an antiquity--which, as may well be
understood, he studied now with an interest of which no other man living
could have been capable; and as soon as he was seated in a comfortable
corner, and had his pipe going, he opened his _Pall Mall Gazette_, and,
as was his wont on such occasions, began with the leading article and
read straight along through the Special Article and the Occ. Notes,
until he came to the news of the day, skipping only the financial news
and quotations, which, under his present changed conditions of
existence, he dare not trust himself to read lest he might be tempted by
the unrighteousness of Mammon, a form of idolatry which he had always
heartily despised.

The first item on the news page was headed in bold type:

~"MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A
RULING GERMAN PRINCE.

"SUSPICION OF FOUL PLAY.

"IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS VANISH WITH
HIM.--SPECIAL.~

"In spite of the most rigorous censorship of the Press Bureau, it
has now become a matter of practical certainty that Prince Emil
Rudolf von Zastrow, the youthful and very capable ruler of Boravia,
who, during the last two or three years, has become one of the most
brilliant figures in European society, has disappeared under
circumstances so strangely mysterious as to suggest some analogy
with the tragedy of which the unhappy Prince Alexander of Bulgaria
was the central figure.

"The facts, so far as they have been ascertained, are briefly as
follows:--Up to about a fortnight ago, the Prince was living in
semi-retirement with his consort, the Princess Hermia, in his
picturesque Castle of Trelitz, which, as every one knows, looks
down over the waters of the Baltic from a solitary eminence of rock
which rises out of the vast forests that cover the rolling plains
for leagues on the landward sides. It will be remembered that every
year since his accession, the Prince has been wont to retire to
this famous hunting-ground of his to enjoy at once the pleasures of
the chase and the society of his beautiful young consort in peace
and solitude after the whirl of the European winter season. As far
as is known, the only guests at the Castle were the Count Ulik von
Kessner, High Chamberlain of Boravia, who is believed to have been
present on business of State, and Captain Alexis Vollmar, of the
55th Caucasus Regiment,