Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 149, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1912 — The Grand Babylon Hotel [ARTICLE]

The Grand Babylon Hotel

Copyright by Frank A. Muusey Co. > CHAPTER XXIV. i The Bottle of Wine. ” ■ ' - -A- : ...4 j— — _ - - •». •»- - As regards Theodore Racksole, who was to have caught his man from the outside of the cellar, he made his way rapidly as possible from the wine .collars up to the ground floor, out of the hotel by the quadrangle, through the quadrangle and out into .the top of Salisbury lane. - - Now, owing to the vastness of the structure of the hotel, the mere distance thus to be traversed amounted to little "short of a quarter of a'mile, and as it included a number of stairs, about two dozen turnings and several passages which at that time of night yverfe in darkness, more or less complete, Racksole could not have been expected to accomplish the journey in less than five minutes. ... - •

As a matter of fact, six minutes had elapsed before lie reached the top of Salisbury line, because he had been detained nearly a minute by some questions addressed to him by a muddle 3 an (r w his k y-ladeh guest who nad got log tin the corridors/ ' As everybody knows, there is asharp, short bend in' Salisbury lane near the ton. Racksole ran around this at good "racing speed, but he was .unfortunate enough to run straight, ti]) against the very policeman /who had long before so courteously supplied Jules with a match. The policeman seemed to be scarcely in so pliant a humor just then. "Hullo!” he said, his naturally suspicious nature being, doubtless, aroused by the spectacle of a bare-headed man in evening dress running violently down the lane". “What’s this? Where are yon orfln" such - a hurry?” And he forcibly detained Racksole for a moment and scrutinized his face.

“Now, officer,” said Racksole, quietly, “none of your larks, if you please. I’ve no time to lose.” 1 “Beg your pardon, sir,” the jjoliceman remarked, and Racksole was allowed to proceed on his way. The millionaire's scheme for trapping Jules was to get down into the little sunken yard by means of the ladder and then to secrete himself behind some convenient abutment of brick work until Mr. Tom Jackson should have got into the cellar. Ho therefore nimbly surmounted the railings and- was gingerly deS'Celiding the ladder, when 10, a rough hand siezed him by the coat collar and with a ferocious jerk urged him backward. The fact was that Racksole had counted without the policeman. That guardian of the = peace, mistrusting Racksole’s manner, had quietly followed him down the lane. The sight of the millionaire climbing the railings % had put him on hi; mettle, and the result was the igneminious capture of Racksole. Ire vain Racksole expostulated, explained, anathemized. Only one thing would satisfy the stolid policeman namely, that Racksole should return fc’with him to the hotel and there establish, his identity. If he established his identity the policeman promised to apologize. So Theodore had no alternative but to accept the suggestion. To prove his identity was, of course, the work of mnty a few minutes, after which Racksole, annoyed, but cool as ever, returned to the railings, while the policeman went off to another part of his beat, where he -would be likely to meet a comrade and have a chat. In the meantime our friend .Tnles, sublimely unconscious of the altercation going on outside and of the special risk which he ran, was, of course, actually in the cellar, which he had reached before Racksole first arrived at the raijings. It was indeed a happy chance for Jules that his exit from the cellar coincided with the period during which Racksole was absent from the railings. ~ As Racksole dame down the lane for the second time he saw a figure walking about 50 yards in front of him toward the Embankment. Instantly he divined that it was Jules. He ran, and Jules, hearing/the noise of pursuit, ran also. The ex-waiter was fleet; he made directly for a certain spot of the Embankment wall, and, to the intense astonishment of Racksole, jumped clean over the /frail, as it seemed, into the river. . “Is he so desperate as to cqmmit suicide?” Racksole exclaimed ns he ran; but a second, later the puff and snort of a steam launeh told him that Jutes was not quite driven to self destruction. / As the millionaire crossed the Embankment roadway he saw the funnel of the-launch move out frobs under the river wall. It swerved into midstream and headed toward London

Bridge. r ,~ - v There was a slight mist oyer the river, and Racksole was helpless. Although Racksole had now been twice worsted in a contest of wits within the Immediate precincts of the Grand Babylon, once by Rocco and once by Jules, he could not fairly blame himself for the present miscarriage of his plans—a miscarriage due entirely to the meddlesomeness of sure' ill fortune, On the following day he sought out Prince Aribert, between whom and himself there now existed a feeling of unmistakable friendship, and disclosed to him the happenings of the previous night and particularly the tampering frith the bottle of wine. - « For some obscure reason or other, which probably he could not have explained even to his own heart, Racksole began by saying very little as to Nella’s share in the business. At the mere mention of her name, however, Prince Aribert showed an enormous interest, and he would not be satisfied until-Racksole had given every detail. “She has a wonderful courage,” said Prince Aribert with admiration. “Doubtless,” said Racksole dryly. “But let us keep to the matter in hand. I believe you dined with Prince Eugen last night?” “1 did. And, curiously* enough, we had a bottle of Romanee-Conti, an admiatible wine, of which Efligen is passionately fond.” •' “And you will dine-With him again tonight ” “Most probably. Today will, I fear, be onr last day here. Eugen wishes to return to Posen early tomorrow.” “Has it struck you, IPrince,” said Racksole, “that if Jules had succeeded in poisoning ypur nephew, he would probably have succeeded also in poisoning you?” “I had not thought of it,” laughed Aribert, “but it would seem so. It appears that so long as he brings down his particular quarry Jules is careless of^ anything alse that may be accidentally involved in the destruction. However, we need have no fear on that score now. Yoif know the bottle and you can destroy It at once.” " _ “But I do not propose to destroy it,” said Racksole calmly. “If Prince Eugen asks for Rom'anee-Conti to be served tonight, as lie probably will, I propose that that precise bottle shall be served to "him—and to you.” “Then you would poison us in spite of ourselves?”

“Scarcely,” Racksole smiled. “My notion is to discover the accomplices within the hotel. I have already inquired as to the wine clerk, Hubbard. Now, does it not occur to you as extraordinary that on this particular day Mr. Hubbard should be ill in bed? “Hubbard, I am informed, is suffering from an attack of stomach poisoning, which has supervened during the night. He says that he does not know what cam have caused It. His place in the wine cellars will be taken today by his assistant, a mere youth, but to all appearances a fairly smart youth. “1 need not say that we, shall kaepan eye on that youth. That youth may be an accomplice. But there may be others or another.” “One moment,” Printe Aribert interrupted. “I do not quite understand how you think that the poisoning was to have been effected.” “The bottle is now under examination by an expert, who has instructions to remove as little as possible of the stuff whjch Jules put on the rim at its moutS. It will be secretly replaced in its bin during the day. My ide%is that by the mere action of pouring out, the wine takes up some of the poison, which I deem to be very strong, and thus becomes fatal as it enters the glass.” l ‘But surely the servant in attendance would wipe the mouth of the bottle?” “Very carelessly, perhaps. And, moreover, he would be extremely unlikely to wipe off all the stuff; some of it hgs been ingeniously placed just on the inside edge of the rim. Besides, suppose he forgot to wipe the battle!” “Prince Eugen is always served at dinner by Hans. It is ass honor which the faithful old fellow reserves for himself.” ./ '/ “But suppose Hans” Racksole stopped. “Hans an accomplice! My dear Racksole, the suggestion is impossible. . "Nothing is impossible,” said Racksole. ' \t “That is,” Aribert answered warmir. - “We shall see,” was the millionaire’s only comment That night Prince Aribert dined with his august nephew in the superb dining room of the royal apartments. ' ' ' ' Hans served, the dishes being brought to the door by other servants. Aribert found bis nephew despondent and taeituhi. On the previous day when, -after the futile interview with Levi, Prince Eugen had despairingly threatened to commit snicide in snch a manner as to make it “look like an accident,” Aribert had compelled him to give his word of honor not to do so. “What wind Vrtll” your royal high-1 ness take?” asked old Hans in his j

soothing tones when tbe soup was served. “Sherry,” was Prince Eugen's curt order. ~ . “And Romanee-Conti afterward?” said Hans. Aribert looked up quickly. “No, not tonight. I’U try Sillery tonight,” said Prince Eugen. Aribert acquiesced, as usual, in bis nephew’s choice, and Hans was proceeding to the door when Prince Eugen called him hack. “I think I’ll have Romanee-Conti, Hans,” he said. “It suits me better than cham.pagne—the next morning.” 1: The famous and unsurpassable Burgundy was served with the roast. Old Hans brought it tenderly forward in its wicker cradle, inserted the corkscrew with mathematical precision and drew the cork, which he offered for his master’s inspection. Eugen ' nodded'and' told him to put it down. Aribert watched with intense interest. . He could not lor an instant believe -that Hans was not the very soul of fidelity, and yet, despite himself, Racksole’s words caused him a certain uneasiness. At that moment Prince Eugen murmered across the table: “Aribert, I withdraw the promise I made you. Observe that —I withdraw It.” Aribert shook his head emphatically, without removing his gaze from Hans. The white-haired servant perfuctorily dusted his napkin around the neck of the bottle anrf poured out a glass. Aribert trembled from head to foot. An hour before Racksole had quietly informed him that, according to the analysis, the stuff smeared on the rim of the neck contained one of the deadliest poisons known to toxology—a poison, moreover, easily and quickly soluble in wine. Eugen took up the glass and held it to the light. ' “Don’t drink it,” said Aribert very quietly. “It is poisoned.” “Poisoned!” exclaimed Eugen. “Poisoned, sire!” exclaimed old Hans with an air of profound amazement and concern, and he siezed the glass, impossible, sir. I myself opehed the bottle. No one else touched it, and the cork was perfect.” “I tell you it is poisoned,” Aribert repeated. “Your highness will pardon an old man,” said Hans, “but to say that this wine is poisoned is to say that I am a murderer I will prove to you that it is not poisoned. I will drink it.” And he raised the glass to his trembling lips. In that moment Aribert saw that old Hans,, at any rate, was not an accomplice of Jules. ; Springing up from his seat, j he knocked the glass from the aged servitor’s hands, and the fragments of it fell with a light tinkling crash, partly' 011 the table and partly on the floor. The Prince and the servant gazed-at each other in a distressing and terrible silence. There was a slight noise and Aribert looked aside. He saw that Eugen’s body had slipped for Ward limply over the left arm of his chair; the Prince’s arms hung straight lifeless; his eyes were closed; he was unconscious. “Hans!” murmered Aribert thickly. “Hans! What is this?”

(To Be Continued.)