A full half-hour had pa.s.sed, yet the head forester, who was keeping a look-out along the road, did not signal His Highness"s approach.
"I wonder what can have detained him?" remarked the Inspector-General of Cavalry.
I explained that a strange young man had come to the forester"s house.
"Well," laughed a smart young lieutenant of Uhlans, "I could have understood the delay if it had been a lady!"
An hour went past. The light would soon fade, and we, knowing "Willie"s"
utter disregard for his appointments, at last decided to continue the shoot, leaving one of the foresters to tell His Highness the direction we had taken.
The Crown-Prince did not, however, join us, and darkness had fallen ere we returned to the forester"s house. Of His Highness there was no sign, a fact which much surprised us. In the room wherein I had left him his gun and green Tyrolese hat were lying upon a chair, and the fact that all the cars were still ranged outside showed that he had not driven back to the castle.
The Crown-Prince had disappeared!
Knof, His Highness"s chauffeur, who had been walking with us, was sent back post-haste to the schloss to ascertain whether he had been seen there, for His Highness"s movements were often most erratic. We knew that if the whim took him he would perhaps go off in an opposite direction, or trudge back to the castle with utter disregard of our natural anxiety.
Lights were lit, and we enjoyed cigars awaiting Knof"s return. In an hour he was back with the news that nothing had been heard of His Highness. Soon after we had left that morning, however, a young man in a grey suit had called and seen the major-domo, who had directed him where His Highness might be found.
Upon Eckardt--the commissary of police responsible for His Highness"s safety--the onus rested. Yet, had he not been sent out with the party, as His Highness had expressed to me a wish to be left alone with the stranger, whose name I alone knew.
While we were discussing the most judicious mode of action--for I scented much mystery in this visit of Karl Krahl--one of the party suddenly discovered, lying upon the ledge of the window, a lady"s small and rather elegant handbag of black _moire_ silk.
"Hulloa!" I cried when he held it up for inspection. "This reveals to us one fact--a woman has been here!"
I opened the bag, and within found a small lawn handkerchief with a coronet embroidered in its corner, a tiny tortoise-sh.e.l.l mirror, and four one-hundred-mark notes, but no clue whatever as to its owner.
The mystery was increasing hourly, but the gay party, knowing "Willie"s"
susceptibility where the fair s.e.x were concerned, only laughed and declared that His Highness would a.s.suredly turn up before the evening was over.
Truth to tell, I did not like the situation. His Highness"s disappearance was now known to fifty or so persons, beaters, and others, and I feared lest it might get into the Berlin papers. With that object I called them together and impressed upon them that most complete silence must be maintained regarding the affair.
Then Knof drove me alone back to the schloss. I wondered if His Highness, wishing to get away un.o.bserved, returning in secret there, had left me a written message in his room. He had done that on one occasion before.
I dashed up to the small, old-world room which by day overlooked the romantic and picturesque valley, but upon the table whereat I had been writing early that morning there was nothing.
As I turned to leave I heard a footstep, and next instant saw the little deformed old Countess facing me.
Her appearance quite startled me. Apparently she had just arrived, for she was in a dark blue bonnet and warm travelling coat.
"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff!" she cried in that squeaky, high-pitched voice of hers. "Is His Imperial Highness here? I must see him immediately."
"No, Countess. His Imperial Highness is not here," was my reply. "This afternoon he mysteriously disappeared from the forester"s lodge at Neue Schenke, and we are unable to trace him."
"Disappeared!" gasped the old lady, instantly pale and agitated.
"Yes," I said, looking her straight in the face.
"Do you know whether he had a visitor to-day--a young, dark-haired man?"
"He had, Countess. A man called, and saw him. At His Highness"s request I left him alone with his visitor at the forester"s house. The man"s name was Karl Krahl."
"How did you know his name?" she asked, staring at me with an expression of distinct suspicion.
"Because--well, because I happen to have learnt it some time ago," I said. "And, further, on returning to the house we found this little bag in the room wherein I had left the Crown-Prince."
"Why!--a lady"s bag!" she exclaimed as I held it out for inspection.
"Yes," I said in a somewhat hard tone. "Do you happen to recognize it?"
"Me? Why?" asked the old woman.
"Well, because I think it is your own property," I said with a sarcastic smile. "I have some recollection of having seen it in your hand!"
She took it, examined it well, and then, with a hollow, artificial laugh, declared:
"It certainly is not mine. I once had a bag very similar, but mine was not of such good quality."
"Are you really quite certain, Countess?" I demanded in a low, persuasive voice.
"Quite," she declared, though I knew that she was lying to me. "But why trouble about that bag while there is a point much more important--the safety and whereabouts of His Imperial Highness?" she went on in a great state of agitation. "Tell me, Count, exactly what occurred--as far as you know."
I recounted to her the facts just as you have already written them down, and as I did so I watched her thin, crafty old face, noticing upon it an expression full of suspicion of myself. She was, I now realized, undecided as to the exact extent of my knowledge.
"How did you know that the young man"s name was Krahl?" she asked eagerly. "You had perhaps met him before--eh?"
But to this leading question I maintained a sphinx-like silence. That the little old woman who had so unexpectedly become a lady-in-waiting was playing some desperate double game I felt sure, but its exact import was still an enigma.
"In any case," she said, "would it not be as well to return to the Neue Schenke and make search?"
I smiled. Then, in order to let her know that I was acquainted with Italian, the language she had spoken on that well-remembered night in her own conservatory, I exclaimed:
"Ahe! alle volte con gli occhi aperti si far dei sogni." (Sometimes one can dream with one"s eyes open.)
Her thin eyebrows narrowed, and with a shrug of her shoulders the clever old woman replied:
"Dal false bene viene il vero male." (From an affected good feeling comes a real evil.)
I realized at that moment that there was more mystery in the affair than I had yet conceived. His Imperial Highness was certainly missing, though the female element of the affair had become eliminated by my recognition of her own handbag. She, too, had been in secret to the forester"s house--but with what object?
Half an hour later we were back at the little house in the forest.
The guests had all returned to the castle, and only Eckardt, the police commissary, remained, with the forester and his underlings. Already search had been made in the surrounding woods, but without result. Of his Imperial Highness there was no trace.
In the long room, with its pitch-pine walls, and lit by oil lamps, the crafty old Countess closely questioned Eckardt as to the result of his inquiries. But the police official, who had become full of nervous fear, declared that he had been sent off by His Highness, and had not since found any trace of him. He spoke of the little black silk bag, of course, and attached great importance to it.
Within half an hour we had reorganized the beaters from the neighbourhood and, with lanterns, set out again to examine some woods to the east which had not been searched. About ten o"clock we set forth, the Countess accompanying us and walking well, notwithstanding her age, though I could see that it was a fearful anxiety that kept her active.
To the men with us every inch of the mountain side was familiar, and for hours we searched.