Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 164, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1912 — The Grand Babylon Hotels [ARTICLE]

The Grand Babylon Hotels

Copyright by Frank A. Munaey Co. •ife".- ■'■.■■■. I—7 O CHAPTER XXX Felix Babylon’s Little Jake. -I’ve a great deal to tell you, Prince,” Racksole began, as soon as they were out of the room, “and also, as I said, something to show you. Will you come to my room? We will talk there first The whole hotel is hum- . »ai nwAlfnmftnt M “With pleasure,” said Aribert “Glad his highness Prince Eugen is recovering,” Racksole went on, urged by consideration of politeness. "Ah! As to that” — Aribert started. that later, Prince,” Racksole interim rupted him. “I want to tell you about last night, about my capture of Jules, and my examination of him this morning.” And he launched into a full account oT the whole thing, down to the least details. - - “You see,” he concluded, “our suspicions as to Bosnia were tolerably correct: But as regards Bosnia, the more I think about it, the surer I feel that nothing can be done to bring these criminal politicians to justice." “And as to Jules, what do you propose to do?” 7 '“Come this way,” said Racksole, and he led Aribert to another room. A sofa in the apartment was covered with a linen cloth. Racksole lifted the cloth—he could not deny himself a dramatic movement—and disclosed the body of a dead man. It was Jules, dead, but without a scratch or mark on him. “I have sent for the police—not a ~ street constable, but an official from Scotland Yard,” said Racksole. “How did this happen?” Aribert asked, amazed and startled. “I understood you to say that he was safely immured in the bedroom." “So he was,” Racksole replied. “I went up there this afternoon, chiefly to take him Borne food. The commissionaire was on guard at the door. He had heard no noise, nothing unusual. Yet when I entered the room Jules was gone.

“He had by some means or other loosened his fastenings; he had then managed to take the door off the wardrobe. He had; moved the bed in front of the window, and, by pushing the wardrobe door three parts out of the window, and lodging the inside end of it under the rail at the head of the bed, he had provided himself with a sort of insecure platform outside the window. —“AR-tttr hßiltdwltlnrarTrraKHrihe least sound. He must then have got through the window and stood on the platform. With his fingers he would just be able to reach the outer edge of the wide cornice under the foot of the hotel. By main strength of arms he had swung himieff on to this cornice, and so gas to the roof proper. He would then have the run of the entire roof. At the side of the building facing Salisbury lane there is an iron fire escape which runs right down from the ridge of the roof into a little sunk yard level with the cellars. Jules must have thought that his escape was accomplished. —^ “But it unfortunately happened that one rung at the iron escape ladder had rusted rotten through being badly painted. It gave way, and Jules, not expecting anything of the kind, fell to the‘ground— about a hundred and fifty feet. “He fell on his back on hard asphalt; his spine is broken. Jules was always unlucky. I can’t help saying now, that, murderer though he was, he almost deserved to escape, as a reward for his cleverness and Ingenuity.” As Racksole ceased speaking he replaced the linen cloth with a gesture absent. When the grave had closed over the dark and tempestuous career of Tom Jackson, once the price of the Grand Babylon, and perhaps one of the greatest head waiters that London has ever known, there was little further trouble for the people whose adventures have been described in these pages. Miss Spencer was never heard of again. Possibly to this day she survives, a mystery to her fellow-creat-ures, in the pension of some cheap foreign boarding house. As for Rocco he certainly was heard of again. Several years after the events set down it came to the knowledge of Felix Babylon that the unrivaled Rocco had reached Buenos Ayres, and by

his culinary skill was thelre making the fortune of a splendid and new hotel. Babylon transmitted the information to Racksole, and Racksole might, had he chosen, have put the forees of the law in motion against him. But Racksole happened to coincide with Babylon's view that so-fine an artist should be left undisturbed. Cooks of tbs highest type are so rare tnat tae world can ill afford to lose them, even though they be grievous sinners. The one difficulty which Racksole experienced after the demise of Jules was the police.. > The police, very properly, wanted to know things. They desired to be informed what Racksole had been doing in the Dimmock affair between his first visit to Ostepd and his sending for them to take charge of Jules’ dead body. And Racksole was by no means inclined to tell them everything. The inquest upon Jules aroused some pother and about ninety and nine separate and distinct rumors. In the end,- however, a compromise was arrived at. Racksole’s first aim was to satisfy the inspector whose clue —which, by the way, was a false one—he had so curtly declined to follow up. That done, the rest needed only tact and patience. Lastly through the medium of the United States ambassador, he was able to bring certain soothing influences to bear upon the situation. One afternoon, a fortnight aftej - the recovery of the hereditary Prince of Posen, Aribert, who was still staying -at—the—Grand—Babylon,—expressed a wish to hold converse with the millionaire. Prince Eugen, accompanied by Hans and some court officials whom he had sent for, had departed with immense eclat, armed with the comfortable million, to arrange formally for his betrothal. Touching the million, Eugen had given satisfactory personal security, and the money was to be paid off in 15 years. “You wish to talk to me, Prince,” said Racksole to Aribert, when they were seated together in the former’s room. “I wish to tell you,” replied Aribert, “that it is my intention to renounce all my rights and titles as a royal prince of Posen, and to be known in' future as Count Hartz — a rank to which I am entitled through my mothed. Also that I have a private income of ten thousand pounds a year, and a

chateau and a town house in Posen. “Of my ancestry 1 need not dwell. It can be discovered in the historicjg records of the German Empire. I give you this Information because I am here to ask the hand of your daughter in marriage. I love her and I am vain enough to believe that she loves me. I have already asked her to be my wife and she has consented. We await your approval.” “You honor us. Prince,” said Racksole with a slight smile, “and in more ways than one. May I ask your reason for renouncing your princely title?” “Simply because the idea of a morganatic marriage would be as repugnant to me as it would be to yourself and to Nella.” “That is good. If you had been born in America, Prince, you would have been a thorough democrat.” The Prince laughed. “I don’t kpow about that,” he said. “Democracy is a big word.” “Perhaps we had better not discuss it. I suppose it has occurred to you that ten thousand pounds per annum, for a man in your position, is a somewhat small income. Nella is frightfully extravagant. I have known her to spend sixty thousand dollars in a single year and have nothing to show for it at the end. Why, she would ruin you in twelve months.” “Nella must reform her ways,” Aribert said. “If she is content to do so,” Racksole went on, “well and good! I consent.” “In her name and my own, I thank you,” said Aribert gravely. “And,” the millionaire- continued, “so that she .may: not have to reform too fiercely, I shall settle on her absolutely, with reversion to your children, if you have any, a lump sum of fifty million dollars —that is to say, ten million pounds—in sound, selected railway stock. I reckon that is about half my fortune. Nella and I have always shared equally.” “Aribert made no reply. The two men shook hands in silence, and then it happened that Nella entered the room. That night, after dinner, Racksole and his friend, Felix Babylon, were walking together on the terrace of the Grand Babylon Hotel. Each was a man of importance and of interest, and many people, wondered what subject it was that could hold them so deeply. The next morning the whole world knew. Felix had begun the conversation. “I suppose, Racksole," he said at length, “you aren’t getting tired of the Grand Babylon?” “Why do you ask?” “Because I am getting tired of doing without it. A thousand times since I sold it to you I have wished I could undo the bargain. I thought I should like to retire and live a life of ease. But I find I am not old enough for that yet. Will you sell?” “I might,” said Racksole. “I might 'be induced to sell. I am urgently needed in America, and I don’t mind admitting that I am getting a little homesick for Wall Street.” “What will you take, my friend?” asked Felix. “What I gave,” was the quick answor.—- —■— - ■■■ ~-Y “Eh! Felix exclaimed. “I sell you my hotel with Jules, with Rocco, with Miss Spencer. You go and lose all these three inestimable servants and then offer me the hotel without them at the same price! It is monsrous. The little man laughed heatily at his own wit. ■ * “Nevertheless,” he added, “we will not quarrel about the price. I accept your terms." And so was brought to a close the complex chain of events which had begun when Theodore Racksole ordered a steak and a bottle of bass at the table d’hote of the Grand Babylon Hotel. The End. Cheapest accident insurance—Dr Thomas’ Eclectic Oil. For burns, cuts, scalds and emergencies. All druggists sell it. 25c and 60c.