Ware e PENG Est Di Gie MeMEAT

(A True Story.)

E was a prince of some scholarly distinction, and was on a visit to Queen
Victoria at Windsor Castle. He went to the British Museum to see a
unique coin.

“Yes,” said the keeper, taking the prince into a private room where the
treasure was locked up in a special cabinet; “this is the only known example
of this particular coin ; it is priceless as an imperial relic.”

The prince examined it with suppressed excitement, looked at it through a
magnifying glass, and smiled with delight. The keeper was a shrewd man. He
saw that the prince had the true feeling of the connoisseur and collector, and he
was wary; for the passion of the enthusiastic antiquarian has been known to
lead the most honest men out of the paths of virtue. The keeper turned aside
for a moment, however, and during that moment the coin dropped upon the
floor. He heard it distinctly, and saw the prince stoop as if to pick it up.

“T have dropped it,” said His Highness.

The keeper joined him in looking for it; but the treasure had disappeared.
It was nowhere to be seen. They both searched for it diligently. Ten, twenty,
thirty minutes passed away. The prince looked at his watch. “I am very
sorry, but I must go now,” he said; “I have a most important appointment.”

The keeper rose from his stooping posture, went to the door, locked it, put
the key into his pocket, and then, looking his visitor straight in the eye, said:
“You cannot keep your appointment, sir, until you have restored to me the
coin I last saw in your hand.”

“ But,” said the prince, “ you will find it presently, and my engagement is at
Windsor.”

“Tam very sorry; but you cannot leave this room until you have given me
back that coin.”

“Why, great heavens!” exclaimed the prince, “one would think by your
manner that”? —

“ Not at all,” said the keeper, interrupting him; “come, let us find it.”

The prince bit his lip, turned pale, and they resumed the search. At the end
of an hour the prince insisted upon leaving the keeper to find it. His anxiety
to get away confirmed the British Museum official in his suspicion that the
prince had yielded to the collector’s fever for possession. Time went on; the
prince now emphatically declared his intention to leave the place.

“Tf you insist,” said the keeper, “it will be my painful duty to call in a
detective officer, and have you searched.”

“ Do you mean that?”