as nations? Can we do it as men? James Douglas. ONE PRIVILEGE OF DYSPEPTIC At Least He Has Keen Enjoyment the Satisfaction of Quenching Thirst In It Is one of the few privileges of the dyspeptic that he thoroughly understands what thirst is, and consequently thoroughly enjoys the quenching of it Not for him the moderation of the man who, exasperatlngly in the hottest weather, only moistens his lips with a little water, or at the most washes out hie mouth, but does not swallow the cooling liquid. No, the dyspeptic requires his drinks to be very long, and either very cold or very hot, and when in hot weather the dyspeptic hears the tinkle of ice and glass, and . sees the dullness of ' frost on the outside of a tumbler, be knows that one ' of the pleasantest physical sensations procurable for bio in this world is at hand. His Imagination la stirred, not only by the thought of liquid matter pose Ing down hla throat, but by the artificial differences of temperature which he la about to produce, by the Idea of a cold glacial stream being poured Into the arid desert of hla system. well-balance- d The Men of the Aran Islanda Later I met a man from the Aran Islands, which He off the coast of Gal- way, far out of the world In the wind and the rain, and he told me proudly of the place. "Theyre good people there," he said. I dont suppose you'd find any better people anywhere In the world. And theyre old fashioned, too; maybe that's the reason for It You'd see them wearing clothes they made themselves, grown and woven right there in the Islands, and tbs women wear shawls they vs made themselves. Youd see the pampoo-ties- , shoes made of cowskin, that they use for walking on the rocks. Theyre bold satlors, too, and daring; Mrs, they have to be, and they go right out In the Atlantic Itself. They have skin boats they go fishing in, with a high bow to them, the like of that one there. My uncle had a hooker he to run, and he was lost off her he was he anchoring one time, and somehow got the chain around his leg, and it pulled him overboard, and drowned him. But be was a damn fool to get caught so, God save him." A. S. debrand In the Forum. Convincing Evidence. Lord Morley used to tell a qu1 tory of a man who was arrested by French during the Franco-Pran war. They found upon bln letter from his mother, dated Berlin. ' Jumping to the conclusion that ne a German spy. In spite of his hement protestations that he was Englishman, condemned him to de,l' Aa he waa being led to the Pa' execution he Insisted that he had must I something behind him and buck for I W He was told that he coui not possibly go back, and waa ebo to be shot. but By all means, he replied, b I what must go 'back and fetch . loft behind. 'What la Itr he waa asked. o I have," he replied, loft my broils." conStraightway the French became EnHbnB an no one but vinced that u BELLl'M ; u i |