People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1893 — AMERICAN PUSH. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMERICAN PUSH.

By EDGAR FAWCETT.

f' (fIPVfwoMT. 1891 > BY the Author AMJANCe.

CHAPTER XX.—CoMTOTtrm. ‘•But If anything happens, Lonz, I pledge you my word that will happen! The king has done far more audacious things already than marry an American girl. As for a morganatic marriage—” “Curse a morganatic marriage!” cried Alonzo. “If he tried that, and she consented, I’d put a bullet through his brain, though they hung me ten minutes afterward.” “They don’t hang here; they guillotine,” said Eric, calmly. “It’s much neater, in a way. But you needn’t covet any such poetic fate. Clarimond loathes morganatic unions, has more than once told me. Lonz, Lonzl you know him too we'l by this time for such kind of talk! Here you are, rich, through his generosity, and you talk of him as if he were some common cad.” “I’ll resign my position!” quavered Alonzo, with both hands clenched at his aide. “I’ll go to starvation, if you please—” “Don’t. Go to the ball first.” “I’ll send him my resignation this very day!” “Wait until the ball is over.” “Curse tho ball!" , “You’re cursing everything, it strikes •te, in the most promiscuous manner.” “Forgive me,Eric, but I can’t help it.” “You can’t help it, dear boy,” said Brie, “because your heart is almost breaking in yonr breast!” Ho got up from his chair, and went straight to his friend, putting his arms ibout his neck And kissing him on the forehead. It was A very sweet and simple act, and it was also one that brimmed with a beautiful, spontaneous‘fraternity. , Alonzo threw back his head, stared forlornly at his companion, and then flung his head o* Eric’s broad, virile shoulder. A great, passionate turmoil of tears followed—the tears that men shed, and so tellingly seldom, and that are wrung, when shed at all, from deepcavemed wells of their spirits. Eric held him in his arms, not speaking a word, only throbbing with the most humane sympathy. But meanwhile his brain worked, and he thought, with the bitterness and irony that certain stern freaks of life will too often wrench from us, whether we are optimists, pessimists, or only a part of that huger throng which neither think nor feel too keenly. “And I brought him here for this! It’s too devilishly bad! In a way he was happy enough All he’d seen her again, and now it’s all a tumult with him, a madness, a torture. But he’ll stay for the balL He’ll Btay, just to see her again. And then? God knows with what reckless force he’ll fly straight in the face of his present. prosperity.” CHAPTER XH, Eric was right. On the evening of the ball he and Alonzo sought the palace together. They entered the great room a little before ten o’clock. Here the entire assembled court were waiting, and presently to a goldeh clash of music from the orchestra on an upper balcony muffled in choice living flowers, the king entered with the princess of Brindisi on his arm. It was a sight of extreme splendor. The enormous room, tapestried in gold and white, and hung with mirrors of huge Bize that reduplicated the chandeliers in endless glittering vistas, had been profusely adorned with roses, lilies and orchids from the royal hot-houses. The Saltravian nobles all wore their uniforms, and between the many beautiful ladies who were their wives a sumptuous kind of rivalry was to-night manifest, each one wishing, as it would seem, to eclipse the other in the glory of her jewels. But there were two ladies present who outshone them all, and these were the princess herself and her cherished ward, Bianca d’Este. The mother of Clarimond was literally mailed in gems. Her stomacher and corselet of mingled rubies and diamonds blazed, as the light caught them, with vivid and luxurious fires. Her hair was. oversprinkled with brilliants and her Beck and arms were aflame with them. Poeacj|sing so much natural presence and carriage, she looked more than merely regal Her worst foes (and there were two or three of these who now fazed at her with the most q—de-

me&nors) must have granted that she mss altogether magnificent With Bianca d’Este H was quite aa •pposite affair. She, too, was magnificent, but in a way that became her maidenhood and her youth. A collar of pearls five rows deep engirt her throat and these, with a cluster at her breast of sapphires, diamonds and other stones, in' imitation of a spray of flowers, were the only jewels that she wore. But the pearls had belonged to her ancestress, Mary of Modena, queen of England, and hence were not only superb but historic besides. As for the matchless bouquet it was owned by her mother, was famous throughout Europe and worth a handsome fortune in itself. The princess having begged Bianca’s mother by letter to permit the girt to wear it on this special occasion, it had been F*nt from Italy sunder the guardianslv.o of five trusted men, who now waited lb one of the halls of the palace and woul.l receive the glorious bauble from the hands of its wearer the instant that she emitted the ball-room. Shortly „fter the entrance of Clarimond and his mother the royal quadrille was danced, and to some conservative watchers, when they beheld the king lead forth Kathleen as his partner, the sight was one of absolute horror. Everybody else in the quadrille was of the blood royal except this upstart young American. Beautiful? Yes, amazingly so. Her beauty, in its perfect plainness of apparel, dimmed the fire of all those necklaces, bracelets and tiaras. With such eyes, with such a heavenly look about the brows, with such a slope of the arm and shoulder, and with that imperial kind of daintiness in her motion, she made every other woman look artificial, got up for the occasion, endimanchce. But what {que diablel) had that to do with the king's behavior? Whether she were huger kauri, why should he make her an excuse for smashing etiquette and then dancing on its debris? The thing was too idiotic. Did he mean to marry her? Was this to be his latest daring deed of uhconventionalism? “Look at him now,” whispered a lady of highest rank to a gentleman equally lofty, after a pause had followed the first general dance. “He has those two Americans at his side, Eric Thaxter apd M. Lispenard. What a revolution he has wrought in his mother! The princess is talking to them both and smiling her blandest” “Oh! the poor old princess!” giggled the gentleman. “Was there ever'such an overthrow? They say that he gave her her choice the other night after he had sent us all adrift like a pack of school children and treated poor Philibert so awfully. Either she had to pull down her flag and fold it discreetly away, just as she’s doing now, or leave the country inside of twenty-four hours.” “But is it true,” asked the lady, “that this American girl was once betrothed to M. Lispenard?” “You know what happened there on the palace grounds,” was the reply. “He saw her and ran off in an agony of embarrassment, followed by his friend.*' “Perhaps they had been married and then divorced,” said the lady. “I have it on the best of authority that people in America marry there in one province (let us say Venezuela) this year and are divorced with perfect ease the nextyear in some other province (let us say California).” '’Eoally? I’m not surprised. Americans are such curious creatures. But she’s wonderfully handsome, that girL Don’t you think so?” “Oh! of course,” granted the lady, saying no more, and saying even this much as thought were forced from her. “But I don’t like the affected simplicity with which she has gowned herself. Do you?” “I hadn’t thought a bit about her attire,” said the gentleman. “Where is she now? Do you know?” “Talking to a score or so of our best men,” returned the lady, a little harsh ly, “over yonder near the door that leads to the picture galleries. Take me in that direction, will you? I want to have a better look at her. I may be wrong, but it struck me there was a crookedness in one of her eyebrows—” Meanwhile, as the princess of Brindisi, subdued into humility that she had never before dreamed of as possible to her proud spirit, was saying suave if rather void things to Alonzo, the king slipped his arm within that of Eric Thaxter and murmured to him: “Come with me, my friend, into the conservatory. I have something I must Bay to you at once.” Clarimond and his companion were presently in the sweet-smelling dusk of a spacious glass pavilion, where you heard the sounds of falling water and caught its flashes, now and then, through coverts of shadowing leaves and blooms They found the place quite vacant; as yet, no flushed and fatigued dancers had sought it Their feet struck with little hollow clangs on the marble pavements of the odorous avenues, and thus accentuated, as it were, the exceeding stillness. It was a stillness that for his master to break, and at length he did so, in these words: “I suppose that Lispenard told you just what passed between him and myself.” “Yes, monsieur, he told me.” “Well,” said the king, musingly, “then you, Erie, who knew me so well, must have seen that I —betrayed myself.” “Betrayed yourself, monsieur. How?” “Oh that I showed him I love the woman he loves. Did he not tell you that? No, do not reply. I will not permit you to tell me, even if so inclined. It would be unfair, almost dishonorar ble, for me to insist on any such disclosure.” “An injustice from you, monsieur, would be as impossible as darkness from the sun.” The king suddenly paused His face was touched with a vague yet revealing light and Erie perceived on it a pallor, a seriousness, which he had before noted but which now seemed intensified. “If I wanted a counselor!” he broke forth, and then he laid a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “But in this case I ought not to want one. I should beau*

fictent tnrtc jay*eH Only, my mead, you would be the wisest and best at counselors; that is all I mean,” and ha withdrew his hand, giving a long aad dssp sigh. “From what I know of yon, monsieur,* said Eric, “you have always been suA ficient unto yourself. ” “Not always, not always—bnt -you are very kind.” “I am simply sincere, monsieur. You were born to be a great ruler of men. I have felt it for months past The more that I see of you, the more strongly you appeal to me as a power for good. The world would have had no need for republics if all kings hod been as perfect as yourself.” “Thanks, my Eric—thanks.” To the surprise of his hearer these words were very brokenly uttered. Clarimond remained inmovable, so that the revealing light still clothed his face. And now Eric saw that his vivid eyes were shining as though with halfrepressed tears. Only a slight silence elapsed before he spoke again: “Then if lam indeed worthy to be a great ruler, as you say, I should know, Eric, how to rule myself." “Pardon me. monsieu., but I do not understand.” The king’s glance turned from right to left as though in the dimness he suspected either some newcomer or some ambushed listener. With great abruptness he soon caught Eric’s hands in either of his own and held them straininjj'ly while his moist-beaming eyes plunged their look into the obscured face of his watcher. “Eric, I have never loved living woman until now, and I oould have her for my wife if I choose!” “For your queen,” faltered Eric, scarcely knowing why he 6poke the words. “Queen! queen!” Clarimond flung back, impatiently. “Dane*/ you are like everybody else. How otherwise could I have her for my wife, man? Have I not told yon that those morganatic marriages are loathsome to met But there it is! Instantly that ‘royalty* idea occurs to you! Well, you are aot to blame. It occurs to everybody, bo doubt, the moment my marriage U thought of. It occurred to her. Sba accepted me. Are you smiling because she accepted me? Are you saying to yourself that she merely did what thousands of women would in like circumstances do? But you sre wrong if you reason so, for she was sublimely frank. She made it clear to me that she stillloved Lispenard, and If she brought me a virgin body she could not bring me a virgin heart!” “She said this, monsieur?” “In substance, yes, Eric, if not in actual phrase. And I, knowing how this man and woman love one another —how the cruel worldliness of a single, hard-grained being has kept them apart —I, whom you have called great, pause, positively pause, before the fulfillment of my duty!” “Your duty, monsieur?” The king’s eyes darted fire for a second, there in the dusk where he and Eric stood. “I can unite them if I choose, almost by lifting my hand. If I do not choose, I can wed Kathleen. Which course is my duty? She will marry me, half from ambition; half because of her mother—that vicious, mannish, insatiable mother! Which courae, I say, is my duty? People talk of Quixotism! Bah! As if I did not know! There was never a meaner word created than that ‘Quixotism!’ It has been the cloak for countless acts of cowardice, and Corvantes, were he alive to-day, would regret that his genius ever aided in its coining.” Eric drooped his head, and felt his eyes fill with tears. He knew just what great throbs of a noble nature underlay this splendid bluster, this incomparable vehemence. “Monsieur,” he replied, when able to school his voice so that he could speak with self-governance, “you have been very right in saying that you require no counselor. lam Alonzo Lispenard’s friend; I know how he has suffered—how he suffers yet! lam your devoted servitor, and I realize the noble renunciation it is in your power to make. You yourself have hinted that you are capable of this fine self-effacement But I did not need your own admission to that effect I have already known you too long not to grasp the height and breadth of your generosity. ” Clarimond turned on his heel like a flash, threw both hands behind him, joining them there, and then moved slowly away. “I’ve horribly deceived you,” he shot over his shoulder. “I brought you here in the hope that, although an American, you would prove yourself a good courtier, and show me ample cause that I should plight troth with the woman I 10v.e.” “Monsieur,” replied Eric, foUowing him, “I am far too good a courtier for that! Sincerely as I esteem your character in its entirety, there is one element of it to which I must always pay primal obeisance.” “Yon mean?” questioned tho king, as Eric now reached his side again, in the fragrant twilight of their transient retreat “Your peerless conscience, your unparalleled sense of right?” As the festivity progressed, this evening, nearly everyone conceded that there had been nothing at all resem--bling it in brilliance and buoyancy for many and many a month. Indeed, some of the native guests roundly admitted that Clarimond’s reign had yet Been no grand assemblage bo delightful; for this season more foreigners than usual had gathered at the hotels, and among these, where position and antecedents made it possible, the royal invitations had been somewhat lavishly spread. As a pleasant result the entertainment sparkled with novelty. At midnight the doors of the banquetinghaH were opened, and wine and viands furnished in profuse largeness wrought just the needed result of quickened gayety and enlivened social zest The haughtiest Saltravian maids and matrons unbent and became affable to fellow-mortals of different grades or often of different countries from their own. Admiration for Kathleen’s beauty waxed with the progress of the

entertainment and after awhile many ladies sought to know her. Mrs. KenBaird, who had managed to get herself approached and talked to by some of the Bftost prominent men present was In Ms eeetacy of self-gratulation. She had •Bee oome face to face with Alonso, and had” managed to make it appear as if she had not intentionally cut him. It was So hard to treat anyone unamiably to-night! Some little time after midnight Eric touched Alonzo on the arm. The latter gave a kind of relieved start and at once said: "I’m so glad to find you. 1 mean to slip away, though of oourse you will not go yet” “You are tired so soon?” “Yes—of seeing A«r, ringed round with her new tdolators. It’s getting intolerable. I shouldn’t have come at all!” “But, my dear Lonz, the king wishes to speak with you. He has just sent me to ask you if you will not join him." Alonzo stood for a brief while irresolute. Then he tossed his head, bit his Hp, and said in a voice almost irritable: 1 “Of course—of course! How absurd of me! I’m almost forgetting that I'm a slave.” “A slave, Lonz! Yon! As If I’d let yon be! Come, now, take that horrible sentiment back! You’re as free as air, and you know it!” Alonzo slipped his hand into Eric's. “I’m very distressed,” he answered, “and I’m a fool. Forgive me!” “It isn’t for me to forgive you." “Oh, then I’ll apologize to him." “You needn’t He’ll never know. Come with me, dear boy.” They quitted the ball-room and passed through several dim corridors. “Where on earth are you taking me?" Alonzo murmured more than once, but Eric, as if the question needed no reply, kept pushing on. Presently, when it wail for the third time repeated, he replied, while pushing open a vague door over which was a lamp shaped like a drooping lotus flower: “You ought to know. It’s that little chapel. You told me, when I brought you here, one day, an age ago, that it was very good. You congratulated me on it, though you pronounced it • plagiarism from the Sainte Chapelle in rbria. It isn’t, for the simple reason that it’s a copy." [TO BE CONTINUED. [