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THE LOVERIDDLE THAT DROVE HIM TO DEATH “He gazed into three pairs of beautiful eyes’ The imp of indicision in his brain developed into a monster! How was it possible for him to decide? Each seemed to him more beautiful than the other! And so he shot himself’” Vienna, Aug. 11. THE suicide of the handsome, the rich, the noble Lieutenant Adolph von Hoffschneider has ceased to be an enigma. The mystery that puz zled smart society in Vienna and Paris is no longer a mystery. It is solved by friends of the three beautiful originals of the three photographs which stood on the mantelpiece in the sitting room qf the unfortunate young army officer, before which he was standing—as developed at the Coroner s inquest—when he blew out his brains. Those three photographs are repro duced on this page—they serve to illum itiite the story which accompanies them The originals are: Mlle. Renouardt, one of the chief beauties of the European stage; Mlle. Lorraine, another Paris stage beauty of hardly less celebrity; Countess Irma Potacka. the charming member of an old Polish family whose beauty has only recently brought itself to the notice of Vienna society. Lieutenant Hoffschneider was one of the very first of the eligible bachelors in the Vienna army set to fall before the fascina tions of the little Countess. This was nearly a year ago, before he had met either Renouardt or Mlle. Lorraine. She was in every way suited to the position in which the Lieutenant, was able to place a wife. If she had yielded prompfly to his wooing there would have been no suicide and no story. “Comtesse. ’ he ple.aded, “have the com mon humanity to end this suspense. Can t you see that It is killing me by inches?" “Ha. ha," she laughed “For a dying man you look very healthy—and so tine, so handsome, so brave!" H<- could not see that the vivacious little woman loved him, was merely prolonging the delight of keeping him in ignorance of the thoroughness of his conquest He im ■ agined that she was laughing at him. and demanded, almost roughly; “Will you marry me? It is the third time that I have placed my heart, my for tune at your feet. I crave your answer." Lovingly, but impishly, she made a little face at him in which he could see only the impishness. Before she could utter a word, the foolish young man had rushed angrily from the room, from the house. On the following day, believing himself to be a deeply injured person, he w-as off to Paris, swearing to forget perfidious Polish beauties in a whirl of gayety that would astonish even the Parisians His very first evening of mild amuse ment led him to the theatre, where Re nouardt was playing. Ah, here was some one who could make him forget the little dark sirens of Poland! He got himself presented to the actress. He showed his metal. Who were small fry French noble men to stand in the way of the head of the ancient and most noble house of the vor. Hoffschneiders! He elbowed them out of the presence of Renouardt. He even challenged the perogative of an exiled Russian Prince—and got away with it. Renouardt found herself amused by the fiery young Austrian. Besides, he had the price of many little jewelled trinkets which she had long desired to add to her collection of such trophies. She did not even mind the impetuousness of the Lieu tenant's lovemaking—so unlike the un ceremonious French way. Also, it was so refreshing, his desire to make her his wife! “Mlle Renouardt," he would say several times every night, after the play, “you say that vou like me. Is it not possible for you to love me enough to marry me? Other wise i feel that I am not long for this world " For a week or so Renouardt would laugh heartily only half believing that the young officer was serious. “But look how foolish," she would say. "Foolish—foolish to become the wife of Lieutenant Adolph von Hoffschneider” and there the youth would choke with in dignation. “Oh no, no, no —but no, no’ You d® not understand. 1 mean how foolish to marry one man who will drive away all the others. If I gi ve myself to one man, the others are hopeless; if I give myself to no body, then every man who loves me still irs hope—and when they hope, they can be so thoughtful, so nice!” "But I love you,” at length the Lieuteu ant said with finality. “Love like that is more than all else in the world. Madam oiselle is it not possible for you to love me enough to marry me?" Understanding now that he was abso 1 itely serious, and would make her undid uted mistress of his life, of his estates, in short, his wife, she confessed that he was very dear to her —well, she would consider the matter. In the meantime, he must not for oue In stant, cease to hope! In the mean time Mlle. Renouardt had to go away r for a week to visit friends in the south of France. For twenty-sou; hours the Lieutenant, was disconsolate. Then he chanced to meet Mlle. Lorraine. It was a supp--r parly, aud the surroundings and the atmosphere were conducive to rapid acquaintance. There was something about Mlle. Lorraine that, touched a- chord in the young officers bosom which had failed to vibrate in the presence of Renouardt —just as Renou ardt had given him palpitations which he bad never experienced when gazing into the melting orbs of the Countess Irma Po tacka. Charmed with this fresh experience of the possibilities of love’s uncharted emotions, is it any wonder that the little Countess Irma and Renouardt were, for the mo ment, swept from the consciousness of the impressionable Lieutenant? It was not three days after the date of that little supper that the young officer found him self on his knees at the feet of Mlle. Lor raine, imploring her: “Mlle. Lorraine, most beautiful, most en chanting of your sex, behold me at your feet. Unless you bid me rise to the lev-1 ■A - ■ « / - W • - ' /cX I A/' Sf ' * ' " ‘/A/ A ■_ jig K ■ . i /Uvy I a- - a ,w 1 XiW* 1 A X ! J -1 xA-M ■ & i I . A 1 i ' KA’S Jj ' ■ A ' ft -y n , ■ v 4MMb^* 4 :*** ’ a— l _ ) iBPr • ■■) 1 Mlle. Lorraine, the Paris ZI A Countess Irma Potacka, Who Was the Begin- Stage Beauty and Third < ' (AT Ar" k&On n ‘ ng ° f ‘I 16 Austlrian Army Officer’s of the Fatally Charm- ( / \ —V Fatal Love-Enigma. ing Trio. A of your heart, life for me Wfe henceforth will be a desert, \ -> W waste.*’ * Oh, Monsieur- 7 ' exclaimed < h the actress—who had liked the impetuous youth immensely from the start, and knew all ' about his rank and his fortune. "Oh, Monsieur, quel honneur! I—l am overwhelm,. You must rise from your knees immedi ately.” "To the level of your heart? Do you itke and esteem me -it is yet too soon to expect you to acknowledge love—well enough to become my promised wife?" Mlle Lorraine was deeply touched. She admitted it. “Give me three days so consider,” she said. But she said it in tones, accompanied by the softest glances from her lovely eyes, that satisfied Lieu tenant von Hoffschneider he need not wor ry during the next three days She gave him a fine, large photograph of herself— almost the mate to the one which he hud i -ArAL -x yi it nW' ... ( i TrA. Xf • - . M&l A" r ' # ' w ’ 'A<l A- f dk. ’X AAn X■ f X Z X > W* WS aXf (< xt # XX - VxMxsP X, ~ ' v“-‘ -* " CA. 'A' ' . -AX -'A-' - A " MX ) gW r a j/a Ao ' Ac? ■”w * v A yj wifi > t ( X Mr i c..a. - w - ? X Mb I \-tA "<?? Mlle. Renouardt, the ‘ >r I [( A Fascinating Young f T? rt L™,'"“7T;rf ( 2 * ’* ■' y® - _ ®~' J schneider’s Fateful — nM n i ft-''l Love-Trinity. -v / J ;r 1 WflH Jr 1 re- sSpJBSpi ?*JsK 1 jBL 1 ■ v < ’ bi received from Mlle. Renouardt. Back in his apartment at the hotel the Lieutenant placed the two photographs side by side In the smiling faces of both he read the same promise—the promise to make him, soon, unutterably happy. And right there and then was born in bis brain that imp of indecision which was to become the master of his destiny. How would it be possible to choose between two such types of incredible loveliness? Coincident with the birth of this dis quieting thought, entered a hotel servant with a letter bearing the Vienna postmark, .nd the superscription in the familiar hand writing of the brother officer who was his closest friend and confiant. He tore open the envelope and read: “Lieber Adolph You were wrong to run away to Paris —as I told you at the time The little I’otacka is inconsolable. She locks herself in her room, refusing to see iny one My man has it from her maid that she sits al! day looking at the photo graph you gave her, and sighing in the most piteous manner. "Lieber Adolph, must I say it? But It is true, and I say it for your own good—to sting you into action. Lieber Adolph, du bist ein dummkopf! Come home at once — to your languishing little Potacka.” “The Countess Irma loves me. Her heart is mine! Fool, fool that I am, to be shilly shallying here in Paris!” And, summoning his valet, the Lieutenant packed up in such haste, in such feverish eagerness to throw himself again at the feet of the Countess Irma, that the midnight train started him whirling toward Vienna. The Lieutenant reached Vienna without accident. Being in the ordinary details of lire, an orderly person, he drove directly to his apartment to unpack, to attend to press ing business affairs, and to plan the details of his appropriate reentree into Vienna society. Considering the circumstances of his departure for Paris, he could be guilty of nothing so gauche as rushing unan nounced to the Countess Potacka. In this case it was the fatal mistake of a supei fashionable young man Becaug" of that mistake the Countess Irma never Charmed Equally by Three Famous. Beauties, Each Ready to Be His Bride-Un able to Choose Between Them, and Crazed by Indecision, the Lieutenant Had to Blow Out His Brains again saw Lieutenant von HoffschneMar among the living. He was not seen that evening by any of his friends. After un packing his trunks and rearranging his wardrobe, his valet was dismissed forth« night. Next morning the Lieutenant’s lifelesa body was discovered lying full length on the Persian rug before the mantel In his sitting room. Near it had fallen the re volver with which he had blown out hla brains. As mentioned at the beginning of this account, the photographs of the Countess Irma, of Mlle. Renouardt, and of Mlle. Lorraine, stood side by side on the mantiepiece. A quantity of cigarette ash littered the mantelpiece, and was trodden into the alan rug. The Lieutenant was an inveter ate smoker of cigarettes. It was plain, by these signs, how he had spent the evening, after unpacking and restoring to the man telpiece his Photograph of the Countess Ir ma. now flanked by those of Renouardt and Mlle. Lorraine—the three most beautiful women in the world, each of whom he loved to the point of madness—and each ready to become hfs wife! As he gazed into the three pairs of pic tured eyes—smoking furiously and drop ping cigarette ash on the mantel—the imp of Indecision in his brain developed into a monster. How was it possible for Mm to decide? He loved them all equally, each was ready to give herself to him. How could he renouce the other two? He paced backward and forward, treading cigarette ash into the Persian rug. When the Lieutenant realized fully that a decision was impossible, the one possible solution of his difficulty occurred to him. His revolver was handy, and he did not hesitate to use it. For some reason best known to them selves, the relatives of the unfortunate young man have not favored the publica tion in Vienna newspapers of the above details of the cause of the suicide. The official explanation, “while temporarily deranged," has sufficed. ' The Countess Potacka left Vienna im mediately, going to her country estate la the neighborhood of Warsaw, where she denies herself to ail visitors. It Is whis pered in Vienna society that she la broken-hearted —but that her pride will eventually come to her rescue, for she is one of those who cannot deny the evt dences furnished by the suicide chamber that either one of two famous Paris actresses might have become her success ful rival. And that Is a reflection which would hardly permit a spirited Polish noblewoman to languish very long. There is no doubt that Mlle. Renouardt and the charming Lorraine were sincerely shocked by the news of the tragedy though they have since endeavored to create the Impression that they never seri ously considered the impetuous matri monial prbpositions of the young officer. They are consistent in this; otherwise they would naturally resent his uncere monious departure without waiting to learn their decisions. Students of psychology, both in Paris and Vienna, who have the outline of the story as told here, agree that any per fectly sane young man of the tempera ment of Lieutenant Hoffschneider, in similar circumstances, would logically be expected to solve his problem in the same tragic manner. A prominent biologist. In this connection, is quoted as observing a fresh and emphatic suggestion of modern physical decadence among the leisured class, due to the exaggerated importance given nowadays to the subtleties of the tender passion. Over-trained minds and nerves sap the physical bulwarks pos sessed by savages and by those who lead the simple life, and leave sensitive organ izations open to just such tragic episodes as ended the career of Lieutenant von Hoffschneider,