I obtained from an American detective who knew Adam Worth many of the details of that rogue's doings, and it is to an American newspaper of the late sixties that I am indebted for particulars of Belle Star's career. Marie Tarnowska told her own story to Madame A. Vivanti Chartres, who sympathetically transferred the countess's _apologia_ to paper and published it. As a human document it is very interesting but it is not convincing, and the very full report of her trial at Venice published in the press of this country is the only reliable guide to an understanding of the case. M. Canler, the famous French detective, first related in narrative form the incidents which lead to the three arrests of the murderers of Madame Houet, and I consulted the French and English papers for the history of Pierre Voirbo's crime. "Madame Rachel" was tried three times and there were several special reports at the disposal of the author, but she does not seem to have attracted much notice since her death and an account of her life will be new to most of my readers. REMARKABLE ROGUES CHAPTER I A RUSSIAN DELILAH One day in a Russian country-house a girl of sixteen was presented to three men--a prince, a baron, and a count, and as she greeted them with youthful enthusiasm and _camaraderie_ she was quite unconscious of the fact that each of the three had asked her father for her hand. In the land of the steppes, girls develop quickly, and although Marie was very young in years she was a fully-matured beauty, tall, with fine features, a beautiful complexion, a divine voice, and enough charm for half a dozen ordinary women. No wonder the men were in love with her--she captured all hearts with her beautiful face and her musical voice--and when she had to be told of the proposals her father informed her that she could choose between the prince and the baron, for he disapproved of the count. "I should love to be a princess," Marie cried romantically. Old Count O'Rourke, a typical Russian nobleman, who was descended from an Irish soldier, was gratified. "I am happy to hear you say so," he exclaimed, and kissed her. A year later Marie eloped with the count, the one man of the three she had been warned against. It was the beginning of a series of tragedies for the extraordinary girl, who became an even more extraordinary woman. Her father promptly closed his doors against her once she was the Countess Tarnowska. Marie declared that she did not care, adding that her husband was the most perfect lover in the world and she was the happiest wife that ever lived. But within six months she had changed her mind. "God help me!" she murmured to a consoling friend. "I did not know there could be so much sorrow in the world." For in that short time she had discovered that Vassili Tarnowska was a libertine and that she was only one of many women he had professed to love.