The Princess Elopes

useless tower and battlement. It stood on the south side of a rugged hill which was gashed by a narrow but turbulent stream, in which lurked the rainbow trout that lured the lazy man from his labor

galleries of ancient armor, searched its dungeon-keeps, or loitered to soliloquize in the gloomy judgm

s you have already surmised, a name of mine own invention. I could likewise tell you how the ancient dukes of Barscheit fought off the insidious flattery of Napoleon, only it is a far intere

ges within a hundred years. They were not entering by the formal way, which was a flower-bedded, terraced road. It was the rear entrance. The iron doors swung outward with

olonel, with a mocking bow. He poi

"is a fair chance to ex

rince is waiting, and his temper

inal somewhere above, and oubliettes and torture chambers besetting his path. But the absurdity of his imagination, so thoroughly Americanized, evoked a ringing laughter. The troopers eyed him curiously. He might laugh

s. She sat on an oriental divan. Her hands were folded; she sat very erect; her chin was tilted ominously; there was so little expression on her pale face that she might have been an incomplete statue

and down the length of the room, and, judging from the sonorous, rumbling sound, was communing half-aloud. Betweenwhiles he was rubbing his tender nose, ca

was, so his subjects said, but one tender spot in the heart of this old man, and that was the memory of the wife of his youth. (How the years

llow!" He made an eloquent gesture. "Your Highness must be com

ied the girl calmly, "you will apologize

a gentlem

many of the common rules

e you?" the princ

, but the colonel here declares that my name is Ellis. Who are you?

ed at him. The

the pr

e Highness,"-be

ene'"-rudely. "The gr

t that," interpose

hich didn't improve

are!" bawled the prince,

American consulate at Barscheit, you will learn that I have spoken t

e of Ellis," said the co

the library and lock the door. It's a hundred feet out of the window, and if he wants to break his neck, he

ncess s

e prince, turning his glowering eyes

is rather original. Go on; it will be my only opportunity." The

marry this girl!" The prince suddenly calmed

she was for

m the mind. I do not see where I am to be blamed. The duke suggested you to me; I believed you to b

ritely. When he spoke like

ellars. Well,"-defiantly,-"what else is there for me to do? I am alo

hustled Max in

a pleasant smile. He was only two or three years

eplied Max. "My neck will

s above you in quality. Actions like that are not permissible

a grinding of the key in t

biography, and even poetry. The great circular reading-table was littered with new books, periodicals and illustrated weeklies. Once Do

it? He let the paper fall to the floor, and his eyes roved from one object to another.-Where had he seen that Chinese mask before, and that great silver-faced clock?

the picture-books. It was a Santa Claus story; some of the pictures were torn and some stuck together, a reminder of sticky, candied hands. He gently replaced the book and the toys, and stared absently into space. How long he

the unreal fantasies of romance. A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a carriage compartment, a long ri

at the to

d he was told to come out.

y, his thought whimsically traveling back to the gre