Oscar the Detective Part 30

"I have."

"I have no proofs as concerns the ident.i.ty of my father. I have many well-grounded reasons for believing I can identify him. I probably will never obtain the proofs, never establish my claim to a n.o.ble name."

Oscar held a prolonged conversation with Alphonse Donetti. He was perfectly frank and told him of Alice Frewen's belief in his integrity, and indeed concealed nothing. Our hero was fully convinced of the young man's truthfulness, and from him obtained many facts concerning the gang with whom Argetti was a.s.sociated.

Later on the two young men parted, Alphonse promising to remain where he was until he received further information from our hero. In a later interview with the chief it was agreed to arrest every one of the Italians supposed to be connected with the gang, and on the following day a number of officers--silent and effective men--went abroad and five men were arrested, who, together with Argetti made six; and our hero had reason to believe that every man was identified with the Roman robbery.

A week pa.s.sed and one day the chief sent word for Oscar to come to headquarters. Our hero meantime had been in constant communication with Alphonse, the girl Caroline Metti, and also Alice, and a perfectly free interchange of confidences had been made.

As intimated, the chief sent for Oscar, and when the latter arrived he was informed that the representative of the Roman n.o.bleman was in New York, and awaited an interview with our hero at his hotel. Oscar proceeded at once to the hotel, bearing a card from the chief, and met a very pleasant-looking gentleman who spoke English fluently, and we will here state that more English comparatively is spoken in Italy than in France.

"I am very happy to meet you," said the gentleman, after the usual interchange of courtesies, "as I understand you have had special charge of the business of running down the robbers."

"Yes, sir."

"You have certain men under arrest?"

"I have."

"Have you any proofs against them?"

"That remains for you to determine."

"For me to determine?"

"Yes."

"How so?"

"I have in my possession certain articles; if you can identify them as part of the proceeds of the robbery in Rome we have the right men."

"Will you let me see the articles?"

"If you will accompany me I will show them to you."

We will here state that the police had taken possession of Argetti's house. They had stationed a guard over it. Oscar had visited the house many times with Caroline Metti, and after many searches had unearthed a buried casket in the cellar, and in the casket he had found a rich collection of jewels. Indeed, the robbery had been of even greater magnitude than had been reported, and among the articles stolen were jewels that had belonged to the family of the n.o.bleman during the pontificate of Gregory XI. These were articles that had come down in the family for over five centuries and were of great intrinsic as well as historical value.

This casket had been left at the house pending the arrival of the representative from Rome, subject to positive identification.

When the casket was produced and shown to the Italian he uttered a cry of delight and amazement. Indeed he fairly danced around so great was his joy.

"Are we right?" asked Oscar.

"Right, my dear sir, you are the most wonderful man on earth. I always believed Americans were a great people, and you are the greatest American I ever met."

Our hero laughed and said:

"It was a simple matter--a very simple matter."

"Ah, to you, but to me it is a marvelous feat."

"These are the stolen goods?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are the rare souvenirs there?"

The Italian made a careful examination and finally said:

"Yes, everything is here. Of course there are some few articles missing of modern manufacture, but what my master values at millions is here.

Oh, how proud, how happy he will be when he learns that I have recovered his treasures, and there is but one bit of news that I could cable to him would cause him greater joy."

Our hero stared.

"Then he has met with other losses?"

"Yes, sir."

"It is possible I can aid you in this other matter."

"No, no, the grave has closed over the one object that would have made my master's heart glad. He is an old man--will soon go to the grave himself--and with him ends the male line of the great and ancient house of Prince ----."

Our hero's heart stood still, and strange, wild thoughts flashed through his mind. He did not speak of certain facts at that moment, nor did he make further inquiries. He had the one business on hand. He said:

"We have the robbers. It will be necessary for you to communicate with the Italian consul-general and proceed in a regular and legal manner to secure the extradition of the criminals."

"Yes, I will proceed at once."

The occurrences of the succeeding two weeks would not interest our readers, as our hero's time and attention were devoted to the furnis.h.i.+ng of the evidence that was needed to extradite the robbers. As good luck would have it, at the last moment, as is often the case, one of the men "squeaked," as the vulgar professional saying has it; that is, made a full confession implicating every one of his late pals. Then the road was clear and our hero met the representative by appointment to receive his reward and payment for services. Oscar was not unmindful of the a.s.sistance he had received from Caroline Metti and she received a handsome sum as her share, and she did not refuse it, for under the advice of our hero she had determined upon her future course.

Having settled the matter as concerned Caroline Metti our hero said:

"There is one more party who comes in for recognition--a young man."

"Name him," said the representative. "I am prepared to liberally reward every one who aided in the recovery of these precious heirlooms."

"I will not name the party. I will show you his picture, and you can probably identify him yourself."

Our hero had secured the photograph of Alphonse Donetti. He handed it to the representative in a careless manner, saying:

"That is a picture of the young man, and to him we are under great obligations in this matter."

The instant the Italian saw and fixed his eyes on the picture he recoiled like one gazing at a ghost. His eyes fairly bulged. He turned pale, trembled like an aspen leaf, and attempted to speak, but his tongue appeared to cleave to the roof of his mouth. He was unable to speak. Oscar stood by, a look of delight and gratification expressed upon his handsome face.

The detective waited. He desired to give the Italian time to recover his composure, and finally, when the latter was able to speak, he asked in gasping tones:

"Is the original of this picture alive?"

"He is."