An African Millionaire

ided for us by Amelia's French maid, who really

nce with Amelia has made her at last almost equally at home in our native English. She is a treasure, that girl; so neat and dexterous, and not above dabbling in anything on earth she may be asked to turn her hand to. She walks the world with a needle-case in one hand and an etna in the other. She can cook an omelette on occasion, or dri

-now-at once-in mid-October; where do you advise us to put up?"-Césarine answered

, a little staggered at such apparent

'Prince of Wales's'-the most comfortable hotel in all South Tyrol; and at this time of

es; old walls and towers; quaint, arcaded streets; a craggy waterfall; a promenade after the fashion of a German Spa; and when you lift your eyes from the ground, jagged sum

y. As in any case I have to do three hours' work a day, I feel that such additions to my normal burden may well be spared me. I tipped Césarine half a sovereign, in fact, for her judicious choice. Césarine glanced at it on her palm in her mysterious, curious, half-smili

ly bewildering. One would be square, with funny little turrets stuck out at each angle; while another would rejoice in a big round keep, and spread on either side long, ivy-clad walls and delightful bastions. Charles was immensely taken with them. He loves the picturesque, and has a poet hidden in that financial soul of his. (Very effectually hidden, though, I am ready to grant you.) From the moment he came he felt at once he would love to possess a castle of his own among these romantic mountains. "Seldon!" he exclaimed contemptuously. "They call Seldon a castle! But you and I know very well, Sey, it was built in 1860, with

ived there six weeks, and then tired

, my amiable sister-in-law fell in love with South Tyrol. She wanted to vegetate in that lush vegetation. The grapes were being picked; pumpkins hung over the walls; Virginia creeper draped the quaint gray schlosses with crimson cloaks; and everything was as beautiful as a dream of Burne-Jones's. (I know I am quite right in mentioning Burne-Jones, especially in connection with Romanesque architecture, because I heard him highly praised on th

oric which would have delighted the soul of good old John Robins. They were all picturesque, all Romanesque, all richly ivy-clad, all commodious, all historical, and all the property of high well-born Grafs and very honourable Freiherrs. Most of them had been the scene of celebrated tournaments; s

, a poor beggar of a secretary has always a chance of exerting his influence and earning for himself some modest commission.) Schloss Planta was the most striking externally, I should say, with its Rhine-like towers, and its great g

our minds, as it was such a lovely day, and went on up the long, slow hill to Lebenstein. I must say the drive through the grounds was simply charming. The castle stands perched (say rather poised, like St. Mic

ine, which is exported to Bordeaux, and there bottled and sold as a vintage claret und

nse, under our own vine and fig-tree. Delicious retirement! For

e knew; and his son, the present Count, a young man of means, having inherited from his mother's family a still more ancient and splendid schloss in the Salzburg district, desired t

ll; suits of ancestral armour, trophies of Tyrolese hunters, coats of arms of ancient counts-the very thing to take Ame

amed by those graceful Romanesque windows, with their slender pillars and quaint, round-topped arches. Sir Charles had made

ghtily) would inquire of his Serenity. Sir Charles sent up his card, and

cteristic Tyrolese long black moustache, dressed in a gentlemanly variant on the costume of the country. His air was a jager's; the us

a pleasant smile, being a négligeable quantity. We might speak it, he went on; he could un

n that language. It is the only one, save English and his ancestral Du

could endure to sell this place, the home of his fathers, because he had a finer in the Salzkammergut, and a pied-à-terre near Innsbruck. For Tyrol lacked just one joy-the sea. He was

charming estate I shall sell my own castle in the Scotch Highlands." An

y of the nobleman's demeanour towards this sullen dependant. He evidently explained to the fellow what sort of people we were, and remonstrated with him in a very gentle way for interrupting us. The steward understood, and clearly regretted his insolent air; for after a few sentences he went out, and as he did so he bowed and made protestatio

I must say-an extremely stiff sum; but no doubt he was charging us a fancy price for a fancy castle. "He will come down in time," Charles said. "The sum fir

other people-which is the reverse of the truth, or how could they ever have amassed their millions? Inst

for the rest, the Count desired us to discuss all details with his lawyers in the chief street, Unter den Lauben. We inquired about thes

erything quite en régle. Till we came to

t's first sum to the uttermost florin. It was a very big estimate. We talked

l I let myself be bled as if I were a chamois among these innocent mountains? Perish the thought!" Then he reflected a little in silence. "Sey," he mused on, at last, "the question is, are they innocent

his pace, my respected relative would shortly have had enough of the Tyrol altogether, and be proof against the most lovely of crag-crowning castles. But the Count didn't see it. He came to call on us at our hotel-a rare honour for

e say a thing we stick to it. Were you an Austrian, I should feel insulted by your ill-advised attempt to beat down my pr

us gracefully. But when we tried to bargain, it was always the same thing: he retired behind the

d. We tried all we kne

as I expected. "It's the prettiest place I ever saw in my lif

him so. Charles thought this would have the immediate effect of bringing the man to reason. But he only lifted his hat, with the b

ch I will not transcribe (I am a fa

e while she was there, and thought she could get it; now she thought she couldn't, her soul (if she has one) was wildly set upon it. Moreover, Césarine further inflamed her desire by gently hinting a fact which she had picked up at the courier's table d'

Row all smiles and tremors. (She had been ordered horse-exe

in the Park?" she inquired. "

s exclaimed,

Amelia

staken," Ch

ose name had been mentioned to us by the ancestral firm in Unter den Lauben as their English agents, as to the wh

He finds he's made a mistake; and now he

your eagerness," I said. But Amelia's ardour could not now be restrained. She insiste

f London. He would be ravished to dine next evening with Sir Charles. He desire

Charles reopened the subject. The Count was really touched. It pleased him that still, amid the dist

id, "to-morrow, and I will

er estates in Ireland; and they were glad to be honoured with the confidence of his successor. Glad, too, to make the acquaintance of a prince of finance like Sir C

little come-down, and left the matter to be settled between the lawyers. He was a soldier and a gentle

, so far as he was concerned, though I had been hanging about in Trafalgar Square for half an hour to see him.) I explained, in guarded

uired, at last, with

ed, wincing. "Still, a friendly word, yo

leman in him was going to raise its foot and take active measures. But the next, I saw that Sir Cha

But if your influence with Sir Charles-we understand each other, do we not?-as between gentlemen-a little friendly present-no money, of

is more usua

hussar again. "Five,

five then," I answered, "ju

ed; Charles and I met the Count by appointment in Southampton Row, and saw him sign, seal, and deliver the title-deeds of Schloss Lebenstein. My brother-in-law paid the purchase-money into the Count's own hands, by cheque, crossed on a first-class London firm where the Count kept an account to his high well-born order. Then he went away with the proud knowledge that he was owner of Schloss Lebenstein. And what to

r, not even to Isabel. My experience is that women are not to

urning with eagerness. She gave herself the airs of a Countess already. We took the Orient Express as far as Munich; then the Brenner to Meran, and put up for the night at the Erzherzog Johann.

t man," Charles muttered, as Lord of Lebenstein. "He's too sour-lo

and strode on. Then there followed a curious scene of mutual misunderstanding. The surly man called lustily for his ser

It dawned upon us now. Colonel Cla

d introduced my brother-in-law as the great South African millionaire, while he described himself as our courier and interpreter. As such he had had frequent interviews with the real Graf and his lawyers in Meran, and had driven almost daily across to the castle. The owner of the estate had named one price

e might to the Erzherzog Johann, crestfallen, an

th the famous millionaire, Sir Charles Vandrift; and Sir Charles had demonstratively recognised him at sight as the real Count von Lebenstein. The firm had never seen the present Graf at all, and had swallowed the impostor whole, so to speak, on the strength of Sir Charles's obvious recognition. He had brought over as documents some most excellent forgeries-facsimiles o

rvant had not given them to him, but to the genuine Count.

us at Sir Charles's house: one for myself, and

-BORN INCO

at might have spoiled all. Happily I perceived it, rode up by the short cut, and arrived somewhat hurriedly and hotly at the gate before you. Then I introduced myself. I had one more bad mo

welcome cheques, to offer you a useful and valuable

s your

lo

LEBEN

was to me. It w

OD MR. V

friend-on your own initiative. I hold my cheque, endorsed by you, and cashed at my banker's, as a hostage, so to speak, for your future good behaviour. If ever you recognise me, and betray me to that solemn old ass, your employer, remember, I expose it, and you with it to him. So now we understand each other. I had

T CLAY,

wn, and grizzled. "What'

lady," I

I thought it was the same hand," h

rs. Mortimer's." But

l inquiries at this fellow's ban

drew, as usual, on the Lebenstein account: so they were quite unsuspicious. A rascal who goes about the world on that scale, you know, and arrives with such credentials as theirs and yours, naturally imposes on anybody. Th

grets to bother about the account. He leaned back in his easy chair, stuck his hands in his pockets, he

eflectively, "what a genius that man has! 'Pon my soul, I

rles?" I

Board of the Cloetedorp Golcondas. Mag-nific

stared solemnly at my

tellect. There are certain remarks which, however true they may be, no self-respecting financier should per

out. "Quite right. Forgive this outburst. At moments of emo

even make it a fitting occasion to a