ERIC IN TROUBLE.
A thorough search was instantly made; but neither around the room, nor
behind the furniture, nor upon the gallery roof, were any traces to be
found of the lost Frolic.
"It is too bad," cried Eric, in perplexity, while Johnny looked ready to
cry. "We must speak to the landlord, and ask him what we are to do."
Eric's German was by no means perfect; but he managed to make the
good-natured landlord understand their trouble. He made inquiries of all,
directly; but no one had seen the little monkey since the boys had left
her. He did not think it at all likely that she had been stolen, for no
one could get to the boys' room without being noticed by some of the
servants, and he was quite sure that she would return safely to her
comfortable quarters; so he advised the boys to leave the window open for
her, and to go at once to the dinner he had been for some time keeping for
them.
His sensible advice was unwillingly followed; but Froll took no advantage
of the window left open for her benefit.
Eric and Johnny waited and watched impatiently, until it was almost time
to start for the train. Then Eric left directions with the landlord, in
case the monkey should be found and captured; promising to send for her.
He was just going to call Johnny, when he heard his voice, crying,
excitedly, "Eric, Eric!" and hoping Froll had returned, ran quickly up the
stairs.
"See there, what I found on the floor," exclaimed Johnny, as he entered
the room, and held up before Eric's astonished gaze a jewelled ring, that
flashed and sparkled in the sunlight.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Eric; "on the floor of _this_ room?"
"Yes," answered Johnny, "on the floor, just where you're standing. It's a
mercy we haven't stepped on it. Don't you think so?"
"We must find the owner at once. Isn't it splendid!" said Eric,
admiringly; "three diamonds and an emerald; it must have cost a fortune."
Just at this juncture the door opened, and the landlord, followed by a
French officer and a civilian, entered the room. The landlord exclaimed,
in German,--
"I beg your pardon, young gentlemen, but a serious loss has occurred in
the house, and as you are about leaving it, perhaps you will be kind
enough to let us inspect--"
"_Ah! mon Dieu! il y ait!_"[1] screamed the French civilian, darting
towards Eric and John, and, snatching the ring from Johnny's hand,
displayed it triumphantly before the landlord and the officer.
"I found it on the floor," said Johnny. "Is it yours?"
"A likely story!" muttered the Frenchman.
"I'm very glad you've got it," said Eric, with dignity. "My cousin found
it on the floor a minute ago, and we were on the point of taking it to the
landlord when you came in."
Eric spoke slowly and distinctly, and with an air of honest truth that at
once convinced the landlord. But the excitable little Frenchman, who had
been clasping the precious ring, and murmuring, "_Ciel, ciel! ah, ciel!_"
in an incoherent way, now sprang at Eric, and grasping him by the collar,
exclaimed, angrily, "O, you fine fellow! you wicked one! where is my--my
gold?--my gold? where is it?" and he gave the boy a series of shakes.
Eric's anger was fully aroused. With flashing eyes, "How dare you!" he
said, indignantly, and, turning upon the Frenchman, flung him with some
violence against the wall.
This made the little Frenchman still more furious; he would have sprung
again upon Eric, but the officer interfered. Johnny, with his eyes almost
starting from his head, had terrifiedly regarded this little scene,
doubling his fists to aid in Eric's rescue.
Eric turned indignantly to the landlord,--
"What is the meaning of all this? Are two defenceless American boys, your
guests, to be openly insulted in your presence without protection?"
"Count D'Orsay has been robbed of his diamond ring and a sum of money,"
explained the landlord. "He insisted that no person should leave the hotel
without examination. That is why we came to you. He has found the ring in
your hands, which is very astonishing, and he now suspects you of having
the gold."
The landlord spoke gently, and seemed grieved to be obliged to hurt their
feelings, as he knew his implied meaning must.
Poor Eric's face flushed hotly with shame and anger, while Johnny cried,
furiously, "Eric, Eric, for pity's sake send for papa! He will teach that
hateful Frenchman what it is to call us thieves."
"Be quiet, John!" said Eric, imperiously. "Come here."
"Now, sir," turning to the landlord, "please to let your officer search
us, and then our baggage. Do it at once, for we are to leave Strasbourg
directly."
"Indeed!" sneered Count D'Orsay. "Perhaps you will not leave Strasbourg
for the present. Search them, officer."
The officer advanced reluctantly, and, by his expression of sympathy,
showed himself much more a gentleman than the titled count, whose habitual
politeness had been driven away by Eric's powerful thrust.
The landlord, although deeply sympathetic, and convinced of their honesty,
was powerless to resist Count D'Orsay. He was a German innholder, and the
count a wealthy, influential French nobleman, with a proper warrant for
searching his house. So he could in no way protect the boys from the
indignity put upon them. But he hailed with joy Johnny's suggestion to
send for his father, deciding to do so at once, if they should be
detained.
Of course no gold was found upon either of them, except that given to Eric
for tickets and hotel expenses, and none was found in their baggage.
But just as they were preparing to leave the place, having been released
by the officer, Count D'Orsay uttered an exclamation, and pointed to a
_fauteuil_--an easy chair--by the window.
"_Celui-la!_"
The officer stepped to the chair, and found, tucked between the cushion
and the arm, a silk purse, full of gold pieces.
Eric and Johnny were horror-stricken, and the good landlord was dumb with
astonishment.
The French count held up the purse triumphantly, and jingled the gold
before Eric's eyes, exclaiming, tauntingly,--
"It is mine, and I have it. The _prison_ is yours, and you shall have
it."
"Eric, Eric," cried Johnny, in agony of terror, "they _can't_ send us to
prison. We haven't done anything. We didn't know the money was there, or
the ring. O, what shall we do? Send for papa!"
Eric's face was very white, and his hand trembled visibly, as he wrote his
uncle's address on a card, and requested the landlord to send for him.
Count D'Orsay wished them to be at once conducted to prison: but this the
landlord would not allow, and the officer declared was unnecessarily
severe. They might remain in their room, with a guard, and the landlord
would be responsible for their remaining.
As soon as the detestable Frenchman had gone, Johnny threw himself at full
length upon the floor, crying violently. Eric could not comfort him, but
sat at the window, with a proud, defiant face and swelling heart.
Presently the kind landlord came again to them.
He had sent word by telegraph to Johnny's father, and received a return
message. Mr. Van Rasseulger would be with them by night.
This was comforting. And gradually the boys thought less and less of their
trouble, and became quite interested in making conjectures with the
landlord as to when and how the money and jewels came into their room, and
if Froll's disappearance could be owing to the same cause, or in any way
connected with it, and if she would probably return at night.
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," said Eric; "and perhaps, by
being detained here, we shall find her."
[Illustration: Eric and the French Count.--Page 143.]
"I don't care what they do when papa gets here," said Johnny, whose faith
in his father's power was limitless. "He'll just _fix_ that Count
D'Orsay."
Meanwhile Mr. Van Rasseulger was whizzing rapidly towards them in the
afternoon train, and another powerful friend was coming from an opposite
direction.
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[1] O Heaven! he has it!