In Habsburg cellars last week old skeletons rattled in three quarter time, and the legend that launched a score of novels, movies, plays and operettas tottered. If the voice from the chill Norwegian grave spoke true, then Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, did not die at Mayerling in a suicide pact with his young and lovely Baroness Maria Vetsera.
According to romantic legend, the young and ardent Rudolf had fallen in love with the youthful Baroness, who was small, round and luscious. For a brief time they were happy. Then, rather than obey Emperor Franz Josef's stern order to separate,...