Fred M. White

“ And yet there must be many colossal rascals who have lived and died apparently in the odour of sanctity. Such a character would be quite new to fiction, and herein I propose to attempt the history of the Sherlock Holmes of malefactors.
Given a rascal with the intellect of the famous creation in question, and detection would be reduced to a vanishing point. It is the intention of the writer to set down here some of the wonderful adventures that befell Felix Gryde in the course of his remarkable career.
•••••
Every schoolboy knows the history of the rise and progress of the Kingdom of Lystria. ”

“ But as the champagne exported to Lystria is dipped in wax to the shoulder of the bottle, the fact was not likely to cause attention.
A minute or two later and Fort entered.
“I’m glad you’ve come,” said Gryde. “All the same, there is nothing further to report. What you have to do is precisely as arranged. You will go to No. 14 at five o’clock precisely and there await the messenger from the bank. Make him open the box and show you the gold, so as to be certain of its being genuine. ”

“ It ran thus:
“Your emperor is safe and unmolested. rest assured that the body of so brave and good a man is not likely to receive any indignity at our hands. the recovery of the remains is a mere matter of money. One hundred thousand gold crowns is the ransom demanded, and nothing less will be taken. otherwise Rudolph Cæsar is never likely to rest with his fathers. Communications in answer to this will alone be accepted in the way of an advertisement in the columns of the Zeitung. they must be headed to ‘Coronet’ only.”
For a long time did Desartes ponder over this strange letter. ”

“ This is a bold statement, but a true one all the same. The most notorious of rascals know that sooner or later they will be found out, and therefore they plan their lives accordingly. But they are always found out in the end. ”