The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1891-05-07
A MOB HILL PRINCESS.
NJ EMMA :. ALLEN.

/ ilNhllf FpituIlls
The king, after all, was not king. n
he had no more royal blood in his vein
than q hackman or q carconductor. II
had left the aged father who had give
him the royal blood Of honesty as al
heritage, and come 10 California in 9Th
days Of 40" 10 search for gold. lie hat
found the gold. and since that good for
tune had created the hunger and thirst 70
more and more gold, there seemed to b,
! no limit to his ambition. EVERYTHING
he touched had turned to gold, and TO
years people had called him King Midas
The name chung 10 him after he built hi,
palace on Mob Hill, and it was sometime,
varied by the less classical appellation oil
cold John Vernon, the Bonanza King. :
The Princess Beatrice was tho only
daughter only child. She was the
power behind the throne, even before
I her weak little mother succumbed TO the
ill.heaith that had driven her all over
the face Of the earth in search of new
climates and new physicians. Since her
death Beatrice had worn the ermine OK.
clusvoly, aud worn It with so much I'm.
affected simplicity and grace that she
was not spoiled one iot or little. There
was something in her nature too sweet
and womanly for any amount of money
or power to choke out.
She stood, one evening. on the marble
steps of the grand piazza, looking in her
own dreamy fashion at the steel blue
waters Of San Francisco Bay, Just as the
sun was going out through the Golden
Gate. She was wondering, as she had
grown to wonder very frequently Of late,
why her father seemed changed He
had q secret which he was evidently
keeping from her as long as he possibly
could--but a secret that must be made
public sooner or later. Something in
the expression of his face, as he avoided
meeting her eyes told Beatrice all this.
She wondered every morning II he would
tell her before night what it was. Her
questioning eyes scrutini2ed him very
closely across the fine damask and gilt
tering silver and crystal as she handed
him his Mocha or Oolong at breakfast,
lunch, or dinner
"Do you believe 1t is possible that he
is going to fail 7 y she asked her very
dearest friend in oil the world father
barely excepted Helena Ashton that
afternoon.
Elbow can he fail (" said Helena,
with an inexpressible gesture.
Miss Ashton was an extraordinary girl
in very ordinary position in life. She
was the oldest Of three daughters, and
had very good reason to be proud of n
talented elder brother who was putting
the zeal Of his life into his profession.
ooh, rejoined Beatrice, composedly,
"he might as we'll fail as---n
GAS the Bank OF California f"
As well as some other men who have
failed. wonder how il would seem to
be poor"
GAS poor as we area"
"No, you are not poor. You belong
to that happy class Of which Young tells
in Night Thoughts "a goodly com.
petcnce is all we can enjoy Your
father enjoys life as well-far. better
than mine does, because he has that in
terest In another life that all my fathers
money cannot buy aud your mother
oh, Helena il ] only had such a mother
BY, ] meyer had
The princess would have cried IL she
had been crying girl but she only
swallowed little sob as she bent over
ielena's artistic work table. When she
rose with sudden vehemenco from the
mahogany and old.rose plush chair in
which she had been idling it flew back
and struck the unfinished painting on
Helena's easel, throwing IT, face down
ward across the long, curved rockers.
"Never mind, the paint is dry said
Helena, not stopping her work in the
velvet bed of arasene lilies. "lou could
not hurt it any If it was not. 1t is a
storm at sea.
Beatrice carefully replaced the picture
and adjusted drape OF amber silk across
the easel.
"You paint so much better than
! do--you do everything better than
do. You always did, since we began to
60 10 school together Your brother
promised to find out what my mission in
life is"-blushing slightly and getting
behind Helenas chair. "He has given
up the quest, l presume, rs hopeless
something past lawyers ability TO
ferret out Goodbye. dear. Will you
be at Mrs. Adloy's AT home tomorrow
EVENING""
''Oh, yes"
Helena put down her work aud went
arm-in-arm with her friend down the
stairs and out upon tie lawn. They
stood together in the iron gateway for a
few moments, thtn the princess was
driven away from the pretty Queen Anne
house a picturesque affair in duh Indian
red and terra-cotta shades-to the por-
tails OF King Midass palace.
Il was not alone Of her father and his
uHaccountable actions that Beatrice was
thinking as she stood on the piazza look I
ing over the waters Of the bay.
III were poor girl. / believe-but
he is too proud-too true and perfect
nan TO ever think of-and there isn't I
another like him in all the world.
Which scattering reflections certainly Z
had no reference to her royal parent.
Tho unspoken thought brought a blush
to her face that made her brilliantly
beautiful. even 10 the stupid footnsn
VINO answered her questions in the hall
SIS papa at home YETI
"No, miss. lie weat away an bour