Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1916 — THE PRINCE OF GRAUSTARK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE PRINCE OF GRAUSTARK

By GEORGE BARR M’CUTCHEON

Author of “Graustark," “Beverly of Graustark," Etc. Copyright, 1914, by Dodd, Mead and Company

SYNOPSIS Mr. Blithers, multimillionaire, discusses with his wife the possibilities of marrying •ff his daughter, Maud Applegate, to the Prince of Graustark, who is visiting Mr, end Mrs. Truxton King in America In anticipation of getting some one to take up the loan Russia holds. A Mr. Scoville is attentive to Maud. Prince Robin is accompanied by Count Qulnnox, minister of war; Lieutenant Dank and Hobbs, the valet. The prince had balked at a matrimonial alliance with the Princess of Dawsbergen, both of them wishing to choose for themselves. Mr. Blithers visits the Kings uninvited. Mr. Blithers discusses the Russian loan and gently hints at $20,000,000 his daughter will get when she marries the right man. Bankers suddenly refuse to handle me loan. Count Quinnox and King arrange a meeting with Blithers. King suspects him of blocking the deal. The prince as Mr. Schmidt sails on the Jupiter. Blithers buys $20,000,000 of GrauBtark bonds. A young lady disputes Robin’s right to a table and deck chair. He learns she is Miss Guile of New York, and her aged companion Mrs. Gaston. He soon becomes better acquainted With Miss Guile. Her given name is Bedelia, she tells him. She tells’ Mrs. Gaston that she suspects he is the Prince of Graustark. Mrs. Gaston changes her manner toward him. Hobbs discovers Miss Guile’s baggage is marked with a B. In Paris she is met by a young man. Meeting the prince out for a stroll, Blithers chats on matrimony. Robin says he is not for sale, but agrees to meet Maud when he learns she is opposed to her parents’ wishes. Maud again evades the prince, who reports he must leave for Graustark at once. Maud writes she is off for Europe on the Jupiter with an aged companion, xier father schemes to get them both on the same ship. Gourou, Robin’s police chief, concludes that the B on the baggage means Blithers. Miss Blithers denies her engagement to the prince. Bedelia sends Robin a note. She invites him for a drive to St. Cloud. He intimates she is Miss Blithers, but she resents it. While at lunch they are told some one is spying on them'. They flee and are arrested for speeding, Miss Guile just escaping revealing her true identity to the judge. She tells Robin she will go to Switzerland. Mr. Blithers sails for Paris. He instructs his agents to kidnap Maud, but she is not to be located. CHAPTER XVI. A Word of Encouragement. ONE usually has breakfast on the porch of the Hotel Schweizerhof at Interlaken. It is not the mostfashionable hostelry In the quaint little town at the head of the lake of Thun, but it is of an excellent character, and the rolls and honey to be had with one’s breakfast cannot be surpassed in the Bernese Oberland. R. Schmidt sat facing the dejected Boske Dank. His eyes Were dancing with the joy of living. "Well, here we are, and, in spite of that, where are we?” said Dank, who saw nothing beautiful in the smile of any early morn. “I mean to say, what have we to show for our pains? We sneak into this God forsaken hamlet, surrounded on all sides by abominations in the shape of tourists, and at the end of twenty-four hours we discover that the fair Miss Guile has played us a shabby trick. I daresay she is laughing herself sick over the whole business.” “Which is more than you can say for

yourself, Boske,” said Robin blithely. “Brace up! All is not lost. We’ll waff here a day or two longer and then—- “ Hello, who is this approaching? It is no other than the great Gourou himself, the king of sleuths, as they say in the books I used to read. Good morning, baron.” The sharp visaged little minister of police came up to the table and fixed an accusing eye upon his sovereign—the literal truth, for he had the other eye closed in a protracted wink. “I regret to inform your majesty that the enemy is upon /is,” he said. "I fear that our retreat is cut off. Nothing remains save”— “Where is she?” demanded Robin, unimpressed by this glowing panegyric. “At this instant, sir, I fancy she is rallying her forces in the very face of a helpless mirror. In other words, she is preparing for the fray. She is dressing.” “When did she arrive?” “She came last night via Milan.” “From Milan?” cried Robin, astonished. “A roundabout way, I’ll admit,” said the baron, dryly, “and tortuous in these hot days, but admirably suited to a purpose. I should say that she was bent on throwing some one off the track.”

“And yet she came!” cried the prince, in exultation. “She wanted to come, after all, now didn’t she, Dank?” He gave the lieutenant a look of triumph. “She is more dangerous than I thought,” said the guardsman mournfully. “Sit down, baron,” commanded the prince. “I want to lay down the law to all of you. You three will have to move on to Graustark and leave me to look out for myself. I will not have Miss Guile”— “No!” exclaimed the baron, with unusual vehemence. “I expected you to propose something of the kind, and I am obliged to confess to you that we have discussed the contingency in advance. We will not leave you. That is final. You may depose us, ex-

ile us, curse us or anything you like, but still we shall remain true to the duty we owe to our country. We stay here, Prince Robin, just so long as you are content to remain.” Robin’s face was very red. “You shame me, baron,” he said simply. "Now, I have a suggestion of my own to offer,” said the baron, taking a seat at the end of the table. “I confess that Miss Guile may not be favorably impressed by the constant attendance of three ablebodied nurses, and, as she happens to be no fool, it is reasonably certain that sh,e will, grasp the, signifi-

cance of our assiduity. Now I propose that the count. Dank and myself efface ourselves as completely as possible during the rest of our enforced stay in Interlaken. I propose that we take quarters in another hotel and leave you and Hobbs to the tender mercies of the enemy. It seems to me that”—

“Good!” cried Robin. “That’s the ticket! I quite agree to that, baron.” Ten o’clock found the three gentlemen —so classified by Hobbs—-out of the Schweizerhof and arranging for accommodations at the Regina Hotel Jungfraublick. He was somewhat puzzled by the strange submissiveness of his companions. Deep down in his mind lurked

the disquieting suspicion that they were conniving to get the better of the lovely temptress by some sly and secret bit of strategy. What had become of their anxiety, their eagerness to drag him off to Graustark by the first train?

Enlightenment came unexpectedly and with a shock to his composure. Two people emerged from the door and, passing by without so much as a glance in his direction, made their way to the mounting block. Robin’s heart went down to hjs boots. Bedelia, a graceful figure in a smart riding habit, was laughing blithely over a soft spoken remark that her companion had made as they were crossing the porch. And that companion was

no other than the tall, good looking fellow who had met her at Cherbourg! The prince, stunned and incredulous, watched them mount their horses and canter away, followed by a groom who seemed to have sprung up from nowhere.

“Good morning, Mr. Schmidt," spoke a voice, and, still bewildered, he whirled, hat in hand, to confront Mrs. Gaston. “Did I startle you?” He bowed stiffly over the hand she held out for him to clasp and murmured something about being proof against any surprise. “Isn’t it a glorious morning? And how wonderful she is in this gorgeous sunlight,” went on Mrs. Gaston, in what may be described as a hurried, nervous manner. “I had the briefest glimpse of her," mumbled Robin. “When did she come?” “Centuries and centuries ago, Mr. Schmidt,” said she, with a smile. “I was speaking of the Jungfrau,” “Oh!” he exclaimed, flushing. “I thought you —er —yes, of course! Really quite wonderful.” “Your mind has gone horseback riding, I fear. At present it is between here and Lauterbrunnen, jogging beside that roaring little torrent that”— “I don’t mind confe:^ ; ng that you are quite right,” he sam frankly. “You are in love.” “I am,” he confessed. She laid her hand upon his. Her eyes were wide with eagerness. “Would it drive away the blues if I were to tell you that you have a chance to win her?” He felt his head spinning. “If—if I could believe that—that”— he began and choked up with the rush of emotion that swept through him. “She is a strange girl. She will marry for love alone. Her father is determined that she shall marry a royal prince. That much, I may confess to you. She has defied her father, Mr. Schmidt. She will marry for love, and I believe it is in your power to awaken love in that adorable heart of hers. You”— “For God’s sake, Mrs. Gaston, tell me—tell me, has she breathed a word to you that”— “Not a single word. But I know her well. I have known her since she was a baby, and I can read the soul that looks out through those lovely eyes.”

“But you—you don’t know anything about me. I may be the veriest adventurer. I must be honest with you, Mrs. Gaston,” he said suddenly. “I am not” — She held up her hand. “Mr. Totten has informed me that you are a lifelong friend of Mrs. Truxton King. I cabled to her from Paris. There is no more to be said.” His face fell. "Did she tell you—everything?” “She said no more than that R. Schmidt is the finest boy in all the world.” Suddenly her face paled. "You are never—never to breathe a word of this to—to Bedelia,” she whispered. “But her father? What will he say to” — “Her father has said all that can be said,” she broke in quietly. “He cannot force her to marry the man he has selected. She will marry the man she loves.” "Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Gaston,” he cried, with shining eyes. “God bless you!” Night came and with it the silvery glow of moonlight across the hoary headed queen of the Oberland. When Robin came out from dinner he seated himself on the porch, expectant, eager —and vastly lonesome. She came at last —and alone. Stopping at the rail not more than an arm’s length from where he sat, she gazed pensively up at the solemn mistress of the valley, one slim hand at her bosom, the other hanging limp at her side. He was in thralldom. “Bedelia!” he whispered softly. She turned quickly, to find him standing beside her, his face aglow with rapture. A quick catch of the breath, a sudden movement of the hand that lay upon her breast and then she smiled —a wavering, uncertain smile that went straight to his heart and shamed him for startling her. “I beg your pardon,” he began lamely. "I—l startled you.” She held out her hand to him, still smiling. “I fear I shall never become accustomed to being pursued,” she said, striving for command of her

voice, "it is dreadful to feel that some one is forever watching you from behind. I am glad it is you, however. You at least are not ‘the secret eye that never sleeps!’” She gently withdrew her hand from his ardent clasp. “Mrs. Gaston told me that she had seen you. I feared that you might have gone on your way rejoicing.” “Rejoicing?” he cried. “Why do you say that?” “After our experience in Paris I should think that you had had enough of me and my faithful watchdogs.” “Then you are being followed?” She smiled again, and there was mischief in her eye. “If so I have led them a merry chase. We have been traveling for two days and nights, 1 Mr. Schmidt, by train and motor, getting off at stations unexpectedly, hopping into trains £oihg in any di- * rectipn but the right' one, sleeping in : strange beds and doing all manner of • queer things.”

“I see that your retinue has been substantially augmented,” he remarked, a trace of jealousy in his voice. “The good looking Mr. White has not been eluded.” I “Mr. White? Oh, yes, I see. But he is to be trusted, Mr. Schmidt,” she said mysteriously—and tantalizingly. “He will not betray me to my cruel monster of a father.” “I saw you this morning riding with him,” said he glumly. | She turned her face away and for a I moment was silent. “Shall we take i those chairs over there, Mr. Schmidt? I They appear to be as abandoned as I we.” She indicated two chairs near i the broad portals. He shook his head. “If we are looking for the most utterly abandoned ' allow me to call your attention to the two in yonder corner.” i “It is quite dark over there,” she said with a frown. | “Quite,” he agreed. “"Which accounts, no doubt, for your failure to see them.” “Mrs. Gaston will be looking for me before”— she began hesitatingly. j “Or Mr. White, perhaps. Let me remind you that they have exceedingly I sharp eyes.” “Mr. White is no longer here,” she announced. His heart leaped. “Then I, at least, I have nothing to fear," he said quickly. She ignored the banality. “He left ■ this afternoon. Very well, let us take the seats over there. I rather like the —shall I say shadows?” “Now, tell me everything,” he said. “From beginning to end. What became of you after that day at St. ( Cloud, whither have you journeyed, and wherefore were you so bent on coming to this now blessed Interlaken?” ~

“Easily answered. Nothing at all became of me. I journey thither, and I came because I had set my heart on I seeing the Jungfrau.” | “But you had seen it many times.” “And I hoped that I might find peace and quiet here,” she added quite distinctly. “You expected to find me here, didn’t you?” “Yes, but I did not regard you as a disturber of the peace.” “You knew I would come, but you didn’t know why, did you, Bedelia?” He leaned a little closer. “Yes, I knew why,” she said calmly, emotionlessly. He drew back instantly, chilled by her directness. “You came because there was promise of an interesting adventure, which you now are on the point of making impossible by a rather rash exhibition of haste." He stared at her shadowy face in utter confusion. For a moment he was speechless. Then a rush of protesting sincerity surged up within him, and he cried out in low, intense tones: “I cannot allow you to think that of me. Miss Guile. If I have done or said anything to lead you to believe that I am” — She laughed joyously, naturally. “You really are quite wonderful, Mr. Schmidt. Still I must change the subject. I trust the change will not affect your glibness, for it is quite exhilarating. How long do you purpose remaining in Interlaken?” “That isn’t changing the subject,” said he. “I shall be here for a week or ten days—or perhaps longer?” He put it in the form of a question, after all. “Indeed? How I envy you. I am sorry to say I shall have to leave in a day or two.” His face fall. “Why?” he demanded, almost indignantly. “I am having such a good time disobeying my father, Mr. Schmidt, and eluding pursuers. It is only a matter of a day or two before I am discovered here, so I mean to keep on dodging. It is splendid fun.” “Do you mind telling me where you are going to, Miss Guile?” “First to Vienna, then —well, you cannot guess where. I have decided to go to Edelweiss.” “Edelweiss!” he exclaimed in astonishment. He could hardly believe his ears. “It is the very last place in the world that my father would think of looking for me. Besides, I am curious to see the place. I understand that the great Mr. Blithers is to be there soon, and the stupid prince who will not be tempted by millions, and it is even possible that the extraordinary Miss Blithers may take it into her head to look the place over before definitely refusing to be its princess. I may find some amusement or entertainment as an onlooker when the riots begin.” He was staring at her wide eyed and incredulous. “Do you really mean to say you are going to Graustark?” “I have thought of doing so. Don’t you think it will be amusing to be on

the scene when the grand Climax occurs?” All this time She was regarding him through amused, half closed eyes. She had a distinct advantage over him. She knew that he was the Prince of Graustark; she had known it for many days. -.Perhaps if she had known all the things that were in his cunning brain she would not have ventured so far into the comedy she was constructing. She would have hesitated—aye, she might have changed her methods completely. But she was in the mood to do and say daring things. (To be continued.)

“Where is she?” demanded Robin.