The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 24, 1901, Page 19

THE SUNDAY CALL. ced a maid, asked a voice his troubled soul like t fevered antly, ail st before y-in-wait- est of a Prin- ng gayly. He alf-fear- to He then rel it before him, look- an anxiety in her eyes e repaid him had death claim his next breath. er?” she asked, with her “I have been so troubled straight you had forgotten me,” he ldish petulance. she cried, quick to tion. “Let me tell you, ave been doing while for- have sent to the Regengetz luggage and your friend’s. You find it much more comfortable here. are to make this house your home g &s you are in Edelweiss. That is w I have been forgetting.” “Forgive me!” he cried, his eyes gleaming. “I have been so lonely that I imagined all sorts of things. "But, your Highness, you must not expect us to re- you to say it!” she “You are the guest Graustark. Have you not s ruler? Was it an imposition fe to save one in whom you nterest, even though s? No, my Amer- all rejoicing, its doors in mournful h has sald he nce spoiled,” she laughed. Princess— real oof against a Princess?” lea against the he paused—“the one more fresh re- It seems to me that pends on the Princess,” she tances. For instance, when you Miss Guggenslocker it wouldn't necessary for the man to be a now.” she said, so “I was without a t he smiled was more womanly than * as I should have been had every man, woman and child looked upon me &5 a Princess. I.did not travel through our land for the purposs of exhibiting , but to learn and unlearn.” remember it cost you a certain coin o learn one thing,” he observed. “It was money well spent, as subse- quent events have proved. I shall never regret the spending of that half gavvo, Was it not the means of bringing you to Edelwelss 7 ell, it was largely responsible, but I em inclined to belleve that a certain de- my part would have found & way but the assistance of the coln. You W persistent an American d you have persisted had you I a Princess?” she asked. bardly tell about that, but remember I didn’t know who or have come to Graustark n I was its Princess?” I came because you were ggenslocker.” to the word ‘mere.’ hink of a man who There is but ona 1w would do 80 muéh for, and p be a mere woman in his . s face was white and h P as he huried this bold con- c when he learns that she is a ‘ said she, her voice so cold p ellent that his eyes closed t an unexpected horror had c them. “You must not tell n ame to see me.” d come to see you and not the ive of Graustark. and that is the trouble!” she turning her eyes back to him. sank to the window *“That is the trouble, is a woman, although Don’t you understand say such things to ou are & Princess?” he sald, e T am a woman., As o hear them, as a Prin- ave I'made you un- I been bold enough?” He:r & t mean that you—" he half-whispered, drawing himself toward her, his face glowing. “Ach! What have I sald?” fou have aid enough to drive me mad with desire for more,” he cried, ng her hand, which she withdrew in- rising to her feet. ve onl d that I wanted to hear Is not a woman's vanity to you have presumed She was cold not to be baflled. an and forget that you thing for again, but he was “Then be a W incess until I tell you why I eried. I mean, I will not listen to d, glancing about helplessl | within the danger cf came because I have thought of you and dreamed of you since the day you sailed from New York. God, can I ever forget that day!” “Please do not recall—" she began, blushing and turning to the window. . s you threw to me? Were ycu a Princess then?” She did not answer, and he paused for a moment, a thought striking him which at first he did not e to voice. Then he blurted it out. “If you do not want to hear me say thesa ou stand there?” red. leave me now. I want to say what I came over here to say, and then you can go back to your throne and your royal reserve, and I can go back to the land from which you drew me. I came because I love you. Is not that enough to drag a man to the end of the world? I came to n you if I could, for you were Miss Guggenslocker to me. Then you were within my reach, but not now! I can only love a Princes: He stopped because she had dropped to the couch beside him, her serious face turned ap- pealingly to her fingers clasping his hands fiercel; “I forbid you to continue—I forbid you! you hear? I, Do too, have thought and vou, and I have prayed that come. But you must not tell you love me—you shall not!” t to know that you love ered. I can tell you the “I do not love you!” fairly grasped the im- portance of the contradictory sentences she left his side and stood in the window, her breast heaving and her face flaming. “Then I am to believe you do,” he groaned ter'a mome “I find a Prin- hat ¥ have that I should have told you what I have. I knew you you would not have com couic would ker, cct? Wo ter been pos for your that I s there comes to me a t know I could feel.” she cried, vehemently at least let me I may cherish > hope feated, eithér in love or in war, “The walls which surround® the heart of a princess are black and grim, impene- trable when she defends it, my boasting American,” d, smiling sadl “Yet some prince of the realm will bat- ter down the wall and win at a single blow that which a mere man could not conquer in ten lifetimes. Such is the world.” “The Prince may batter down and seize, but he can never conquer. But enough of this! I am the Princess of Graustark; you are my friend, Grenfall Lorry, and there is only a dear friendship between e cried, resuming her merry humor t he started with surprise and not a little displeasure. “And a throne,” he added, smiling, how- ever. “And a promise,” she reminded him. “From which I trust I may some day be released,” said he, sinking back, affiicted with a discouragement and a determina- tion of equal power. He could see hope and hopelessness ahead. “By death!” “No; by life! you thin! “You are forgetting your promise al- ready.” “Your Highness’ pardon,” he begged. They laughed, but thelr hearts were sad, this luckless American and hapless sovereign who would, if she could, be a woman. “It 1s now 8 o’clock—the hour when you were to have called to see me,” she said, again sitting unconcernedly before him in the window seat. She was not afraid of him. She was a Princess. “I misundersteod you, your Highness. I remembered the engagement, but it seems I was mistaken as to the time. I came at 3 in the morning!” “And found me at home “In an impregnable castle, with ogres all about.” It may be sooner than XI11, A WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. Lorry was removed to another room before dinner,.s ste had promiged. After they had dined the two sStrangers were left alone for several hours. An- guish regaled his friend with an enthusi- ssertation on the charms of one Countess Dagmar, lady in waiting to the Princess. In conclusion he said glow- ingly, his cigar having been out for half an hour or more because his energy had another direction: 't seen much of her, Torry, but I tell you she is rare. And she's not betrothed to any of these confounded counts or dukes either. They all adore her, but she's not committed.” How do Fou know all this?”” demanded Lorry, who but half heard through his dreams, ""Asked her, of course. do you suppose?” o * d you've known her but a day? ‘Well, you are progressive. *'Oh, perfectly natural conversation, know,” explained Anguish, composedly. She began it by asking.me if I were astic di How in thunder vou been a* and 1 Then You can’t tell wheth or siggle. She sald I wasn't even en- 1 asked her if she were see, from the title, you r a Countess is married id she wasn't, and I By Jove, she has a will and mind of her own, that young wuman 's not going to marry until she man of the right sort—which is ng. 1 like to hear a girl talk like vecially a pretty girl who can deal in princes, counts and all kinds of nobil- ity when it comes to a matrimonial trade. By Jove, I'm sorry for the Princess, though.” “Sorry for the Princess? the other, alert at once. “Oh, ju: because it's not in her power to be 0 independent. The Countess says she cries every night when she thinks of what the poor girl has to contend with.” “Tell me about it.’ “I don't know anything to tell, I'm not Interested in the Princess, and I didn’t have the nerve to ask many ques- tions. I do know, however, that she i3 £0ing to have an unpleasant matrimonial alliance forced upon her in some way."” “That {s usual.” . “That's what I gather from the Count- ess. Maybe you can pump the Countess and get all you want to know In connec. tion with the matter. It's a pretty seri- ous state of affairs, I should say, or she wouldn’t be wceping through sympathy.” Lorry recalled a part of the afternoon s sweetly dangerous conversation, and the perspiration stood cold and damp on his brow. “Well, old man, you've chased Miss Guggenslocker to earth only to find her an impossibility. Pretty hopeless for you, Lorry, but don’t let it break you up com- pletely. We can go back home after a Wwhile and you will forget her. A Countess, of course, is different.” “‘Harry, I know it is downright madness for me to act Jike this,” sald Lorry, his jaws set and his hands clenched as he raised himself to his elbow. “You don’t know how much I love her.” “‘Your nerve is to be admired, but—well, I'm sorry for you.” P “Thanks for your sympathy. I suppose I'll need it,” ana he sank back gloomily, Anguish was right—absurdly right. There was a rap at the door and An- guish hastened to open it. A servant handed him Count Halfont's card. ‘‘Shall we see the old boy?” asked Har- Ty. “Yes, yes,” responded the other. The servant understood the sign made by An. gulsh and disappeared. “Diplomatic call, I suspect.” “He is the Prime Minister, I under- stand. Well, we'll diplome with him un- til bedtime, if he cares to stay. I'm get- ting rather accustomed to the nobility. They are not so bad, after all. Friendly and all that— Ah, good evening, your Excellency! We are honéred.” X The Count had entered the room and was advancing toward the couch, tall, easy and the personification of cordiality. “I could not retire until I had satisfled myself as to Mr. Lorry's condition and his comfort,” said he, in his broken Eng- lish. He seated himself near the couca and bent sharp, anxious eyes on the re- cumbent figure. “‘Oh, he's all right,” volunteered An- guish, readily. “Be able to go into battls again to-morrow.” “That is the way with you aggressive Americans, I am told. They never give up until they are dead,” said the Count, courteously. “Your head is better?” Why?" asked . Before he had fairly grasped the importance of the contradictory sen- tences she had left his side and stood ic the window, her breast heaving and her face flaming. L3 — ®1t does not pain me as it did, and I'm sure I'll be able to get out to-morrow Thank you very much for your interest, sald Lorry. “May I inquire after the health of the Countess Halfont? The ex- citement of last night has not had an unpleasant effect, I hope.” “She is with the Princess, and both are quite well. Since our war, gentlemen, Graustark women have nothing to acquire in the way of courage and endurance. You, of course, know nothifig of the hor- rors of that war.” “But we would be thankful for the story of it, your Excellency.# War is a hobby of mine. I read every war scare that gets into print,” sald Anguish, ea- gerly. “We ot Graustark at present have every reason to recall the last war and bitterly to lament its ending. The war occurrgd just fifteen years ago—but will the re- cital tire you, Mr. Lorry? I came to spend a few moments socially and not to go into history. At any other time I shall 0 “It will please and hot tire me. I am deeply interested. Pray go on,” Lorry hastened to say, for he was Interested more than the Count suspected. “Fifteen years ago Prince Ganlook of this principality—the father of our Yetive —became incensed over the depredations of the Axphain soldiers who patrolled our border on the north. He demanded resti- tution for the devastation they had cre- ated, but was refused. Graustark is a province comprising some eight hundred square miles of the best land in this part of the world. Our neighbor is smaller in area and population. Our army was bet- ter equipped but not so hardy. For sev- eral months the fighting in the north was in our favor, but the result was that our forces were finally driven back to Edel- welss, hacked and battered by the fierce thopsands that came over the border. The nation was staggered by the shock, for such an outcome had not been considered possible. We had been too confident. Our soldiers “were sick and worn by six months of hard fighting, and the men of Edelweiss—the merchants, the laborers and the nobility itself—flew to arms in defense of the city. For over a month we fought, hundreds of our best and brav- est citizens going down to death. They at last began a bombardment of the city. To-day you can see the marks on nearly every house in Edelweiss. Hundreds of graves in the valley to the south attest the terrors of that siege. The castle was stormed, and Prince Ganlook, with many of the chief men of the land, met deatn. The Prince was killed in front of the castle gates, from which he had sallied in a last brave attempt to beat off the con- querors. A bronze statie now marks the spot on which he fell. The Princess, his wife, was my sister, and as I held the portfolio of finance, it was through me that the city surrendered, bringing the slege to an end. Fifteen years ago this autumn—the 20th of November, to be ex- plicit—the treaty of peace was signed in Sofia. We were compelled to cede a por- tion of territory in the far northeast, val- uable for its mines. Indemnity was agreed upon by the peace commissioners, amounting to 20,000,000 gavvos, or nearly $30,000,000 In your money. In fifteen years this money was to be paid, with interest. On the 20th of November, this year, the people of Graustark must pay 25,000,000 gavvos. The time is at hand, and that Is why we recall the war so vividly. It means the bankruptey of the nation, gen- tlemen.”" Neither of his listeners spoke for some moments. Then Lorry broke the silence. You mean that the money cannot be raised?” he asked. “It is not in our treasury. .Our people have been taxed so sorely in rebuilding their homes and In recuperating from the effect of that dreadful invasion that they have been unable to pay the levies. You must remember that we are a small na- tion and resourceless, gentlemen. Your nation could secure $30,000,000 in one hour for the mere asking. To us it is like a death blow. I am not betraylng a state secret in telling you of the sore straits in which we are placed, for every man in the nation has been made cognizaht of the true conditions. We are all fac- ing it together.” There was something sa quietly heroic in his manner that both men felt pity. Anguish, looking at the military figure, asked: “You fought through the war, your Ex- cellency?"” “I resigned as Minister, sir, to go to the front. I was in the first battle and I was In the last,” he said, simply. “And the Princess—the present ruler, I mean—was a mere child at that time. ‘When did she succeed to the throne?” asked Lorry. “Oh, the great world does not re- member our little history! Within' a year after the death of Prince Gan- look, his wife, my sister, passed away, dying of a broken heart. Her daughter, their only child, was, according to our custom, crowned at once. She has reigned for fourteen years, and wisely since assuming full power. For three years she has been ruler de facto. She has been frugal, and has done all in her power to meet the shadow that is de- scending.” “And what is the alternative in case the indemnity is not paid?’ asked Lorry, breathlessly, for he saw something bright in the approaching calamity. “The cession of all that part of Grau- stark lying north of Edelweiss, including fourteen towns, all of our mines and our most productive farming and grazing lands. In that event Graustark will be no larger than one of the good-sized farms in your western country. There will be nothing left for the Princess Yetive to rule save a tract so small that the word principally will be a travesty and a jest. Tms city and twenty-five miles to the south, a strip about one hun- dred and fifty miles long. Think of it! Twenty-five by one hundred and fifty miles, and yet called a principality! Once the proudest and most prosperous state in the east, considering its size, reduced to that! Ach, gentlemen—gentlemen! I can- not think of it witnout tearing out a heart string and suffering such pains as mortal man has never endured. I lived in Graustark's days of wealth, power and supremacy; God has condemned me to live in the days of her dependency, weak- ness and poverty. Let us talk no more of this unpleasant subject.” His hearers pitied the frank, proud old man from the bottoms of their hearts. He had told them the story with the can- dor and simplicity of a child, admitting weakness and despondency. Still he sat erect ‘and defiant, his face white aad drawn, his figure suggesting the famous picture of the stag at bay. ‘“Willingly, your Excellency, since it is distasteful to you. I hope, however, you will permit me to ask how much you are short of the amount,” said Lorry, con- siderately, yet curiously. “‘Our Minister of Finance, Gaspon, will be able to produce fifteen million gavvos t the stated time—far from enough. This amount has been sucked from the people by excessive levy, and has been hoard- ed for the dreaded day. Try as we would, it has been impossible to raise the full amount. The pecple have been bled and have responded nobly, sacrificing every- thing to meet the treaty terms honorably, but the strain has been too great. Our army has cost us large sums. We have strengthened our delenses, and could, should we go to war, defeat Axphain. But Wwe have our treaty to honor; we could not take up arms to cave ourselves from that honest bond. Our levies have barely brought the amount necessary to main- tain an army large erough to inspire re- spect among those who are ready to leap upon us the instant we show the least #lgn of distress. There are about us pow- ers that have held alcof from war with us simply because wo have awed them with our show of force. It has been our pafeguard, and there is not a citizen of Graustark who objects to the manner in which our state affairs are conducted. They know that our army is an economy at any price. Until last spring we were confident that we could raise the full amount due Asphain, but the people in the rural districts were unable to meet the levies on account of the panic that came at a most unfortunate time. That is why we were hurrying home from your country, Mr. Lorry. Gaspon had cabled the Princess that affairs were in a hope- less condition, begging her to come home and do what she could in a final appeal to the people, knowing the love they had for her. She came, and has seen these loyal subjects offer their lives for her and for Graustark, but utterly unable to give what they have not—money. She asked them if she should disband the army, and there was a negative wail from one end of the land to the other. Then the army agreed to serve on half-pay until all was tided over. Public officers are giving their services free, and many of our wealthy people have advanced loans on bonds, worthless as they may seem, and still we haye not the required amount.” “Cannot the loan be extended a few years?” asked Lorry, angry with the ruler in the north, taking the woes of Grau- stark as much to hesart as if they were his own. “Not one day! nor Berlin.” Lorry lay back and allowed Anguish to lead the conversation into other channels. The Count remained fcr a half-hour, sé ing as he left that tne Princess and his wife Lad expressed a desire to be remem- bered to their guests. “The Princess has spent the evening with the Ministers of Finance and War, and ker poor head, i doubt net, is rack- ing from the effects of the consultation. These are weighty matters for a girl to have on her hands, sclemnly stated the Count, pauvsing for an instant at the door of the apartment. After he had closed it the Americans looked long and thoughtfully at each other, each feeling a respect for the grim old gentleman that they had never felt for man before. “So they are In a devil of a shape,” mused Anguish. “I tell you, Gren, I never knew anything that made me feel so bad- ly as does the trouble that hangs over that girl and her people. A week ago I wouldn't have cared a rap for Graustark, but to-night I feel like weeping for her.” ‘“There seems to be no help for her, either,” said Lorry, reflectively. ‘“Graustark, you mean?” “No—I mean yes, of course—who else?" demanded the other, who certainly had not meant Graustark. “I belleve, confound your seifish soul, you'd like to see the nation, the crown and everything else taken away from this helpless, harassed child. Then you'd have a chance,” exclaimed Anguish, pac- ing the floor, half angrily, half encourag- ingly. “Don’t say that, Harry, don't say that. Don’t accuse me of it, for I'll confess I had in my heart that meanest of longings —the selfish, base, heartless hope that you have guessed. It hurts me to be accused of it though, so don't do it again. old man. I'll put away the miserable hope, if I can, and I'll pray God that she may find a way out of the difficulty.” They went to sleep that night, Anguish at once, Lorry not for hours, harboring a determination to learn more about the condition of affairs touching the people of Graustark and the heart of their Prin- cess. Not in London, Paris XIIIL. UNDER MOON AND MONASTERY. For two days Lorry lived through In- termittent stages of delight and despond- ency. His recovery from the effects of the blow administered by Dannox was naturally rapid, his strong young conSti- tution coming to the rescue bravely. He saw much of the Princess, more of the Countess Dagmar, and made the acquain- tance of many lords and ladies for whom he cared but little, except when they chose to talk of their girlish ruler. The atmosphere of the castle was laden with a depression that could not be overcome by an assimilated gayety. There was the presence of a shadow that grew darker and nearer as the days went by, and there were anxious hearts under the brave, proud spirits of those who held the des- tiny of Graustark in their hands. The Princess could not hide the trouble that had sprung up in her eyes. Her laugh, her gay conversatlon, her rare composure and gentle hauteur were pow- erless to drive away the haunted, wor- ried gleam In those expressive eyes of blue. Lorry had it on his tongue's end a dozen times during the next day or so after the Count’s narrative to question her about the condition of affairs as they appeared to her. He wondered whether she, little more than a girl, could see and understand the enormity of the situation that confronted her and her people. A strange, tender fear prevented him from speaking to her of the thing which was oppressing her life. Not that he expected a rebuff from her, but that he could not endure the thought of hearing her brave, calm recital of the merciless story. He knew that she could narrate it all to him more plainly than had her uncle. Some- thing told him that she was fully aware of the real and underlying conditions. He could see, in his imagination, the proud, resigned face and manner of this per- plexed Princess as she would have talked to him of her woes, and he could also picture the telltale eyes and the troubled expression that would not be disguised. The Countess Dagmar, when not mo- nopolized by the very progressive, or ag- gressive Anguish, unfoled to Lorry cer- tain pages of the personal history of the Pripcess, and he, of course, encouraged her confidential humor, although there ‘was nothing encouraging in it for him. Down by the great fountain, while the soldiers were on parade, the fair but vél- atile Countess unfolded to Lorry a story that wrenched his heart so savagely that anger, resentment, helplessness and love oozed forth and enveloped him in a mul- titude of emotions that would not dis- perse. To have gone to the Princess and laid down his life to save her would have given him pleasure, but he had promised something to her that could not be for- gotten in a day. In his swelling heart he prayed for the time to come wheu he could take her in his arms, cancel his promise and defy the troubles that op- posed her. “She will not mind my telling you be- cause she considers you the very best of men, Mr. Lorry.” said the Countess, who had learned her E£nglish under the Prin- cess Yetive's tutor. The demure, sympa- thetic little Countess, her face glowing with excitement and indignation, could not. resist the desire to pour into the ears of this strong and resourceful man the secrets of the Princess, as if trusting to him, the child of a powerful race, to pro- vide relief. It was the old story of the weak appealing to the strong. It seems, according to the very truthful account given by the lady, that the Prin- cess had it in her power to save Grau- stark from disgrace and practical destruc- tion. The Prince of Axphain’s son, Lo- renz, was deeply emamoured of her, in- fatuated by her marvelous beauty and accomplishments: He had persuaded his father to consider a matrimonial. alliance with her to be one of great value to Ax- phain. The old Prince, therefore, some months before the arrival of the Ameri- cans in Gra@istark, sent to the Princess a substitute ultimatum, couched in terms so polite and conciliatory that there could be no mistaking his sincerity. He agreed to give Graustark a new lease of life, as it were, by extending the fifteen years, or, in other words, to grant the conquered an additional ten years in which to pay off the obligations imposed by the treaty. H> furthermore offered a considerable re- duction in the rate of interest for the next ten years. But he had a conditiom attached to this good and graclous prop- osition; the marriage of Graustark’s sov- ereign. His ambassador set forth the advantages of such an alliance, and de- parted with a message that the matter should have most serious consideration. The old Prince’s proposition was a blow ta the Princess. who was placed in a trying position. By sac- rificing herself she could save her country, but in so doing her life was to be plunged into interminable darkness. She did not love, nor did she respect Lorenz, who was not favorably suppled with civ- flized intelligence. The proposition was lald before the Cabinet and the nobility by the Princess herself, who said that she would be guided by any decision they might reach. The counselors, to a man, refused to sacrifice their girlish ruler, and the people vociferously ratified the resolu- tion. But the Princess would not allow them to send an answer to Axphain until she could see a way clear to save her peo- ple in some other manner. An embassy was sent to the Prince of Dawsbergen. His domain touched Graustark on the south, and he ruled a wild, turbulent class of mountaineers and herdsmen. This em- bassy sought to secure an indorsement of the lcan from Prince Gabriel sufficient to meet the coming crisis. Gabriel, himself smitten by the charms of the Princess, at once offered himself in marriage, agreeing to advance, in case she accepted him, twenty million gavvos, at a rather high rate of interest, for fifteen years. His love for her was so great that he would pawn the entire principality for an answer that would make him the happiest man on earth. Now, the troubled Princess ab- horred Gabriel. Of the two, Lorenz was much to be preferred. Gabriel flew into a rage upon the receipt of this rebuff, and openly avowed his intention to make her suffer. His infatuation became a mania, and, up to the very day on which the Countess told the story, he persisted in his appeals to the Princess. In person he had gone to her to plead his suit, on his knees, groveling at her feet. He went so far as to exclaim madly in the presence of the alarmed but relentless object of his love that he would win her or turn the whole earth into everything unpleasant. So it was that the Princess of Graus- tark, erstwhile Miss Guggenslocker, was being dragged through the most unhappy affairs that ever beset a sovereign. , With- in a month she was to sign away two- thirds of her domain, transforming mul- titudes of her beloved and loving people intq subjects of the hated Axphain, or sell herself, body and soul, to a loathsome bid- der in the guise of a suitor. And, with all this confronting her, she.had come to the' realization of a truth so sad and &s- tracting that it was breaking her tortured heart. She was in love—but with no royal Prince. Of this, however, the Countess knew nothing, so Lorry had one great se- cret to cherish alone. “‘Has she chosen the course she will pur- sue asked Lorry, as the Countess con- cluded her story. His fage was turned away. “She cannot decide.. We have wept to- gether over this dpéadful, this horribie thing. You do not know what it means to all of us, Mr. Lorry. We love her and there is not one in our land who would sacrifice her to save this territory. As for Gabriel, Graustark would kill her be- fore she should go to him. Still she can- not let herself sacrifice those northern subjects when by a single act she can save them. You see, the Princess has not forgotten that her father brought this war upon the people, and she feels it her duty to pay the penalty of his error, whatever the cost.” “Is there no other to whom she can turn—no other course?” asked Lorry. “There is none who would aséist us, bankrupt as we are. There is a question I want to ask, Mr. Lorry. Please look at me—do not stare at the fountain all the time. Why have you come to Edelwelss?" She asked the question so boldly that his startled embarrasgment was an unspoken confession. He calmed himself and hes- itated long before answering, weighing his reply. She sat close beside him, her clear gray eyes reading him like a book. “I came to see a Miss Guggenslocker,” he answered at last. “For what purpose? There must have been an urgent cause to bring you so far. You are not an American banker?” “I had intended to ask her to be my wife,” he sald, knowing that secrecy was useless and seeing a faint hope. “You did not find Miss Guggenslocker.” “No. I have not found her.” “And are you going home disappointed, Mr. Lorry, because she is not here?” “I leave the answer to your tender im- agination.” There was a long pause. “May I ask when you expect to leave Graustark?” she asked, somewhat timidly. “Why do you wish to know?"” he asked in turn. “Because I know how hopeless your quest has been. You have found Miss Guggenslocker, but she is held behind a wall so strong and impregnable that you cannot reach her with the question you came to ask. You have come to that wall and mow you must turn back. I have asked, how soon?" “Not until your Princess bids me take up my load and go. You see, my lady, I love to sit beneath the shadow of the wall you describe. It will require a royal edict to compel me to abandon my posi- tion.™ “You cannot expect the Princess to drive you from her country—you have done so much for her. You Lorry, without her bidding.™ “I must?” “Yes, for your presence outside that wall may make the imprisonment ail the more unendurable for the one your love cannot reach. Do you understand me?” ust go, Mr. —_ (Continued next week.)