The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-06-24
miscellaneous.
PORTIA, JUNIOR.
MORE LESS OF \ FAIRY TALE

MORE Or LESS OF = FAIRY TALE
| Harpcr's Weekly.
Portia was nineteen, and Il princess
by virtue of her beauty and amiabllity.
Her father was learned, even-temper-
ed. and unprepossessing her mother
| handsome and of equable tempera-
| ment, but not unduly knowledgable-
which NAV account for the fact that
Portia herself, while of the intellect
ually beautiful type. was not super
| ciliously lovely, as is so often the case
| with women similarly gifted. She
could talk with Il man without com
| polling him to feel his own ignorance,
and, of course, this made her eXces-
sively popular with the male portion
| of the community in which she lived /;
but, rarer still, Portia endeared her
| self so to women that plain girls, de-
spite her beauty, loved to be with her:
| She had a way of making them feel
| that her beauty detracted from rather
than enhanced their plalnness, as
| though she shed the glamour OF her
| personality ON all those around her,
| lust as the sun sometimes seeks out
| the dark corners OF the earth, ana
| makes gloom itself seem the source OF
light. Withal Portia was not con-
| scious OF her prepossessing QUANTITIES,
and went her way through life us SIM
ply, as quietly, and as senslbly as she
could.
That she should have princes dane
ing attendance upon her by the score
was not surprising; that she should
have her preferences for certain princes
was equally to be expected that she
shouId have at least two particular
L, .c1, fn
was not startling and yet, sensible as
Portia was, when these gallant gentle
men made known their matrimonial
homes to her, she was startled. That,
| think. was the only commonplace
thing about Portia. To be startled
bv so insignificant an episode as two
proposals on the same evening is quite
| in the line of woman's way.
But Portia had an excuse for her
embarrassment, which most women
| have not, and that excuse was that
| it was not until Prince Henry propos-
| ed marriage TO her that she realized
how much she cared for Prince John,
nor did she awaken to the fact that
she had r very warm place in her
! heart for Prince Henry until Prince
| John asked her the same question
| that had been put by his rival Just
two hours previously. To neither
| could she say no; to neither could she
saw ves-surely here was dilemma
| tits my own opinion that most women
would have solved the problem by
ouarrelling with both princes, and
marrying II third and a man similar
" placed would have settled it by the
| toss of Il coin. Not SO with Portia.
! Neither dissemblance nor penny-toss-
! ing was one of her accomplishments.
i Frankness was. and she told the two
gentlemen as plainly as she could just
| how matters stood.
'I-I think l love you BOTH" she
said. "And so, of course, / cannot
marry either of you at present. Time
alone can tell which OF the two L love
the better
Most girls would have said (which
| of the two | love the best" 1t was
in matters of this sort that Portia
| showed her erudition.
Come back in five years. she adj
/ ded, land I will decide between you.
Meanwhile you should both bestir
| yourselves, for by that which you
achieve are my feelings likely to be
! influenced. Ordinarily question OF
| this kind is settled ON the basis of love
and affection. Here the love and af-
lection being in both cases equal, it
becomes Il question OF those qualities
| plus the unknown quantity that must
| decide
at depends, them said Prince
John, upon that unknown guam
tity 2"
Eyes" replied Portia.
But supposing this unknown guam.
tity turns out to be third prince ?
suggested Prince Henry.
1.-THE advantage is. with YOU" re,
turned Portia You have the start
on him. If he overtakes and passes
YOU, | am not to blame
And the two princes went out into
the world and strove.
Prince John devoted himself assid
uously to many things, and succeeded
in all He became a lawyer of recog
nized standing, not alone of respecta
bilitv, but of marked ability. In Oh
out of court Prince John was sure tt
win anv cause to which his energies
were devoted, yet so fearful WAS he o.
not ultimately realizing the ideals 81
! the still undecided Portia, that ht
| branched out into literature. He
wrote IL novel that even pleased the
critics. His work was discussed seri
ously by the pulpit, and although
while writing his novel he had no ides
that such was to be the case, he foGnt
| himself six months after the publica
tion of his great work hailed as the ia
ther of new philosophy. TO counter
act the effect of his novel, which, while
gratifying, was not exactly to his taste
| he became II humorist- IL humorou!
h,morist, who, while he brought tear.
TO the ewes of his readers, us do mos
other humorists, did so less abruptly
leading up to them through the me
dunn of laughter Having shown hi.
ability in this direction, Prince John
in order to show Portia what Il univer
SALLY accomplished person he was
turned his attention to poetry and thu
| amateur stage, with such success thai
one of his poems crept into severa
Western papers credited to TennysOn
| while his Hamlet was of such a quality
| that a prominent society journal call
ed him "a mute, inglorious Booth,
which, naturally, he construed into
the highest possible praise.
| And what of Prince Henry? Alas
for every forward stride taken b.
Prince John, Prince Henry took one
backward He too tried the law an(
failed. He too tried literature
vet succeeded not Next Prince Henri!
tried to become a young Napoleon o
finance, and did so well that he me
| his Wellington, went through hi
Waterloo, and came out sans every
thing save his good name in less THAI
, six months. The good name he man
aged to retain, though it was sadl,
| mortpaoed Money had been borrow