Punch (71.1876)

280

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [December 23, 1876.

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW."

Swell Coachman (with his eye on tlie Brougham's cockade). " YuUR Guy'ner in the Army ?"

Brougham {artlessly). " Not 'zactly in the Harmy. But Missis say as they sold Milingtary Cur'osities when they kep'
a Shop in 'Olborn ! ! "

obliged to come by night. In the day time the Guardians of the
Ruin would have stopped us."

" What is this Treasure ?" asked Albert, with some curiosity.

"You shall know when we are back once more in my house
beyond the river," replied his companion. "Enough to say, that
for this Treasure Louis the Fourteenth would have given up his
Throne, Cromwell his Protectorship, Napoleon the Great his
Victories. Once possessors of it, and we can laugh the world to
scorn. We shall be richer than Rothschild, and more powerful
than Bismarck. And now we have arrived."

They, were standing in the court-yard of Heidelberg Castle.
Albert held a dark lantern, and Carl carried a spade. The latter
produced a small map, and then approached a stone wall. He
tapped thrice, and then a secret door opened before them, revealing
a flight of steps. They descended, and found themselves in an old
oak chamber, which had evidently not been entered for two hundred
years. The ancient furniture was covered with cobwebs, and rats
played about the floor. In front of the rusty fire-place was a mag-
nificent rug, moth-eaten and threadbare. Carl removed this rug,
and then began to dig. In five minutes his spade turned up a small
gold box, covered with mystic figures.

" I was not deceived! " cried Carl. " And now we are Kings of
the World—nay, more, our empire extends to the Moon and Stars! "

"What is the Secret ?" again asked Albert.

" You shall know when we have returned to my cottage beyond
the river," was the frank but determined response.

And they retraced their steps. As they crossed the bridge, the
small gold box slipped from the hands of Carl, and fell with a
heavy splash into the water.

Carl threw up his arms in despair, and jumped in.

Albert waited for more than three-quarters of an hour, but his
companion never returned!

Chapter IY.—A Voice from Scotland Yard.
Christmas-Eve in Australia—in the Bush. A white-haired Man
was entertaining a short, sharp, little fellow he had found, wounded
near unto death by the wayside. The wounded Man was now

convalescent, and both he and his rescuer were eating plum-
pudding.

" And so you are a Detective ? " repeated the white-haired Man.
"And can tell you everything, Albert de Pentonville."
" You know my name ? "

"And everything about you," replied the Detective, with a
stealthy smile.

"I know that you are living here unnoticed and alone under the
assumed name of the Duke of Suffolk and Norfolk. I know
that you have'chosen this alias to escape attention."

"And do you also know," asked Albert, " that I have chosen
this solitary fate because there are three Secrets I cannot solve P "

" Certainly," returned the Detective. " You mean the Story of
the Infant Ghost, the Contents of the Fatal Telegram, and the
Character of the Secret Treasure of Heidelberg Castle."

" And you know them ? "

"All," replied the Detective. "And I have come this weary
journey from England to Australia to you, Albert de Pentonville,
to reveal these Secrets—these Secrets so startling in their novelty.
Listen while I give you the fullest particulars upon each of these
interesting subjects. You and I will be the only men in this wide
world who will ever know them."

And then the Detective began.

(To be continued in Mr. Bunch's Christmas Number for 1877. Order early.)

What Old Grumpy says.

" Merry Christmas! Pooh ! Don't talk to me of merry Christ-
mas ! How can any man be merry when he knows that for a month
he '11 have to dine on roast beef and boiled turkey, or roast turkey
and boiled beef!

The Book of the Play (as Managers like.it).—" All places taken
for the next fortnight."