negotiations, and wisely resolved to go
direct to Frankfort, sell the bonds, then, with the money in my pocket
and all anxiety over, I would be in a state of mind to enjoy a short
holiday.

I traveled through Belgium and some parts of Germany by daylight, and
was, as most Americans are who travel on the Continent, shocked to see
the employment of women. Soon after leaving Brussels I saw the, to me,
novel sight of a number of women shoveling coal, handling the shovel
like men. In other places I saw them laboring in the brick yards,
digging and wheeling clay, and everywhere they were to be seen working
at men's work in the fields.

A traveler in my compartment proved a most entertaining companion. He
described himself to me as one who "went about pottering over a lot of
antiquities and fooling around generally."

But my friend, the pottering old antiquary, gave me something of a
surprise. At Chalours all of our fellow travelers in the compartment
left us. Two of them were voluble French women, and they kept it up with
amazing energy for the six hours from Brussels to Chalours. At every
unusual swaying of the car there would be a volley of "Mon Dieus!" and
ear-piercing exclamations, and it was certainly a relief when they left.

Bringing out a box of cigars, and my companion producing a flask of
wine, we soon became confidential. Presently, to my great amusement, my
Old Antiquary, warmed by the wine, confided to me that he was a
detective police officer and chief of the secret service at Antwerp,
that he was then working on a famous case, and had been shadowing one of
the ladies who had journeyed with us from Brussels. Before leaving
Brussels, he had discovered his quarry was to quit the train, and as he
had to go on to Mayence, he had turned the business over to a
confederate.

I was young, and no doubt he thought me innocent; certainly he did not
withhold his confidence. This is the case he was investigating:

There was a wealthy gentleman by the name of Van Tromp living in
Antwerp, a widower, 70 years of age, the father of a grown-up family,
and many times a grandfather. It had been his custom to go to
Baden-Baden every Summer, spending money freely both in pleasure and in
the famous gambling resorts there. The last time he had met a woman, the
Countess Winzerode, one of the many adventuresses to be found there, and
speedily became infatuated. This Van Tromp was a descendant of old
Admiral Van Tromp, who, in the