ON THE AZURE SHORE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 18

ON THE AZURE SHORE.

A SHORT STOBY.

BY MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS.

Tlie Hotel Cotes d'Azur is one of the first and most largely patronised caravansaries on the French Riviera. , It is well situated, well mounted and well, done; a handsome building with a long facade due south; it lies amid orange groves in full bearing with bright flower gardens looking down over the blue Mediterranean and is sheltered by the lofty screen of the Alpes Maritimes. The hotel management js good; the service attentive, the cuisine undeniable. In matter of position the house is happily placed; it is within easy distance of Monte Carlo by road and rail; close to the great temple of play and the finest orchestra in Europe. No wonder that all through the winter and spring crowds fill the hotel. , They are, or easily pass for, the best and smartest- of well-to-do people. No others indeed could pay the prices and hold their own in tha Cotes d'Azur. A year or two back I stayed there some time when the occurrences I am about to relate caused some little stir in our mixed,but highly distinguished company. We had a real prince among us, a lively little chap willing at any time to accept supper and take a hand at baccarat, Prince Reithel, heir to an unoccupied throne in a republican country. There were also Baroness Lowenfelt, widow, of a world-famous financier, who kept high state, and several members of the British aristocracy rather stand off but more from shyness than swagger; a South African millionaire also, Angus Coupar, and his wife, simple good-natured souls with a crowd of friends and poor relations living at their charges, and with all these the usual mixed collection of lesser folk of whom I counted myself the most insignificant. My attention was drawn to one couple, man and wife;, very soon after their arrival. They were given a table in tho restaurant adjoining mine, or more exactly in front of mine and so placed that the lady was exactly opposite me. I could see that she was remarkably handsome, with a pale proud face, jet black hair, dark scornful eyes, and very red lips, in a mouth that "Was rather hard set and might mean a resolute passionate .nature. She was gorgeously dressed in pale amber that set off her clear waxlike skin; her jewels were superb, amethysts and opals chiefly, on this particular occasion-, but she had sets to suit all costumes. A tall statuesque beauty as I noted later when they rose and left tho table. A commanding imperious figure that overtopped her companion, for tho husband was a little man, short, slight, undersized with a neat person, and precise rather finicky ways. They were the Count aud Countess Ullman, I was told, nationality uncertain, but I had heard them speak English at dinner, the lady with the assured fluency and perfect accent of a native, the man with just a little hesitation and unmistakable foreign twang. I cannot say that they interested me very greatly at first; they did not seem of any very rare type, and were not distinguishable from the crowds that come to the Riviera and are especially to be met in the hear neighbourhood of Monte Carlo. I saw them twice in the rooms that same night hovering around the trente et quarante tables both of them, following the play carefully, but not staking more than an occasional louis. I guessed what they were after, tasting only and testing their theories, watching how the system in which they believed would work out in practice.' They were finished gamblers, of that I felt sure, to judge by their keen eyes for tho chances of tho game, and, as time passed, their persistency in following it. Next day they were among the detachment from our hotel who went over by the early train so as to bo at the doors before the gambling rooms opened ready to take part in the daily race for scats, which starts punctually as the clock strikes twelve. I often-went myself to see the fun; it was a long run for tho far off trente et quarante room, but the Count and Countess were always in the forefront, and they invariably secured places, \yliich they occupied till dinner time. Day after day we saw them, playing, always, and in all fashions, now cautiously after minuto calculations, now recklessly, throwing all system to the winds. They had no great luck, rather the other way. We heard all about it, when, after the custom of the place, we gathered together in the great central hall of the hotel, and exchanged experiences, talking over the surprises, the fortunes and misfortunes of the day; how red had come out seventeen times; how there had been a wretched " intermittence," an uneven alteration of colours, which upset all theories, how this one had won seven "maximums " running, and that had lost twice as many. The Ullmans had always a lot to say. They were liked, rather, as free and easy folk not difficult to know, the pretty Countess especially, for she was affable, and then- were depths in her dark eyeslhafc were touched by unspoken admiration or out and out compliment. She had a shrewdish temper, however, reserved generally for the little Count, but she showed it openly sometimes; for instance,' on the days when they fared ill at Monte Carlo. I could hear them at the next table, snarling at each other, nagging and squabbling continually, trying to.shift tho blame of some unlucky coup, both with loud voices, but hers, strong, mellow, musical, always in the ascendant, and the little Count was soon shut up and overpowered. It must have been the same, worse even, in the sacred recesses of their wedded chamber, for ono morning a neighbour on their bedroom fiooi came out 011 tho terrace with a fine story. There had been an awful row the night before, high words, something Jike a free fight, pieces of furniture overturned and crockery broken. Some of the remarks overheard proved how bitter the nuarrel had been " I won't do it," cried the husband. " You must and shall," replied the wife. " All tho risk and trouble falls upon me." "So it should; it's the man's business, and it was so arranged." " 1 don't like it, and I tell you I shall'cry off. We must leave the hotel. I shall at any rate, to-morrow." " You coward. You shocking little cur!" Then followed a fresh scuffle, even blows, and an outburst of hysterical tears. It soon became evident that the Ullrnaris were in verv low water. Like a good many more they had been beguiled to their undoing. They had dropped heavily at the tables, and were jj'-obably cleaned out. It looked like it, for tho lady's jewels gradually disappeared, pawned, no doubt, at the convenient jewel-shops at Monte Carlo, and presently they left the hotel. The Count slunk away first, unseen, going in search presumably of some cheaper hostelry; Jnadamo cleared out later, and there was Biuch speculation whether or not she had

(COPYRIGHT.)

paid the bill. Evil tongues declared she had been unable to do so, and quoted in proof that a lot of her voluminous baggage had been left behind. The Countess had, however, been at great pains to explain that she asked this favour as she meant ere long to return to the hotel. So many people and went that the Ullmans' exodus was soon forgotten as a thing of'the past. Beside, another much more serious matter arose to disturb the serenity of the Cotes d'Azur Hotel. It came out at first in low subdued whispers, and the management would gladly have hushed up the whole affair. A great robbery at an hotel throws discredit on the house, and causes infinite trouble. There had been in truth a very extensive robbery; the greater part of the Baroness Lowenfelt's jowels, some of them gems of European celebrity, had been carried off, spirited away without a clue to their disappearance. Her suite, her personal attendants, companionmaid, major-domo had been in her service for many years, and wero altogether above suspicion The hotel servants were highly respectable people; there was nothing to indicate that the house had been entered from without, for all the fastenings to doors and windows had been found intact on the morning the robbery was discovered. Yet the jewel box in its own travelling safe in the Baroness' bedroom had been forced by a skilled hand and the whole of the contents swept up arid purloined. Such a grave event as this could not be kept secret. It ran like -wildfire through the town and beyond. There was a dead set made at the hotel. People came over in crowds from the neighbouring resorts in carriages and in motors, the restaurant was full at luncheon-time, the hall, was thronged all the afternoon, and everybody was talking of the robbery. Among the rest pretty Countess Ullman arrived, ostensibly to go to her boxes, but really to enjoy the fun, as she called it, smiling maliciously and crowing gaily at her great good luck in leaving this den of thieves before she was despoiled. " I cannot afford to lose my poor little lot of trinkets," she said to her great friend and chief admirer, Prince Reithel. " They'll be taking your highness' crown jewels next if you're not careful." " Oh, but I am, Countess. They are all in safe keeping at my uncle's," laughed the light-hearted little vaurien. Two nights later there was a second great coup, and now the hotel proprietors were victimised. The result of the first robbery had been to fill the hotel sn.fo with the most precious possessions of the chief guests, and now some—no doubt the same audacious hand —had rifled it. picking out and carrying off the most choice jewels. Herr Ganz, the hotel director, was in despair. He would surely lose his place, the hotel would be ruined. The proprietors must go bankrupt. He fairly sobbed when ho talked it over with mo in the privacy of his own room. One feature in the business struck me as I thought over the details. Both the suite occupied by the Baroness Lowenfelt and the hotel bureau in which the hotel safe stood were on the ground floor. Tt occurred to mo that the thief had got in during the day and had secreted himself somewhere on this floor or below it. " Where, for instance, does that go ?" I asked. "To the mezzanine, the half ba.sement," said Ganz. " There's nothing down there but the box-room, the store •where the surplus baggage or any left in our cliargo is kept till removed." Yet something induced me to go down and examine this room, and I easily obtained permission. It was a semi-dark, cavernous sort of place, piled high with cases of all kinds, portmanteaus and gigantic dress baskets, and all the nondescript belongings of globe-trotters and wanderers. While I lingered I was conscious that someone else had entered the room—a ' woman. I plainly heard the frou-frou of a dress, the subtle fragrance of wood violet scent was wafted through the dreary den, and I caught sight of nJ tall figure, in which I recognised the Countess Ullman. I was 011 the point of announcing my presence when I was thunderstruck by the sound of her voice, not addressed to me, nor to anyone she had brought with her, but evidently in answer to someone already in the box-room. "What do you say? I cannot hear you ? iSomeono here ? Of course I am here. I came as arranged. You can hand me o.ver the things. I have brought the food: you must be starving. My God!" The exclamation was caused by my sudden appearance as I rose to my full height and walked toward her. " Really, Countess, this is a strange plate to meet in," I said blandly. " You have como, I presume, to look out something from your boxes. Can I bo of any use, or am I in the way ?" She faced me like a tiger. " How dare you interfere! Yon are a spy," she cried furiously. " A low, mean, despicable spy. I should like to kill you, and I will." I ha'd only time to seize her hand as it went to a small dagger in her waistband. . i Then I managed to drag her out into the corridor, where I ordered her to precede me up the stairs. " Let me commend Madame la _Comtesse to your particular care," I said to the director, whom I found in the office, adding with stern meaning, " And don't let her leave till we have cleared up the mystery of the box-room downstairs, to which I now invite your attention." We then returned in a body to tho basement, and with no great difficulty extricated the miserable little Count from the largest dress basket in the store. _lt had been arranged for his occupation during daylight hours, where he could lie concealed literally like a jack-in-the-box, while there was business done in the store room. At night he was free to come and go as he pleased, and lie made, as we have seen, the best use of his time. When he was captured a full set of house-breaking instruments was found in his possession, .and what was more to the purpose, the whole of the valuables stolen from the hotel safe. Those which the Baroness Lowenfelt. had lost had been removed by his female accomplice, but were recovered in part at her lodgings in the town. Ullman, who, with his wife, was tried at the Nice Assizes, and sentenced to long terms, was identified as an Austrian thief, once a courier and hotel guide. His wife was " a woman of no importance," chosen on account of her great beauty to assist in the schemes in which she became his dominant partner.