Ranson's Folly (Fiscle Part 3) by Richard Harding Davis (dar e dil novel online reading TXT) 📕

Me For A Week Later And Was Taking A Few Days' Vacation At Nice. His

People Asked Me To Leave The Necklace With Them At The Embassy,  But I

Had Been Charged To Get A Receipt For It From The Ambassador Himself,

So I Started At Once For Nice. The Fact That Monte Carlo Is Not Two

Thousand Miles From Nice May Have Had Something To Do With Making Me

Carry Out My Instructions So Carefully.

"Now,  How The Princess Zichy Came To Find Out About The Necklace I

Don't Know,  But I Can Guess. As You Have Just Heard,  She Was At One

Time A Spy In The Service Of The Russian Government. And After They

Dismissed Her She Kept Up Her Acquaintance With Many Of The Russian

Agents In London. It Is Probable That Through One Of Them She Learned

That The Necklace Was To Be Sent To Moscow,  And Which One Of The

Queen's Messengers Had Been Detailed To Take It There. Still,  I Doubt

If Even That Knowledge Would Have Helped Her If She Had Not Also

Known Something Which I Supposed No One Else In The World Knew But

Myself And One Other Man. And,  Curiously Enough,  The Other Man Was A

Queen's Messenger,  Too,  And A Friend Of Mine. You Must Know That Up

To The Time Of This Robbery I Had Always Concealed My Despatches In A

Manner Peculiarly My Own. I Got The Idea From That Play Called 'A

Scrap Of Paper.' In It A Man Wants To Hide A Certain Compromising

Document. He Knows That All His Rooms Will Be Secretly Searched For

It,  So He Puts It In A Torn Envelope And Sticks It Up Where Anyone

Can See It On His Mantle-Shelf. The Result Is That The Woman Who Is

Ransacking The House To Find It Looks In All The Unlikely Places,  But

Passes Over The Scrap Of Paper That Is Just Under Her Nose. Sometimes

The Papers And Packages They Give Us To Carry About Europe Are Of

Very Great Value,  And Sometimes They Are Special Makes Of Cigarettes,

And Orders To Court-Dressmakers. Sometimes We Know What We Are

Carrying And Sometimes We Do Not. If It Is A Large Sum Of Money Or A

Treaty,  They Generally Tell Us. But,  As A Rule,  We Have No Knowledge

Of What The Package Contains; So To Be On The Safe Side,  We Naturally

Take Just As Great Care Of It As Though We Knew It Held The Terms Of

An Ultimatum Or The Crown-Jewels. As A Rule,  My Confreres Carry The

Official Packages In A Despatch-Box,  Which Is Just As Obvious As A

Lady's Jewel-Bag In The Hands Of Her Maid. Everyone Knows They Are

Carrying Something Of Value. They Put A Premium On Dishonesty. Well,

After I Saw The 'Scrap-Of-Paper' Play,  I Determined To Put The

Government Valuables In The Most Unlikely Place That Anyone Would

Look For Them. So I Used To Hide The Documents They Gave Me Inside My

Riding-Boots,  And Small Articles,  Such As Money Or Jewels,  I Carried

In An Old Cigar-Case. After I Took To Using My Case For That Purpose

I Bought A New One,  Exactly Like It,  For My Cigars. But,  To Avoid

Mistakes,  I Had My Initials Placed On Both Sides Of The New One,  And

The Moment I Touched The Case,  Even In The Dark,  I Could Tell Which

It Was By The Raised Initials.

"No One Knew Of This Except The Queen's Messenger Of Whom I Spoke. We

Once Left Paris Together On The Orient Express. I Was Going To

Constantinople And He Was To Stop Off At Vienna. On The Journey I

Told Him Of My Peculiar Way Of Hiding Things And Showed Him My Cigar-

Case. If I Recollect Rightly,  On That Trip It Held The Grand Cross Of

St. Michael And St. George,  Which The Queen Was Sending To Our

Ambassador. The Messenger Was Very Much Entertained At My Scheme,  And

Some Months Later When He Met The Princess He Told Her About It As An

Amusing Story. Of Course,  He Had No Idea She Was A Russian Spy. He

Didn't Know Anything At All About Her,  Except That She Was A Very

Attractive Woman. It Was Indiscreet,  But He Could Not Possibly Have

Guessed That She Could Ever Make Any Use Of What He Told Her.

"Later,  After The Robbery,  I Remembered That I Had Informed This

Young Chap Of My Secret Hiding-Place,  And When I Saw Him Again I

Questioned Him About It. He Was Greatly Distressed,  And Said He Had

Never Seen The Importance Of The Secret. He Remembered He Had Told

Several People Of It,  And Among Others The Princess Zichy. In That

Way I Found Out That It Was She Who Had Robbed Me,  And I Know That

From The Moment I Left London She Was Following Me,  And That She Knew

Then That The Diamonds Were Concealed In My Cigar-Case.

"My Train For Nice Left Paris At Ten In The Morning. When I Travel At

Night I Generally Tell The Chef De Gare That I Am A Queen's

Messenger,  And He Gives Me A Compartment To Myself,  But In The

Daytime I Take Whatever Offers. On This Morning I Had Found An Empty

Compartment,  And I Had Tipped The Guard To Keep Everyone Else Out,

Not From Any Fear Of Losing The Diamonds,  But Because I Wanted To

Smoke. He Had Locked The Door,  And As The Last Bell Had Rung I

Supposed I Was To Travel Alone,  So I Began To Arrange My Traps And

Make Myself Comfortable. The Diamonds In The Cigar-Case Were In The

Inside Pocket Of My Waistcoat,  And As They Made A Bulky Package,  I

Took Them Out,  Intending To Put Them In My Hand-Bag. It Is A Small

Satchel Like A Bookmaker's,  Or Those Hand-Bags That Couriers Carry. I

Wear It Slung From A Strap Across My Shoulders,  And,  No Matter

Whether I Am Sitting Or Walking,  It Never Leaves Me.

"I Took The Cigar-Case Which Held The Necklace From My Inside Pocket

And The Case Which Held The Cigars Out Of The Satchel,  And While I

Was Searching Through It For A Box Of Matches I Laid The Two Cases

Beside Me On The Seat.

"At That Moment The Train Started,  But At The Same Instant There Was

A Rattle At The Lock Of The Compartment,  And A Couple Of Porters

Lifted And Shoved A Woman Through The Door,  And Hurled Her Rugs And

Umbrellas In After Her.

"Instinctively I Reached For The Diamonds. I Shoved Them Quickly Into

The Satchel And,  Pushing Them Far Down To The Bottom Of The Bag,

Snapped The Spring-Lock. Then I Put The Cigars In The Pocket Of My

Coat,  But With The Thought That Now That I Had A Woman As A

Travelling Companion I Would Probably Not Be Allowed To Enjoy Them.

"One Of Her Pieces Of Luggage Had Fallen At My Feet,  And A Roll Of

Rugs Had Landed At My Side. I Thought If I Hid The Fact That The Lady

Was Not Welcome,  And At Once Endeavored To Be Civil,  She Might Permit

Me To Smoke. So I Picked Her Hand-Bag Off The Floor And Asked Her

Where I Might Place It.

"As I Spoke I Looked At Her For The First Time,  And Saw That She Was

A Most Remarkably Handsome Woman.

"She Smiled Charmingly And Begged Me Not To Disturb Myself. Then She

Arranged Her Own Things About Her,  And,  Opening Her Dressing-Bag,

Took Out A Gold Cigarette-Case.

"'Do You Object To Smoke?' She Asked.

"I Laughed And Assured Her I Had Been In Great Terror Lest She Might

Object To It Herself.

"'If You Like Cigarettes,' She Said,  'Will You Try Some Of These?

They Are Rolled Especially For My Husband In Russia,  And They Are

Supposed To Be Very Good.'

"I Thanked Her,  And Took One From Her Case,  And I Found It So Much

Better Than My Own That I Continued To Smoke Her Cigarettes

Throughout The Rest Of The Journey. I Must Say That We Got On Very

Well. I Judged From The Coronet On Her Cigarette-Case,  And From Her

Manner,  Which Was Quite As Well Bred As That Of Any Woman I Ever Met,

That She Was Someone Of Importance,  And Though She Seemed Almost Too

Good-Looking To Be Respectable,  I Determined That She Was Some Grande

Dame Who Was So Assured Of Her Position That She Could Afford To Be

Unconventional. At First She Read Her Novel,  And Then She Made Some

Comment On The Scenery,  And Finally We Began To Discuss The Current

Politics Of The Continent. She Talked Of All The Cities In Europe,

And Seemed To Know Everyone Worth Knowing. But She Volunteered

Nothing About Herself Except That She Frequently Made Use Of The

Expression,  'When My Husband Was Stationed At Vienna,' Or 'When My

Husband Was Promoted To Rome.' Once She Said To Me,  'I Have Often

Seen You At Monte Carlo. I Saw You When You Won The Pigeon-

Championship.' I Told Her That I Was Not A Pigeon-Shot,  And She Gave

A Little Start Of Surprise. 'Oh,  I Beg Your Pardon,' She Said; 'I

Thought You Were Morton Hamilton,  The English Champion.' As A Matter

Of Fact,  I Do Look Like Hamilton,  But I Know Now That Her Object Was

To Make Me Think That She Had No Idea As To Who I Really Was. She

Needn't Have Acted At All,  For I Certainly Had No Suspicions Of Her,

And Was Only Too Pleased To Have So Charming A Companion.

"The One Thing That Should Have Made Me Suspicious Was The Fact That

At Every Station She Made Some Trivial Excuse To Get Me Out Of The

Compartment. She Pretended That Her Maid Was Travelling Back Of Us In

One Of The Second-Class Carriages,  And Kept Saying She Could Not

Imagine Why The Woman Did Not Come To Look After Her,  And If The Maid

Did Not Turn Up At The Next Stop,  Would I Be So Very Kind As To Get

Out And Bring Her Whatever It Was She Pretended She Wanted.

"I Had Taken My Dressing-Case From The Rack To Get Out A Novel,  And

Had Left It On The Seat Opposite To Mine,  And At The End Of The

Compartment Farthest From Her. And Once When I Came Back From Buying

Her A Cup Of Chocolate,  Or From Some Other Fool-Errand,  I Found Her

Standing At My End Of The Compartment With Both Hands On The

Dressing-Bag.