A Lucky Locksmith

The Now York Mercury prints the foHowing story : Öne rnnr ago .Tacob Heydebrand was a poor locksmith Ht No. 116 Hester street. One day, wiiile on a Fultonferry boat, he met aa acquaintance, who aed bim if lie was the Jacob Heydebrand whom the Austrian Consulate was advertising for. His friend had some diflicwlty in pnrsuading him to go to the Consulflte and nsceriain whether or not he was the person wanted. At the Consulate ho was asked if ho had been in 1850 at Eockoñlieim, near Frankfort-onthe-Main. Ho replied In the affirmative. " Did you board there with a family named Schoen, and did you meet at their house an Austrian officer?" brand replied again in tne amrmauve. "What was the name of that officer?" "It was Oount Jacob Von Hoydebrand. He was captain in the Ninth Regiment of Austrian Hussars," heanswered. " Well, then you are the man we want.' 80 saying the Consul handod the astomshed looksmitb a bundie of documents, which je said ho had better have examined by ome Germali lawyer, and he also inormed Mm that ho was inetructed to pay lim the sum of 82,000. The Germán awj-er to whom Heydebrand gaye the papers was greatly surprised at their contenta, which were tothefollowiag effect : Count Aloysius Von Heydebrand, a wealthy nobleman, had died in 1872, having confessed on his death-bed that the Austrian officer, Colonel Jacob Yon Heydebrand, who had hitherto paseed nH hls onlv son. was only an illegitnnate child, bis real son and heir, who liad borne the same name, having been set adrift in the world af ter his mother had died, by his mistress, Bernhardine Hoelzcl, who had borne him a son about the same time. That wicked woman ïad possessed sueh a power over lim that she had wrang from him the consent to substituto her sou in the place of little Jacob, whom she had taken to her relations in Darmstadt. The olu count implored his illegitimate son, the Austrian colonel, to leave nothing undcme in order to make amends for the great injustioe that had been done to his legitímate heir, and to restore to him, il he should be ablo to ascertain hia whereabouts, his paternal estáte. It was then that the colonel remembered having met at Bockenheim, twenty-two years bef ore, a young locksmith, -whose acquaintance he had sought because the latter had borne the same name. So he applied to tho Schoen family, who woro still living at Bockenheim, and from that he obtained the information that the young locksmith had lef t that place many yeare ago for America. The colonel thereupon applied to the Austrian legation in Washington, and Jacob Hevdebrand was tensively advertised for, untü foimd in New York. Among tho papers was an autograph from bis illigitimate brother, the colonel, offering to restore his paternal estates to him, and expressing regrets at the inju8tice that had been done to him for so many years. Meanwhile : debrand had married a poor Germán servant-girl, who had borne to him several children. The wife was overjoyed upon learning the unespected change in her hnsband's fortune, and she prevaüed upon him to go with her immediately ta Innsprnck to enter upon the enjoyment of liis new position. At Innspruck his right as the sole heir of Count Heydebrand was formaliy recognized, and the poor Hester-streot locksmith is now one of the wealthiest magnates of the Anstrian Empire. His wife, the former servant-girl, was ennobled by a special decree of the Emperor. Prince Louis of Battenberg, who is to niarry the Princesa Beatrice of Eugland, and have with her an allowance of L6,000 per amram, is a poor man himsolf. But ho has plenty of blue blood, which has its inarket value like all other coniniodities. The Princesa Beatrico is "hawty" and disagreeable in temper. Kansas is to havo a prohibitory liquor law. The lower honse of her Legislatiiro has passed a bilí to this effect, and it is expected to pass the Senate.