The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1882-11-29

And you'll have me, anyway, Just as l am.
Now aren't you, honestly" "Ye-es," she
said.
-Harper's Weekly.
TIE PRINCESS OLGA.
Alone in the starlight of a bright
night in autumn Harold Vincent waited,
lurking in the blacklist of the thick
shadows cast by a h%alf-ruined group of
statuary, cleaning ghostly in the still
ness and gloom of a remote corner in
the garden of the Palais Romanzeff in
st. Petersburg. Surely a fit emblem
of the RomanZeff family were these
broken figures, rearing their fragments
proudly on the spot which had been
their home for centuries-a relic of
past greatness, old, despoiled, their
glory departed, but still haughtily erect
as the race over which they seemed
keeping'guard.
Irreverently and impatiently did
this fair-haired, blue-eyed young Eng
lishman stamp his heels on the pedestal
of the statue, while he gazed eagerly
and ixedly at a small door leading
from the palace into the garden. For
what seemed to him an age, though in
reality it was scarcely half an hour, his
watch was unrewarded. What could
be the motive of this noe -urnal visit?
He appeared to be a well-to-dO young
EngliShman-a gentleman in position
and character. Still neither this nor a
long rent roll and good looks could en-
title him to an entrance within these
hallowed precincts.
At last the door opened and the
lights from the corridor within shonc
for an instant upon no less apersonage
than the beautiful young Princess
Olga, the only child of the house of
Romanzeff. The obscure intruder
fondly murmured as he watched her
approach
'She is ~coming-my love, my sweet"
and, as she reached the statue, a pair
of bold arms drew her into the shadow
while Harold, unrebuked, pressed one
kiss and then another on the girls
rosy lips.
"My love, how late you are!!' he ex-
claimed, tenderly. II began to think
I had my scramble over the wall for
nothing tonight. l certainly shall
break my neck there some time, or be
found impaled on one of those villain
Gus iron spikes in the morning-a vic
tim to too soaring aspirations"
"No, no, Harold" the young girl
answered, smiling a little sadly. "Iou
will be safe enough after tonight, for,
my love, you must never come again"
"But, Olga" began Harold, in dis
may.
Eyes, it is only too true" Olga de-
clared, with something like a sob in
her voice. 81 have very bad news,
Harold. BY ONE means or other the
count has learned our secret. Furious
" Jealous, he has complained to my
father, who is nor angry than I a
tell you. lie has told me that I am to
be ready to marry the count within a
week. Oh, u~arold--and I detest him
more and more every day"
"Olga, my darling, do you love me
well enough to trust me entirely to
take any means l may see fit to save
you from this Ubiquitous marriage?
Will you place your future in my
hands, believing that I will ask you to
do nothing which will be unworthy of
your
81 trust you and love you with all
my heart, Harold"
"Then take courage, my own; before
the week is ovcr YOU will havenothing
more to fear from the count"
"Ah, Harold" cried the girl, sadly,
'you little know how hopeless is any
thought of escape! From now until
my marriage | am to be watched con-
tinually, day and night. My father
installed in the house to-day his
maiden sister, who has made herself
responsible for me during the week.
1t is with the greatest difficulty that 1
have stolen q few minutes nov while
the maid is preparing her for the
night. She must discover my absence
Immediately, if she has not already.
I must return instantly"
"Yes, dear, you are right-you must
Co." Harold replied, gravely. Wait
one moment. You say you a trust
your maid"
"~Thoroughly. Poor Babette Her
hopeless passion for a policeman, too
poor to ever think of marriage, has
made her heart very soft for the sor-
rows of other unhappy lovers"
Tell her I wish to speak to her
when she goes to market tomorrow. I
have no plan as yet, Olga, and can
communicate with you only through
Babette. But, even if you hear moth
ing of me for several days, rest assured,
my darling, that it will not be because
l am IDLE. Now, goodnight, my own!
I daren't keep you any longer"
With a heart which as yet felt very
little of the hopefulness that he had
been striving to instill into Olga,
Harold watched her slight figure fit
ting through the garden walks until
she had disappeared safely within the
palace, after which he as quietly as
possible took his perilous way over the
garden wall, whence he dropped noise
lessly into the street and disappeared
in the darkness.
Harold Vincent had made his first
appearance in st. Petersburg only a
month before, on his homeward route,
after an extended trip in Scandinavia
and Russia, and found shortly, even in
the higher grade of Russian society,
the welcome which his wealth, his
genial kindly nature, and his un-
bounded liberality always procured for
him. 4 few days after his arrival he
had met the young Princess Olga at a
ball given by the English ambassador,
and from that evening he had in life
an aim and object which up to the
present had been it's only want-the
firm determination to win the fail
Young aristocrat for his wife, in spite
of the many obstacles in his way.
The difficulties Were almost insur'
mo%untable, for, though the events OF
the week which followed gave hin
ground to believe that the lady of hi:
love was by no means indifferent tt
him, he also learned that a few week:
before Olga's father had formally be-
trothed her to a equity old noblemar
with the bluest of blood, n of thu
largest fortunes and the most jealou!
disposition in st. Petersburg.
Prince Romanzeff was rich in moth
ing but pride of name and ancestry
4Sorely was help needed to prevent the
utter ruin of the ancient Palais Ro
manzeff, and to pay a few of the debt:
of the last bearer of the name. Bu'
not to satisfy his creditors, nor even tt
1rp,n r,Nt,Il tho n1f