The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-12-02

several mobiles, on this particular occa-
sion, who had only deigned to come, as
| Ciarimond well knew, at the eager So
| hcitation of the princess. They were
mostly men past middle age, and their
young king had Mortified them by his
liberalisms. They held his person sa-
cred, and were infexible in their fealty
to him, never forgetting that their an
cestors, through centuries back, had
| fought and died in the service of his.
But they abhorred his modernity of
ideas, and had suffered keen pangs at
the audacious changes wrought in their
land. Political no less than social
and physical, these changes had affect
ed them with mingled melancholy and
horror. Two or three of them had
chosen to hide their chagrin amid the
gayeties of Paris, where their great
wealth and princely Saltravian birth
had secured welcomes for them among
the most exclusive sets. One of these
latter, n man about forty years old,
with black, flashing eyes, olive skin and
a little curly beard and moustache, held
an exceptional position as cousin twice
removed from the king. His fortune
was very large, and he passed most of
his year in the French capital, whence
he had but lately returned. He had
been for long time past one of the Bit
terest of the malcontents; he was iras-
chile, and notoriously naughty to all
interiors. While the king had made
his first tour through the ballroom
every eye had sought his own and every
head had bowed. But it had struck
him, however vaguely, that this partic-
lar nobleman had bowed with certain
distinct stiffness. AS Clarimond now
drew near his mother, he fixed his eyes
full on the handsome, swarthy face at
her side, and said, with an accent of
quiet good humor:
"Ah, Philibert, so you're back once
again?" At the same moment he put
forth his hand.
Prince Philibert advanced, and taking
the kings hand in his own with a rev.
erent droop of the head, firmly, even res
onantly, kissed it. A smile of proud
pleasure swept over the face of
Princess Brindisi. This was the imme-
mortal usage of the Saltravian court
for a peer or peeress, on returning
after an absence and being addressed
by the king, to give his hand an obeisant
kiss.
But Clairmond, meanwhile, grew
white with anger. He had long ago
forbidden all such forms of self-humili-
alton on the part of his courtiers.
Prince Philibert well knew this fact,
and what he had just done favored of
the most overt defiance.
The crystal-gray eyes of the king met
the dark and brilliant ones of his sub
ject. Prince" he said, with some
curtness, 81 supposed you were aware
that l dislike, and indeed have vetoed,
all this flourish on the part of my
friends"
Philibert, while he stood moveless as
statue with both hands behind him,
and while he looked, in his evening
dress, decorated by several orders that
betolzened his great rank, a figure of
striking distinction, answered, COM
posedly and gravely:
Pardon me, your majesty, but l only
fulfilled usage that is many centuries
DID,
This answer, in the circumstances,
bristled with clear revolt. The king
started, and looked at his mother, who
gently inclined her head, as if in COM
plete approval of the words just
uttered.
Taking few quick steps toward the
princess, and passing Philibert's un-
stirred figure, Clarimond leaned his
lips close to the lady's cheek and shot
out one low, determined sentence:
"You have gone too far, madam-too
far, as you will perceived"
In another moment he turned and
spoke to Philibert.
''You are insolent," he said, land most
meaningly So"
The prince gave slight shudder, and
seemed about to respond.
''Not word!'' commanded the king,
and his voice, though loud, was wholly
calm. 81 dismiss you from the palace.
Do not presume to enter it again, on
pain of exile
Philibert stood as if irresolute, and
then, growing almost CHASTITY, stam-
mered forth in reply:
eff 1 wore sword, as my fore
fathers did, / would break it and drop
the fragments at your majesty's feet"
With glittering eyes, the king curled
his lip. ''Better if you thought less
about deporting yourself like the pet
tenor in a French grand opera, mon
sieur, and spent your heroics in
more wholesome form. There are
throngs of hungry beings in Saltravia
that need the forty thousand francs 1
am told you flung away on a single
night, last month, at a Partisan gaming
table"
These words, pronounced with bell
like clearness, penetrated far. The
guests who heard them rapidly
whispered them to others who had not
heard. A dead silence followed, while
the ladies huddled together in alarm,
and the gentlemen (mostly all quite
ready to throw themselves between
Philibert and the king if any treason
able act were attempted by this noble
of such renowned bad temper) gathered
nearer to the scene of dispute.
In Prince Philibert (who would in
stantly have decided to challenge any
equal and almost any inferior who
should thus have assailed him), this re-
proach from his king produced only
sort of grief-stricken dismay. He
clasped both hands together like ter
rified woman, and then, with look of
infinite reproach from his splendid
duslzy eyes, hurried almost reelingly
away.
Clarimond at once called out to the
assemblage, in tones vibrant, high
pitched, yet full of extreme dignity:
s.I adiaS and nantlo,nan L nsl- ro..r ~.