The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1892-12-02

KING loves hcE. ieLL his llpS IN q hurried
whisper. He closed his eyes, clenched
his hands and a surge OF ungovernably
4ea1ous feeling seemed to flood his soul
CHAPTER x
ClarimOnd, with scarcely more than q
nod and a 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 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 a
gown of blue satin embroidered with
silver.
THE princess almost gave Up expect
Ing you, - she said, looking. at him very
earnestly with her sweet, infantile,
china blue eyes.
cam so Iate?" said Clarimond.
mot that, monsieur; but we feared
or, I should say, her highness feared
lest other attractions would detain you"
c He saw the sly innuendO, but chose to
pretend that it escaped him
Really, I do not understand he
z said. t'Other attractions"
Blanca flushed at her own boldness-
And yet the courage of desperation pos
Eessed her soul. That soul was no longer
In bondage to the church. a new re
liEion had enthralled it. Women have
rarely found it difficult to love kings,
and ClarimOnd, if he had no royalty for
a background, would have appealed to
almost any voman's heart. As it was
-he fired both the heart and imagination
Of Blanca d. Este. In spirit she was at
his feet with that sort of genuhection
which is tiRctured by pang of intozzi-
Gated reclSlessness. And yet her mien
fice over hame) was calm enough as she
=uow replied:
Q u mean the handsome young Amer
lean girl, monsieur, whom you honOred
So greatly this afternoon"
You saw me?" Clarinond rather
lightly said. land you think honored
her? It seemed to me as if honOrs were
sasy, as one says in English whist"
z7'-Oh, monsieur Blanca cried; and
@ while she looked into his face, which of
late had grown to her more than llingly
q had grown to her, indeed, almost like
q the face of a gOd-she ardently persist
sd: For yoU to speak like thatl For
Bou to even hint that a mere nobody
should not be honOred, and very greatly
o EonOred, by the least smile from yOui"
He watched her for n moment as
though she half irritated, half shocked
@ him. = am man." he then said, with
great simplicity and gentleness. "How
can be more, and why should not dis
like hearing it suggested that I am
more?'7
You are a king" replied Blanca
s'Eou are a king with a long ancestry Of
E kings behind youi"
He laughed softly and shrugged his
Shoulders, glancing about him at the
walls "a the faEfal in fr.1e fhavr
stood, with its PancHngs of white and
gold, with its huge clusters of wax
fights for side chandeliers beaming
above other huge clusters of prisms
like stalactites, and with its ceilings
where cupids drove in chaI-iots drawn
by butterflies through gOrges and over
causeSvays of rosy and azure cloud
1T means very little to be king,
nowadays" he said ''At least it means
very little to me-"
4 am so sorry" she answered. ST
am so intensely sorryv'
''You have been talking with my
mother - he replied 1T is easy to see
@ that you are full Of her views and pre-
iudices."
s'No, they are mine" she averred.
s'Cai them what You please. II hate
SO to .address you as monsieur but this
Is your command, and what can one do
but obey itP You arc royal, and mai
And then the way IN which you despise
and hout all ceremoninll Oh, this Is
harder to bear still You should have
entered here, just as you should walk
abrpad, with your equerries, your gen
tlenen in waiting. Ah, it is terrible,
terribtei It saddens me, it wounds me,
to see you cast aside the rights and dig
mites of your great birth. do not
wonder that your mother sorrows. It
is not mere pride that makes her feel as
she does It is a sense-oh, pardon me.
4or-I speak from the very inmOst depths
of my hearth sense OF your having
been appointed by Heaven itself 70 rule
over your people, and Of your treating
this holy mission as though it concerned
some slight and paltry officer
As Blanca d Este ended, the king
took her hand in his own for moment.
He felt that it was trembling and he
saw that there were tears in her bright,
wide, childish eyes.
You are very sincere" he said, with
3 smile that was not exempt from a GER
tain delicate melancholy. "a great
many people, since history began, have
been quite wrong and yet excessively
sincere" He paused, still holding her
hand, and 1t few about the great room
like wildirs that he was paying this
public courtesy TO the italian girl whom
his mother SO avidly desired him to
=. marry Perhaps, my dear Blanca d.
Este he presently resumed, with a
faint, enignatic smile lettering at the
corners Of his lips. ''you are right, prac-
sically, after all, and I, practically, an
In error The whole affair Of conserve
tisn against liberalism grows harder to
manage, 1 imagine, every new day OF
my reign. Wen, / thank You for your
e lecture, ais siHlsf" and with his odd
smile fading little. yet not wholly dY-
Ing he dropped BiaDcs's hand and
passed froza her presence
sHs had detasted the idea Of this enter
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