The Prince of Graustark

ne of princes, save for the unmistakeable though indefinable something in his eye that exacted rather than invited the homage of his fellow man. His laugh was a free and merr

a serene imperiousness that gave way before no mortal influence; it told without boastfulness a story of centuries. For h

was not deprived of his right to succeed to the throne which his forebears had occupied for centuries. From his mother he had inherited the right of kings, from his father the spirit of freedom; from his mother the power of majesty,

ent; they made him their real ruler with the same joyous spirit that had attended him in the days when he sat in the great throne and "made believe" that he was one of the mighty, despite the fact that his little legs barely reached to the edge of the gold and silver seat,-and slept soundly through all the befuddling sessions of the cabinet. He was seven when the great revolt

nteen. (It appears that he was determined to see a great football match.) On each of these occasions he was attended by watchful members of the cabinet and certain military units in the now far from insignificant standing army. As a matter of fact, he witnessed the football match from the ordinary stands, surrounded by thousands of unsuspecting Britons, but carefully wedged in between two generals

ned and glorified. Not one was there in that goodly half million who stood out against him on that triumphant day; not one who possessed a sullen or resentful heart. He was their Prince, and they love

,-about thirty millions of dollars, in other words,-and that the day of reckoning was very near at hand. The loan was for a period of twelve years, and had been arranged contrary to the advice of John Tullis, an American financier who long had been interested in the

eemed to be some prospect of vindication for the ministry and Tullis, who lived in Edelweiss, was fair-minded enough to admit that their action appeared to have been for the best. The people had prospered and taxes were paid in full and without complaint. The reserve fund grew steadily and surely and there was every prospect that when the huge debt came due it would be paid in cash. But on the ve

iod at a higher rate of interest. The great nations of Europe made it plain to the little principality that they would not put a finger in Russia's pie at this stage of the game. Russia was ready to go to war with her great neighbour, Austri

it would be impossible, according to international law, for the great White Bear to take over these roads and at least a portion of the western border of the principality. Obviously, Austria would be benefitted by th

he yield of coal and copper might be given an outlet to the world at large. In making the loan, Russia had demanded these prosperous sections as se

e no chances. Money was not cheap in these bitter days, neither in Europe nor America. Caution was the watchword. A vast Eu

merica at this particular time. Graustark had laid by barely half the amount required to lift the debt to Russia. It was not be

of the guard, Boske Dank. Two men were they who would have given a thousand lives in the service of their Prince. No less loyal was the body-servant who looked after the personal wants of the eager young traveller, an Englishman of the name of Hobbs. A ve

stowed upon good-looking young men. Like his mother, nearly a quarter of a century before, he travelled incognito. But where

enfell Lorry in an express train going eastward from Denver. Their wonderful romance was born, so to speak, in a Pullman compartment car, and it th

ce of Dawsbergen whose domain adjoined Graustark on the south. The Crown Princess of Dawsbergen, then but fifteen, was the unanimous choice of the amia

independent American blood in the two young people. Neither the Prince of Graustark nor the Crown Princess of Dawsbergen,-whose mother was a Miss Beverly Calhoun of Virginia,-was disposed to listen to the voice of expediency; in fact, at a safe dis

Robin, full of wrath. "Not I, my lords. I'm going to look about a bit, if you don't mind.

There must be a successor to the throne of Graustark. You w

ears and we'll talk it over again. But I'm not going to pledge myse

now. They had not s

ld, and she certainly was a fright when she cried, and, my lords, she cried all the time. No, I'll not marry her. Be

was tired of being a Princess anyway and very much preferred marrying some one who lived in a cottage. In fi

ndsome, adorable bo

child," put in her father encouragingly

I'm thirty at least, so that ends it,

t frocks, my dear," said Prince Dantan stiffly. "But a betrothal is quit

Robin in lo

hasn't seen you since you were a baby. But

me one else, for all we kn

" gasped

r," explained the mother,

not even going to be engaged to a man I've never seen.

attempts were made to bring the young people to a proper understanding of their case, they aroused nothing more than scornful laugh

ng the blood," said the

said the Baron, a

stark nor Dawsbergen knew that it existed. They lived in serene ignorance of the fact that God, while he was about it, put Mau

the Golden Girl sitting by the wayside. She must be there, and though it is a wide world, I am young and my eyes are sharp. I will find her sitting at the roadside eager for me to come, not housed in a gloomy; castle surrounded by the spooks of a hundred ancestors. They who live in castles wed to hate and they who wed at the roadside live to love. Fortune

would appear-but he passed them by, for his eyes were sharp and his wits awake. And so, at last, he came to Gotham, his heart as free as the air he breathed, confessing that h

ure. "I'm a silly ass to have even dreamed of finding her as I passed along, and if I had found her what the deuce could I have done about it anyway? This isn't the day for mediaeval

ssing 125th Street. "To the minute, sir. We will be in in ten minutes, if nothi

inch me

s?" in amazement. "

mind. You needn't pinch me. I'm awake," and to prove it he

lept soundly in