The Princess Elopes

iplomat for that!-to follow the continual geographical disturbances of European surfaces. Thus, I can not distin

ible, and that a three hours' journey would bring you under the shadow of the Carpathian

whether in Italy, Germany or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in. She took care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors. This is not to advance the opinio

sia had not observed Pericles that memorable day; if there had not been an oblique slant to Calypso's eyes as Ulysses passed her way; if the eager Delilah had not offered favorable co

ot keep his appointment on time; out of a grain of sand, a mountain. Of c

l elevators and ancient laws! Something of the customs of the duchy must be told in the passing, though, for my part, I am vigorously against explanatory passages in stories of

l country. If you broke a law, you were relentlessly punished; there was no mercy. In America we make laws and then hide them in dull-looking volumes which the public have neither the time nor the inclination to read. In this duchy of mine it was different; you ran into a law on every corner, in ever

se laws. If you could not read, so much the worse for you; you had to p

you struck back, ten to one you received a beating with the flat of a saber. And never, never mistake the soldiery for the police; that is to say, never ask an officer to direct you to any place. This is regarded in the light of an insult. The cub-lieutenants do more to keep a passable sidewalk-for the passage of said c

se valet, and selected a cozy house near the barracks, which stood west of the Volksgarten, on a pretty lake. A beautiful road ran around this body of water, and it wasn't long ere the officers began to pass comments on the riding of "that wild American." As I detest what is known as park-riding, you may very well believe that I circled the lake at a clip which must have opened th

ned, the actual labors of the consulate being cared for by

t of exciting jaded palates and of scribbling one's name across passports;

ung and tender Princess Hildegarde, should wed the Prince of Doppelkinn, whose vineyards gave him a fine income. This was finality; the avuncular guardian had waited long eno

t, from execrable translations from "Ouida" and the gentle Miss Braddon. A girl of twenty usually has a formidable regard for ro

the fabled spear of Parsifal. She had spurned the addresses of Prince Mischler, laughed at those of the Count of --- - --- (the short dash indicates the presence of a hyphen) and General Muerrisch, of the emperor's body-guard, who was, I'm sure, good enough-in his own opinion-for any woman. Every train brought to the capital some suitor with a consonated, hyphe

tionately styled "der Rotn?sig," which, I believe, designates an illuminated proboscis. When he wasn't fishing for rainbow trout he was sleeping in his cellars. He was often missing at the monthly reviews, but nobody ever worried; they knew where to find him. And besides, he might just as well sleep i

mselves that the boy had run away to escape compulsory military service, but the boy's age precluded this accusation. The prince advertised, after the fashion of those times, sent out detectives and notifi

like eyes that were always vein-shot, restless and full of mischief. He might have made a good father, but I have nothing to prove this. Those bottles of

the prince's shoes. He was a lieutenant in the duke's body-guard, a quick-tempered, hea

a glimpse of her. Half of the six months she was traveling through Austria, and the other half she kept out of my way,-not intentionally; she knew nothing of my existence; simply, fate moved us about blindly.

ame to me the Princess in the Invisible Cloak, passing me often and doubtless deriding my efforts to discern her. My curiosity became alarming. I couldn't sleep for the thought of her. Finally we met,

matic service half a dozen notes commanding me to get up at dawn and ride around the lake, something like sixteen miles. She was almost as reckless a rider as myself. She was truly a famous rider, and a woman who sits well on a horse can never be aught but graceful. She was, in fact, youthfu

rman. By this I mean to convey that her education should not go beyond German literature, German history, German veneration of laws, German manners and German passiv

to her native land, her brain filled with the importance of feminine liberty of thought and action. Hence, she became the bramble that prodded

cross-country? Hadn't she flirted outrageously with the French attaché and deliberately turned her back on the Russian minister, at the very moment, too, when negotiations were going on between Russia and Barscheit relative to a small piece of land in the Balkans? And, most terrible of all to relate, hadn't she r

red window. It is no strain upon the imagination to conjure up the picture of her fine rage, her threatening hands, her compressed lips, her tearless, f

of the duke. Diplomatic notes were exchanged, and I finally prevailed upon the duke to state that he held the wheel harmless and that his anger had been directed solely against his niece. This letter was duly forwarded to the manufacturers, who, after the manner of th

oniously hustled over the frontier that his teeth must have rattled like a dancer's castanets. It was

who had charge of my horses said that one of the palace maids had recounted to him a dialogue which had taken pla

nths' time you shall wed

ld red-nose? Never! I sha

rs.) One would think, to hear you talk, t

not to force me. I promise to do something sc

wears softly on his wa

afely, would have added many grey hairs to the duke's scanty collect

her wilful but wholly adorable niece, and abetted her in all her escapades. So far as the populace was concerned, she was the daughter of the favorite son, dead these eighteen years, and that was enough for them.