"You appear to fear some action of Minckwitz's. If that is so, I will
return to Hanover and watch. If there is any hostile intent, I will
endeavour to prevent it. Fortunately, he does not know me."
Next night I was back again in Hanover, having stopped in Berlin to pick
up a friend of mine upon whose discretion I could rely implicitly--a
retired member of the detective force named Hartwieg. Together we
started to watch the movements of the mysterious Polish musician, and
to our surprise we found that he had three friends, one of them a
furrier living in the Burgstrasse, who visited him regularly each
evening. They always arrived at the same hour, and generally left about
eleven o'clock. Through five days we kept watch, alternately closely
shadowing the man who called himself Sembach, and becoming acquainted
with his friends, most of whom seemed of a very queer set.
There was no doubt that Minckwitz and the two young women were
associates of some criminal gang, and, further, I was staggered one
evening to watch the arrival at the house of a young man whom I
recognized as Brosch, an under-valet of the Emperor's at the Neues
Palais.
For what reason had he come from Potsdam?
He remained there till noon on the following day. When he emerged,
accompanied by Minckwitz, the pair went into the city, and we followed,
when, curiously enough, I came face to face with Von Pappenheim's
sister, who was apparently there for the same purpose as myself! Happily
she was too intent in her conversation with Minckwitz, whom she met as
though accidentally, to notice my presence.
Then, at last, the musician raised his hat and left her, rejoining the
young man Brosch.
The pair went to a bookshop in the Herschelstrasse, and presently, when
they came forth again, Brosch was carrying a good-sized volume wrapped
in brown paper.
My curiosity was aroused, therefore I went into the shop, made a
purchase, and learned from the shopman that the younger of the pair had
purchased a well-known German reference-book, Professor Nebendahl's
"Dictionary of Classical Quotations."
Strange that such a book should be purchased by an under-valet!
Leaving the detective Hartwieg to watch, I took the next train back to
Potsdam, where I was fortunate enough to find the Emperor giving
audience to the Imperial Chancellor. At the conclusion of the audience I
sought, and was accorded, a private interview, at which I recalled His
Majesty's anxiety to ascertain something regarding the man Minckwitz.
"Well--and have you found him?" asked the Emperor very eagerly.
I replied in the affirmative. Then he told me something which held me
breathless, for, unlocking a drawer, he showed me an anonymous letter of
warning he had received, a letter which, posted in Paris, stated that an
attempt was to be made upon his life, and hinting that the Crown-Prince
might be aware of it.
"Of course," he laughed, "I do not regard it seriously, but I thought we
ought to know the whereabouts of this man Minckwitz, who is probably an
anarchist."
"Will Your Majesty leave the matter entirely in my hands?" I suggested.
"The police must not be informed."
"It shall be as you wish. I give you authority to act just as you deem
best if you really anticipate danger."
"I do anticipate it," I replied, and a few moments later bowed myself
out of the Imperial presence.
During that day I idled about the Palace, gossiping with the officials
and _dames du palais_, awaiting the return of the young man Brosch. That
night he did not come back, but he arrived at the Palace about seven
o'clock on the following morning. The head valet was furious at his
absence, but the young man made a very plausible excuse that his sister
out at Lichtenberg was very dangerously ill.
I had had no sleep that night, but as soon as I was informed of the
under-valet's return, I repaired to the Emperor's study and secreted
myself beneath a great damask-covered settee which runs along the wall
opposite the door. For nearly an hour I remained there, when the door
was opened stealthily and there entered the young man whom I had seen in
Hanover on the previous day. He carried a book in his hand. This he
swiftly exchanged for another similar book of the same appearance, and a
moment later crept out again, closing the door noiselessly.
Quickly I came forth and took up the classical dictionary, a copy of
which was usually upon the Emperor's table. It presented just the same
appearance as the book that Brosch had taken away, only it was
considerably heavier.
Without delay I dashed out, sought the Emperor's valet, and was admitted
to His Majesty's presence.
Three minutes later we were both in the study. I took up the book and
held it to his ear. Just as I had heard, he could detect the faint
ticking of a watch within.
The book had been hollowed out and a time bomb inserted! It was, no
doubt, set to explode between eight and nine o'clock, when the Emperor
would be at his desk.
"Take it out quickly!" shrieked the Kaiser in terror, when he realized
the true import of the plot.
In obedience, handling the book very carefully, I rushed with it
downstairs out into the open. I placed it on the grass some distance
away, while the Emperor followed me, utterly astounded at the discovery.
Having deposited it, I dashed back to where the Emperor was standing
upon the steps, greatly to the surprise of the sentries, when hardly had
I reached him than there showed a blood-red flash, followed by a
terrific report and concussion--an explosion which, had it occurred in
the upstairs study, must have blown the Emperor's head off as he sat.
His Majesty stood white and rigid, instantly realizing what a narrow
escape he had had, while the noise caused the greatest alarm, and
people began rushing hither and thither to ascertain the cause.
In a few seconds His Majesty was calm again.
"Say nothing of this, Heltzendorff," he said. "Let it remain a mystery.
Come upstairs and I will speak on the telephone to the police."
"Your Majesty gave the matter unreservedly into my hands," I reminded
him.
"Ah! that is so. I forgot," he exclaimed, and after thanking me he
added: "Take what steps you like, but have the offenders punished, and
also try to discover who sent me that anonymous warning."
The young valet, who had been, no doubt, heavily bribed by Minckwitz to
substitute the book, had already disappeared, and, as a matter of fact,
has never been seen in Germany since.
The man Minckwitz had also, it seemed, suddenly left Hanover on the
night of my departure, for Hartwieg, following him, reported to me by
wire that he was in Paris.
Without delay I travelled to the French capital, saw my old friend
Pinaud of the Surete, and told him the whole story, explaining in
confidence that for some mysterious reason the Crown-Prince feared that
if the man were arrested he might reveal something unpleasant.
"I quite understand," replied the French detective, with a smile. "I
know that, six months ago, while the Crown-Prince was in Paris, he was
one night enticed by a girl into the gaming-house kept by the notorious
Minckwitz. There a quarrel ensued, and the Crown-Prince, fearing attack,
drew his revolver, which went off and shot one of Minckwitz's
confederates stone dead. The Crown-Prince has ever since been paying big
sums to hush up the affair. Until recently Minckwitz conceived the idea
that if the Emperor died and the Crown-Prince came to the Throne it
would mean to him considerably more money each year. Therefore he
conceived that diabolical plot. I warned the Crown-Prince of it, and he
threatened to expose Minckwitz and have him arrested. Minckwitz, in
turn, threatened that if His Highness made the slightest movement to
thwart his plans he would expose to the world that the German
Crown-Prince, during his latest escapade in the Montmartre, had killed a
man. Finding this to be the case, I myself wrote that anonymous letter
of warning, which I addressed to the Emperor."
"And which has had the effect of saving His Majesty's life," I remarked.
That night Minckwitz found himself arrested upon a charge of
blackmailing a Portugese nobleman, and was later on sentenced to fifteen
years' imprisonment.
In his solitary hours in prison he often wonders, I expect, why his
dastardly plot failed. Had it been successful, however, it certainly
would have had a great effect upon the future history of the world.