A FORTUNATE FLIRTATION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1106, 12 May 1893, Page 12

A FORTUNATE FLIRTATION.

o BY HEADON HILL. These things things befe'l at the Hotel de la Grande Concorde at Nice. They tend to show on what a slender thread of chance is sometimes suspended the mysterious barrier which, to poor humanity, makes all the difference—even the difference between life and death. The table d'hote breakfast in the general salle was nearly over, 'lhe guests had mostly risen ; some to saunter in the pleasant grounds, others to go to their rooms to make preparations for expeditions further afield, all alike more or less bent on draining to the dregs the cup of pleasure which in Nice is always bubbling to the brim. But at the end of the long table two groups, sitting near each other and similarly composed, yet having no connection, still lingered over the grapes and peaches. The tall, dark man deep in conversation with Mrs Vanhuysen, the pretty American widow, was Prince Demetrius Spandoff, a Russian official high in favour with the Czar, who, having worked hard for eleven months of the year at swelling the chain-gangs to Siberia, was spending the twelfth as a holiday in the Sunny South. At home in St. Petersburg the Prince was a silent enigma, carrying dread in his frown and his smile alike. Here in the Riviera he was a chattering school, boy, dividing his time pretty equally between the Casino at Monte Carlo and the offering of perfectly harmless homage to the fair American. It was the last day of his holiday, and the chance acquaintance which had been so pleasant for the last few weeks was to come to an end that afternoon, with the Prince's departure northwards by the rapide. The lady must have been persuading him to prolong his stay despite the call of duty, for as she rose and swept gracefully towards one of the open French windows, she said, in a voice loud enough to reach the other group : ' Only a week; it is such a short time. You have been so kind and good I am sure you cauld spare me that.' The Prince rose also, and following with his hand on his heart, made answer: — ' Madame, you ask what is impossible, and what gives me pain of the most exquisite to refuse. Would that I could remain ; but my time is up, and His Majesty has need of me.' * I want you a good deal more than the Czar does,' said Mrs "Vanhuysen. 'Come into the garden, Prince. I must see if I can't upset your determination.' ~ The moment she had stepped through the window, with Spandoff in close attendance, the other pair of lingerers raised their eyes to each other. Of this couple the man was also tall and distinguished ; but he was very fair, and his accent suggested a German origin. The lady's ancestry may have been Austro-Polish, but she lived in the present, and for the present she was entirely cosmopolitan. She was of singularly pale complexion, and had large, quietly contempla. tive eyes. When Mrs "Vanhuysen was not present, the men staying at the hotel voted her attractive, but the women shrugged their shoulders. The man was known as Baron Kolnitz, the lady, as Madame Mosenthal, and they were supposed to be brother and sister. As a matter of fact, they were not related, and their names were quite different; but that has nothing to do with the story. They gazed long and earnestly. The man was the tirst to break silence.

'lt will upset all our plans if she does prevail upon him to stay,' he said, in the guttural accents of his race. ' Who can say what a woman will do ? She may put her soul into the job, now at the last moment, and disorganise everything. Our mission would then have to be attempted in this crowded hotel, if we are to give him his quietus by the 15th.' ' The date matters little, I fancy, so long as he never sees St. Petersburg again,' said Madame Mosenthal.

The Baron shrugged, his shoulders. ' You make no allowance for my feelings,' he replied. ' I have planned everything to a nicety; I have spent 500 francs in squaring the guard of the rapide, Frangois Petre, to do our bidding ; our own escape is arranged with certainty, and yet you ask me to view the overthrow of all this with complaisance.' 'lt will be time enough to grumble when cause arises,' returned the lady. ' For myself I do not anticipate any change in the programme. Would it not be well to recapitulate the chief points in it, now that we have an opportunity ?' she added, glancing round the room, which was deserted save for the presence of the head waiter, busy at a distant buffet and well out of earshot.

Kolnitz satisfied himself with a stealthy glance in the same direction, and proceeded to enumerate his points with the gusto of an artist well pleased with his own design. •The train by which the Prince is to travel,' he whispered, ' leaves here at 3.30 this afternoon. We also travel by that train, but at first not together. We arrive early at the station and take our tickets for Paiis, but we do not know each other, you

and I. When the train comes in I proceed to any compartment I may select, full or empty, all the same, it does not matter which. But on you at this stage everything depends. Till the moment of departure you remain in the waiting-room. Then, as if distracted at the thought of losing the train, you rush on to the platform. Frangois Petri*!, the guard, already squarerl with my 500 francs, is on the look out. _ He bundles you with many apologies into the coupe reserved for our good friend the Prince. Spandoff will recognise you as a fellow guest at this hotel, and as you are pretty when—pardon me—Madame Vanhuysen is not by for comparison, he will bo civil. You also are civil, though very sad at first at the absence of your brother, who, you suppose, has through his foolishness lost the train. The Prince consoles you ; you are consoled; and by the time Marseilles is reached you are sufficiently friendly to ask a favour. The train is just about to start again, I present myself at the door of the coupe, and a great scene of happiness ensues. I have been in the train all the while, but missed yon somehow at Nice station. There is no time for explanation—can I jump in ? You appeal to the Prince—he cannot refuse—and I jump. The train goes on. It is dark now; and presently a something which was once a too zealous Russian official is flung out on to the line at a desolate place. At Lyons two wearied travellers, not a bit like you or I, leave the train and cut across country to Geneva. By the time that thing in the desolate place is discovered we are lost in the crowd, and go on our several ways.'

Kolnitz checked himself at a muttered 'Hush !'from his companion, and Mrs Vanhuysen entered the salle—this time by the door, presumably to go to her own apartments.

The effect upon the two conspirators was simultaneous and decided. Kolnitz muttered a guttural German oath, and stared blankly at Madame, in whose wide, open eyes, a look of trouble was gathering. •Did you hear that?' hissed the Baron'lt is as I feared ; the whole pretty fabric falls. The Prince is to stay for a week.' ' Control yourself,' whispered the woman; ' yes, I heard plainly enough. She told the waiter to inform the maltre d'hotel that the apartments of M. le Prince are retained for a week certain. That walk in the grounds has done it evidently.'

They sat quite still pondering deeply for some moments. Al length the Baron rose. ' I feel,' he said, ' like a playwright, who, on the eve of the production of his masterpiece, is told to change his plot, his scenery, and some of his characters, retaining only the stars of the piece, and yet to be ready by the appointed hour. No matter, we shall kill somehow before the 15th. But for myself I feel no longer like work for to-day. I shall seek distraction at the tables at Monte Carlo, and not return till midnight. Will you accompany me V ' I will join you later in the day,' she replied. ' I cannot dismiss our purpose from my mind so easily. I shall go to my room now and think. I must study Madame Vanhuysen and the Prince, and perhaps I shall be able to hit upon some new idea. I will meet you at the Casino in time for dinner, and we can return together.'

It was not till four o'clock that Madame Mosenthal emerged from her room, ready dressed for her trip to join the Baron at Monte Carlo. See had some little time to spare before the train for the gambling resort was due to start, and she decided to employ the interior in prospecting the movements of the intended victim. To this end, however, it was necessary that she should scrape acquaintance with Mrs Vanhuysen, and study her relations with Spandoff more closely.

Madame proceeded to the garden at the rear of the hotel. Here there was a fountain, and chairs were set out under the trees for the use of the visitors. The Russian was where to be seen, but there was Mrs Vanhuysen, seated quite alone, and pensively watching the play of the spiral jets. It was an opportunity too good to be lost. The adventuress approached, and seating herself in a chair near by, remarked on the beauty of the scene. Mrs Vanhuysen's reply was as brief as was consistent with politeness.

' I hear that the Prince is to stay here for a week. That will be very charming for you,' proceeded Madame, nothing daunted. ' Pardon me, but we have noticed he seems greatly smitten.' Mrs Vanhuysen stared at her with unfeigned astonishment. < You—you must have been real smart to do that,' she blurted out at length, surprised into the language of the States.

She who called herself Mosenthal nodded and smiled.

' It is too plain tor error, Madame,' she simpered. ' Will he spend much of his time at the tables, think you V The intrusion was being pushed a little too far to please even American frce-and-easiness.

' 1 cannot say,' replied Mrs Vanhuysen ; ' neither can I see that it concerns you. But,' she added, as she rose joyfully from her chair, 'here he comes himself. You had better ask him.'

The' adventuress rose also, and looked roun'ri. A well-dressed, dapper-looking man with a travelling bag in his hand and a railway rug over his shoulder, was advancing from the hotel.

' That,' said Madame Mosenthal, ' that is not Prince Spandoff.' 'Who said it was?' snapped Mrs Vanhuysen. But it is the Prince lam mostly concerned in, and the one you have been talking about, I guess, seeing you knew he was to be here for a week—my affianced husband, John C. Prince, of Denver, U.S.A., very much at your service. Spandoff left by the rapide an hour ago. He is well on his way to Russia by this. How are you, Johnny?' And while a pale-faced woman with mad eyes and twitching fingers walked slowly away, the pretty widow was telling her lover how chummy she had been with a real'live prince, and how she had tried and failed to make him stay for their wedding. At which John C. Prince, of Denver, smiled, content.—The Million,