Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1879 — IN A LEATHER BAG. [ARTICLE]

IN A LEATHER BAG.

“I will'not wait another day,” said Miss Norfolk-Stanley—a stout, middleaged lady, with a rubicund countenance, a juvenile straw hat perched on the bridge of her nose, and many onyx beads wound about her throat. “Bow-wow,” responded her little dog Bijou. Nephew Dick, presumptive heir of the lady, had failed to meet her at Turin, as agreed, and she had been forced to wait twenty-four hours, without result. She was deeply incensed, as became a British spinster with a neat property in Derbyshire, and funds in Turkish and Indian loans. The bag was produced by the maid. It was a large bag of black leather. Bijou eyed it apprehensively, yet with resignation. The tiny terrier, with eyes like shining beads, an inquisitive nose and black body, with a patch of soft velvet brown on breast and paws, jumped into the outside pocket of this traveling mansion, and submitted to having the strap carefully adjusted over his prison in suob a manner as allowed a breathing space. Bijou was smuggled on board trains; the maid was not trusted with the bag in her third-class seat, and it was a point of economy with his mistress not to pay for a dog’s ticket in her own first-class carriage. Miss Norfolk-Stanley took the bag herself, thus exciting the interest of keen-eyed birds of prey hovering about in scent of jewel cases and bags carried by the English lady traveler. At frontiers the pet was popped under his mistress’ mantle, while the maid took the bag to the Custom-House officer for iuspeetion; then the inmate was successfully restored. Bijou remained as silent as a mouse in the pocket for hours, and resisted the most tempting inducements to bark at startling noises. He knew full well that when the enemy had deserted the field his mistress would take him-out of the dismal captivity. Bijou’s fur stood on end, at the approach of a guard, by instinct. Miss Norfolk-Stanley and her maid appeared on the platform of the Turin depot at nine o’clock in the morning. Nephew Dick would find the birds flown when he saw fit to grace the Piedmontese capital with his presence. Bijou was invisible to the most penetrating eye, curled up in the bag. “Give me a ladies’ carriage, and alone if possible,” said Miss NorfolkStanley to a smiling official, with a persuasive exchange of francs from palm to palm. The smiling official bowed, and soon the lady was installed in a vacant carriage. “You shall come out, pet, if we are loft alone,!’ she whispered, unfastening the strap over tho pocket of tho bag as it rested on her knee. Bijou thrust out his little black head, reoonnoiterd the premises, and discreetly withdrew from sight again. The Turin depot is one of the most amusing fields of observation in Europe. Miss Norfolk-Stanlev gazed out on the hurrying throng with that selfish complacency peouliar to the traveler who has already secured a good seat in a Continental railway carriage. She held an old-fashioned theory that, deprived of the escort of Nephew Dick, a ladies’ carriage was the safest place for herself. That she was alone in this opinion was speedily revealed by the fact of every other woman in the crowd bestowing her person in the conveyances adjacent, rather than submit to the awful possibility of a troop-of children for hburs. Bijou’s mistress was an old traveler; Experience had made her timid and suspicious. She read all the robberies in English and foreign newspapers, and looked dubiously at mankind of the tourist species. Who were these men? Why did they observe borP A ladies’ carriage for her, if you please, and not one where each man in the corner may prove an assassin and a thief if a favorable opportunity offers. She had learnea the words “Help!” and “Thieves! 1 ” in six languages, for emergencies. Two ladies paused at the door of the carriage. The smiling official, in remembrance of Miss Norfolk-Stanley’s bribe, resisted their efforts to enter, and led them elsewhore. They were both women of medium height, in long water-proof cloaks, their heads enveloped in blue veils, which concealed their faces. Miss Norfolk-Stanley saw a long, yellow hand, with thin fingers peouliarly talon-like, stretched forth to turn tho handle of be? carriage door. The hand belonged to the first woman, and she experienced a strange sense of relief when it was again withdrawn, and the owner passed on. Why? Because Bijou could caper about at liberty if she retained the carriage alone. She assured herself this was the sole reason for dreading the yellow hand, and the shiver which crept over her at sight of it. This danger surmounted, there remained one more to be overcome be-* fore Bijou and his mistress could breathe freely: The surly guard jumped on .ibturtup, demanding tickets.. The surly guard gave and no quartan . Hu expression of" coufitenance was saturnine, his gray mustache curled upward in a truly*savage wan-

ner, and his cap was r pressed down over a deeply-wrinkled forehead. He, was always in a hurry, and his life was rendered' burdensome hy the questions of nervous travelers. He eyed Miss Norfolk-Stanley sharply—aole occupant'or the ladies’ carriage, sitting with a leather bag carefully held upright on her knee. “ You have no dog?” demahded the surly guard, peering abont on the floor, suspiciously. “ Certainly not,” said Miss NorfolkStanley, blushing at the fib which she uttered in alarm for her pet. Then the surly guard banged tho door, departed, and the train actually started at last. Bijou skipped put of his prison, executed a wild but barkless dance over the seats, stood on his hindlegs with great apparent enjoyment, ate a biscuit, and was refreshed with water from the oup of his own tiny traveling flask. The train wended its way toward the Alps—-one by one snow peaks detached themselves from the mountain rampart dividing France and Italy, and stood out boldly against the blue sky; the atmosphere grew keen. Down in the valleys weather-beaten little hamlets were huddled together in a cluster ofsteep roofs; the river foamed in silvery ripples; the peasants worked in the blooming fields. Within the railway carriage Miss Norfolk-Stanley indulged in her own meditations, and Bijou capered about at pleasure. The lady made her plans, with slightly-com-pressed lips. She would go to Paris, and thence direct to London. Nephew Dick might well look to himself! The train paused. Hi, Bijou! Miss Norfolk-Stanley had scarcely time to restore her pet to the bag pocket when the opposite door flew open, and the surly guard thrust in his head. Her heart fajled her. If the surly guard had seen Bijou, he had the right to carry the dog off in triumph to the baggage van, and impose on herself the ignominy of ’ a fine. Instead, he explained that two ladies must be admitted, as the cigar smoke of their carriage made them ill. Again that long, yellow hand groped upward for the door hahdle, and the two women in cloaks invaded Miss Ncrfolk-Stanley’s territory. She resigned herself, with a sigh, to the inevitable. After all, these ladies were only a trifle peculiar and foreign-looking, mere harmless fellowcreatures, and Bijou had already enjoyed two hours of freedom. Miss Norfolk-Stanley’s first impulse was to throw herself on their mercy to the extent of releasing her dog. In travel she had never yet met another woman who did not assist in smuggling Bijou with the delight in contraband warfare of any kind peculiar to the sex. A second glance at those veiled andmuffied, figures deterred her. The strangers, with a murmured apology in French for the intrusion, sank into their places at the other exremity of the carriage and remained as silent as statues. They carried no bags or parcels of any kind. The yellow hand produced a smelling-bottle of cut steel, and a pungent odor diffused itself gradually, as the windows were closed to exclude the smoke. Now the tunnels were gained which form the threshold of Mont Cenis on the Italian side, and which are immeasurably more black and oppressive. A rush of steam, a shriek of the locomotive, and the train was engulfed in tlie first of the three long tunnels. The gas burned in a tiny star in the roof of the carriage. Horrible darkness and dense smoke, like an opaque wall against the window-sash! Bijou’s mistress unfastened her collar, and sought her fan. At the other end of the carriage the yellow hand was deftly opening the owner’s cloak, while a pair of glittering eyes were turned on the unconscious Miss Norfolk-Stanley from the folds of the veil. The smelling bottle of cut steel had vanished. A rush of steam, a shriek of the locomotive, and the train plunged into the second tunnel. Behold the companion of the traveler vvith yellow hands quietly unfastening her cloak and producing ller smelling-bottle, this one a slender vial of colorless glass, which she retained between her fingers instead of using. A rush of steam, a shriek of the locomotive, and the train passed into the third tunnel. Silence reigned in the ladies’ carriage. After this there was a pause, and Miss Norfolk-Stanley opened her window to inhale the pure mountain air, while each link of the train was tested before the trial of the great tunnel. Then Mont Cenis opened that great mouth and received the human freight, the feeble atoms of an hour, into its rooky heart. Thirty minutes! Miss Norfolk-Stanley opened her watch. Much may happen in thirty minutes. She had turned to the window, which had been again closed, when her head was seized, a nervous hand was pressed over her mouth, she was foroea to inhale chloroform, and a heavy cloak enveloped her, effectually stifling the faint cry, scarcely more than a sigh, which escaped her. Tne victim speedily lost consciousness, and the leather bag rolled from her lap to the floor. BijoU fell on his head. Astonished at such treatment, he crept out of his pocket—of which the strap had not been refastened when the surly guard brought the other occupants of the carriage so unexpectedly —and hid beneath the fdlds of his mistress’ dress. Mark the wisdom of this little dog, and explain it by any law, short of reason, actual presence of mind, if yon can. He was afraid, and concealed himself, trembling in everv limb. He knew something dreadful had happened. The two women, divested of their cloaks, stood over Miss Norfolk-Stan-ley. Much can be done in thirty minutes of outer darkness, lost in the heart of Mont Cenis. “Do not kill her. Discovery would be awkward,” whispered the elder, a keen, yellow face appearing out of the veil which had previously concealed it. Her accomplice removed the bottle from the nostrils of Miss Norfolk-Stan-ley, and lifted the cloak from her face. The latter did not move. Then the yellow claws took the watch and chain, rings, probed every pocket, nimbly sifted the contents of the rack above for valuables, and raised the leather bag, Bijou’s house, in hopes of its containing a jewel boy. “ Now open the other The cairiage must not smell of chloroform when we reaoh Modane. I will give her another dose before throwing away the bottle.” "It was such a rare chance! Only if we should be detected at the frontier!” murmured the younger woman. “ Attend, Iha Chore; I have planned all.” £«|Mjted the elder, with an evil smile. “ Sne will recover, bo stupid whefr w# arrive at the French CustomHouse, and wait for her maid. Roll together the cloaks and veils in this canvas cover; our" dresses ’and ' hats have not been seen on the train. When we descend, I join Adolphe, and lean on his arm; you go with the boys, and

speak German. We no longer know k eaoh other. You take the Geneva rojkte, and I journey to Macon. There is plenty of time. Here, put back her purse, containing a little silver.” Daylight at last! Bijou thrust out bis nose from the edge of his mistress’ robe. The light reassured him. Such . a volley of sharp, piercing barks became audible in the ladies’ carriage as could only emanate from the throat of an irate terrier. The two women were confused. At first they supposed the dog was barking in an adjacent carriage. How could a living creature of any sort be oonoealed in their own, when every article of Miss NorfolkStanley’s had been searohed? Bijou barked with frantic zeal, and sprang toward the open window, redoubling his clamor. Then the older woman saw him, darted forward, and seized him. The terrible yellow hand closed abont Bijou’s neck; she lifted and prepared to fling him out of the window. Biiou’s silky little body landed on the ledge of the sash just as the surly guard appeared, who was walking along the outer railing or platform, in response to that shrill volley of barks. What! a dog in the ladies’ carriage, after all? Aha! one must see about it! The surly guard caught Bijou in his hands; eads appeared at neighboring windows. The poor little beast whimpered, licked the guard’s face in a propitiatory manner, and looked at him with the most agonized canine intelligence. A dog in the ladies’ carriage! Moreover, flung out the window by a vengeful hand! One glance from his point of vantage on the step revealed the truth to the surly guard. Miss NorfolkStanley reposed in her corner in rigid insensibility, the cloak still about her; bags and cases were scattered on the floor; a faint scent of chloroform lingered. A very well-arranged plan, hinging on the train’s not pausing again until Modane was reached, when all traces of disorder would have been removed but for frustration by a vigilant little dog, so tiny as to be stowed away in the pocket of a leather bag. A group of those highly ornamental gensa’armes in cocked hats and brilliant uniforms who pose so gracefully at French and Italian railway stations were given employment in arresting the thieves. Miss Norfolk-Stanley came to a condition of confused consciousness, and was removed to a hotel under guidance of her frightened maid. Tho surly guard actually kept Bijou in his arms, and caressed the little dog instead of demanding his ticket Next evening Nephew Dick appeared at Modane in response to the maid’s telegram sent back to Turin. He had been delayed by reason of a robbery, in which he had lost both watch and pocket-book, on a night journey between Rome and Florence. He was disposed to suspect two gentlemen who had staid in the same hotel at Rome. In the years 1877 and 1878 a band of thieves waged war on the Continet, their connection extending from Stockholm to Naples: They appeared as ladies and gentlemen at leading hotels, and pursued everywhere the higher branches of the profession. Doubtless Miss Norfolk-Stanley and Nephew Dick were both their victims. The latter was speedily re-instated in his aunt’s favor by his ability displayed during the trial and conviction of the miserable women? Bijou has gone into honorable retirement in the country. His prejudices are respected. If he sees a railway and a moving train, he howls and runs away, in remembranceof the awful day when a cruel yellow hand seized and hurled him from’ the window as the ladies' carriage emerged from the Mont Cenis Tunnel.— Harper's Weekly.