Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-12-08
CHAPTER Ix-CoNrrsuED.

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CHAPTER IX-CoNrMuED.
'sNot wish to dispose of it?'' shot the
quick and caustic response. ''But, man,
1 will pay you fortune for it! Come,
now. Whatever you please to ask shall
be yours by tomorrow morning" And
then the eyes of these two men very
meaningly met. Clarimond read in the
others gaze refusal cold and OBJ
durate-and perhaps he read there the
cause of this refusal as well. However
st may have been, an abrupt change
took place in him. 'sYou spoke Of vul-
garity not long ago." he said, visibly
disarrayed and walking toward the
door of the studio. cit is 1 who.
am vulgar now. Pardon me-" And
at once he fastened from the apart
ment. With his eyes fixed on the por-
trait, A1onzo sank into chair. ''The
king loves herl' left his lips in a furried
whisper. He closed his eyes, clenched
his hands and surge of ungovernably
Jealous feeling seemed to flood his soul
CHAPTER x
Clarimond, with scarcely more than
nod and handclasp to Eric, who wait
ed below, sprang into the carriage
which had brought him from the palace
and returned there at once. He chose
to dine alone in his own suite of cham
bers, and at dinner drank a little more
wine than usual. Afterward he went
into his mothers apartments, where she
was receiving a very select assemblage
that chiefly consisted of the highest
Saltravian nobility. Having saluted his
mother he moved about the rooms for
some time, and at length paused quite
while before Blanca d'Este, who was
looking exceedingly handsome in
gown of blue satin embroidered with
silver.
1.-THE princess almost gave up expect
ing you,'' she said, looking at him very
earnestly with her sweet, infantile,
china-blue eyes.
Sam so late?" said Clarimond.
''Not that, monsieur; but we feared
or, should say, her highness feared
lest other attractions would detain you. {"
He saw the sly innuendo, but chose to
pretend that it escaped him.
Really, I do not understand" he
said. "Other sttractions?''
Blanca flushed at her own holiness.
And yet the courage Of desperation pos
scssed her soul. That soul was no longer
in bondage to the church. A new re-
1igion had enthralled it. Women have
and Clarimond, if he had no royalty for
background, would have appealed to
almost any woman's heart. AS it was
he fired both the heart and imagination
of Blanca d. Este. In spirit she was at
l.. g. e
which is tinctured by pang of intoxi-
Gated recklessness. And yet her mien
flee over fame) was calm enough as she
cow replied:
II mean the handsome young Amer
lean girl, monsieur, whom you honored
SO greatly this afternoon"
You saw me?" Clarimond rather
lightly said. "And You think I honored
her? 1t seemed to me as if honors were
easy, as one says in English whistl''
v~''Oh, monsieur!' Blanca cried; and
while she looked into his face, which of
late had grown to her more than kingly
had grown to her, indeed, almost like
che face of god-she ardently persist
ed: For y0u to speak like that! For
0ou to even hint that mere nobody
should not be honored, and very greatly
honored, by the least smile from your
He watched her for a moment as
though she half irritated, half shocked
him. 81 am man." he then said, with
great simplicity and gentleness. GLOW
' can be more, and why should I not dis
like hearing it suggested that I am
smore?''
You are a king" replied Blanca
''You are king with long ancestry Of
kings behind your
He laughed softly and shrugged his
shoulders, glancing about him at the
walls of the festal room in which they
stood, with it's panelings of white and
gold, with its huge clusters of wax
lights for side chandeliers beamine
above other huge clusters of prisms
like stalactites, and with its ceilings
where cupids drove in chariots drawn
by butterflies through gorges and owe,
causeways of rosy and azure cloud.
sit means very little to be a king
nowadays" he said. cat least it mean
very little to me-"
ST am so sorry" she answered. &c
am so intensely sorry!''
''You have been talking with m,
mother" he replied. sit is easy to Sc
that you are full of her views and pre-
judices.''
''No, they are mine," she averred
''Can them what you please. II hat
so to address you as monsieur but thi
is your command, and what can one d
but obey it? You are royal, and ma
esty' is your rightful form of address
And then the way in which you despis
and fout all ceremonial! Oh, this j
harder to bear still! You should hav
entered here, just as you should wal
abroad, with your equerries, your ger
tlemen in waiting. All, it Is terrible
terrible! 1t saddens me, it wounds me
to see you cast aside the rights and dig
mites of your great birth. I do nc
wonder that your mother sorrows.
is not mere pride that makes her feel a
she does. It is a sense-oh, pardon M,
for speak from the very inmost depth
of my heart!-a sense OF your havin
been appointed by Heaven itself TO rul
over your people, and of your treatin
this holy mission as though it concerne
some slight and paltry Officer
As Blanca d. Este ended, the kin
took her hand in his own for momen
He felt that 1t was trembling and I
saw that there were tears in her brigh
wide, childish eyes.
"You are very sincere" he said, wit
q smile that was not exempt from a ce
tain delicate melancholy. "a gre;
many people, since history began, ha'