BRINGING UP FATHER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 148, 23 June 1923, Page 19

BRINGING UP FATHER.

the "Inevitable war" was creeping over acute minds. Attentive observers might have noticed that the return of the King from Paris coincided with a name appearing in the b}ll of the leading variety house in the capital. Lolo Defrage received a long con tract to appear In Brussels, and at the same time was installed in very expensive.and comfortable apartments in the most fashionable part of the city. These rooms were paid for by Count Larta, who appeared like a shadow ever by the dancer's side when she was not actually upon the Btage. It will probably have been assumed that the King resumed his friendship with the dancer. But he did not. No doubt the trifling flirtation had passed from his mind, or remained as a pleasant Parisian memory. But it is quite certain that the object of the dancer in coming to Brus- ; sells was to endeavour to re-awaken interest in the breast of Leopold. A week passed. Then suddenly the city was shocked by the news of a mysterious : tragedy. The gay young dancer had been found dead in her flat. It was at first ; announced that she had shot herself with a small pistol that was found clenched in her hand, but closer investigation showed that , this could not be. A bullet in her brain did not fit the weapon she held. Recon- ! structing the tragedy, it was agreed that she had died defending herself against ' some assailant. Further, the room was in i such disorder that it would seem that the I murderer had come to search for some i specific object. The drawers were ransacked: desks forced open: papers, trinkets. ! and bits of feminine finery strewn all over the floor. And in the midst of It all, lying ! half upon the bed and partially upon the floor, was the body of Lolo in her night attire. The first attention of the police was to find Count Larta. Search for him was unavailing. But on the third day his body I was taken out of a little river just outside j the city. He had evidently destroyed hiraI self with methodical forethought against I his identify being established, for he had stripped himself 'of everything that might provide a clue. But he had made one ' omission. In the lining of his hat was found an old passport, and from this was established that his real name was not Larta, but that he was a German subject, and an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse. I Coincident with this murder it was found that a very important document was missing from the King's private desk. It related to the negotiations with the Dutch Government. Naturally some peculiar rumours got about, and to allay them the Government issued an official statement to the effect that the dead woman had been j murdered by a former admirer. This statement was received with general incredulity. It is probable that the truth of the affair will never be revealed. But this much i 3 now known: That the dancer was only a I tool in the hands of one of the cleverest I agents that Germany possessed to carry . i out her wide-flung espionage system. Knowing King Leopold's fondness for pretty women, she had been used as the bait to : induce him to make her his confidant and . to give her an opportunity to secure the ■ important documents needed. But Kins : Leopold was an astute man, made cautious i to a remarkable degree by years of deall ings with unscrupulous women. He gave t no desired opportunity in Paris, and it waa I therefore necessary for the dancer and her i supposed friend to follow him to Brussels. There Count Larta managed to secure the - papers, but after this a cloud of mystery j descends upon the affair. l The generally accepted theory is that c the Wilhelmstrasse, having secured possest j sion of the all-important document, deter- .-' mined to act upon the adage that "the f dead tell no tales." The time had not yet t arrived for the breaking of the peace of i j Europe. Belgium was to be lulled into t! security. So, therefore, the pawns in the r i great game could be ruthlessly sacrificed, 1 i and the dancer vanished from among the living. As for Count Larta, he knew full a well the Inexorable rule of the WUhelmC strasse, that, if necessary, an agent could 3j be tossed upon one side with callous - indifference. He had finished his work, and 7 there remained for him nothing but death.