The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-03
PORTIA, JUNIOR.
MORE OR LESS OF A FAIRY TALE
John Kendrfch Bangs in Harper's Weekly.


her mother handsome and of eouable tenn
| permanent, but not unduly knowledgeble-
which may account for the fact that Portia
herself, while Of the intellectually beautiful
| type, was not superciliously lovely, as iG 80
often the case with women similarly gifted.
She could talk with man without com
pelling him 20 feel his own ignorance, and,
of course, this made her excessively popu-
lar with the male portion OF the
community in which she lived; but, rarer
still, Portia endeRred herself SO TO women
that plain girls, despite her beauty, loved to
be with her. She had a way Of making
them feel that her beauty detraoted from
rather than enhanced their plainness, as
though she shed the glsmor OF her person
atty on all those about her. just as the sun
sometimes seeks OUT the dark corners OF the
earth, and makes gloom itself seem the
| source Of light. Withal Portia was not
conscious Of her prepossessing qualities, and
went her way through life as simply, as
| quietly, and as sensibly as she could.
That she should have princes dancing at
tendance upon her by the score was not sur
prising; that she should have the prefer
ences for certain princes was equally TO be
expected; that she should have ct least two
particular princes whe wished her to be
theirs was not startling: and yet, sensible as
Portis was, whom these gallant gentlemen
made known their matrimonial hopes to
her, she was startled. That, think, was
the only commonplace thing about Portia.
To be startled by 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 embar-
rassment, which NEST women have not, and
that excuse was that it was not until Prince
henry proposed marriage to her that she
realized how much she cared for Prince
John, nor did she awaken to the fact that
she had q 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 sho say no TO Deither could she say
yes-sureiy here was a dilemma! 1t Is my
own opinion that most women would have
solved the problem by quarreling with both
princes, and marrying third; and a man
similarly placed would have settled It by
the toss of q coin. Not so with Portia.
Neither dissemblance nor psnny-tossing was
one OF her accomplishments. Frankness
was, and she told the two gentlemen as
plainly as she could just how matters
stood.
Il think l love you both" she said.
And 80, OF course, | cannot marry either
Of you at present. Time alone can tell
which Of the two 1 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 added,
"aEd / will decide between you. Mean
while, you should both bestir yourselves,
for by tnat which you achieve are my feel
ings likely to be Influenced. Ordinarily
question OF this kind is settled on the basis
OF love and affection. Here the love and
affection leing III both cases equal, it be-
comes q question OF those qualities plus the
unknown quantity that must deoide.n
lit depends, then" said Prince John,
upon that unknown quantity W
Yes" replied Portia.
"Bus supposIpg this unknown quantity
turns out to be a third prince ~ sugg ested
Prince Henry.
"Ths advantage is with you" returned
Portia. You have the start on him. IL
he overtnkes and passes you, am net to
blame.n
And the two princes went out into the
world and strove.
Prince John devoted himself assiduously
TO many things and succeeded in all. He
became a lawyer OF recognized standing. not
alone OF respeetGbility but OF marked abil-
itY. In or out of court Prince John was
sure to win any cause TO which mis- energies
were devoted, yet 50 fear ul was he of not
ultimately realizing the ideals OF the still I'M
decided Portia, that he brauched out into
literature. He wrote novel
that even pleased the critics.
AAAS WV n was oisCuaSO0 boFl-
ously by the pulpit, and although while
writing his novel he had no idea that such
was to be the case, he found himself six
months after the publication OF his great
work hailed as the father Of new philOso-
ply. To coanteract the effect OF his novel,
which, whilo gratifying, was not exactly to
bis taste. he became a humocist-a humor-
| Gus humorist, who, while he brought tears
to the eyes OF his readers, az do most
other humoriSts, did so less abruptly,
leading up to them through the me-
dunn Of laughter. Having shown his
| ability In this direction, Prince John, in
order to show Portia what a universally
| accomplished person he was. turned his at
tension to poetry and the amateur stage
with such success that one Of his poems
crept into several western papers credited
to Teunyson, while his Hamlet was Of such
| quality that a prominent society Journal
called him "A mute, inglorious Booth"
which, naturally, he construed into the
highest posi- BILE praise.
And what OF Prince Henryi Alas for
| every forward stride taken by Prince John,
Prince Henry took one back ward. He, too,
tried the law and failed. He, too, tried lit
eraturs, vet succeeded not. Next, Prince
Henry tried to become young Napoleon of
finance, and did SO we'll that he met his
Wellington, went through his Waterloo,
and came out sans everything ave his good
haLAo III lSoS tuhu nix IuOuLuh. ne ROOu
name he managed to retain, though IL was
sadly mortgaged. Money had been Dor
rowed on it. but not In such q fashion as to
lead to any suspicion as TO his Integrity.
But his Waterloo by no means called for
st. Helena. Unabnshed by repeated fail
ures, Prince Henry was not afraid TO fall
again, and he did so, this time as an sgent
for an insurance company, his comm ssion
not exceeding per cent OF his Office rent.
And so he passed on from failure to failure,
and at the end Of five years the two caval-
lers presented themselves at the house OF
Portia-one eminent rich, successful; the
other eminent only as q failure, rich only
In debts, successful only in lacking success
And Portia received them both with
smiles. Her heart was still true to both.
"Hullo" sneered Prince John. as be
caught sight Of Prince Henry entering the
front door. what are you here fori You
don't suppose you have any chance now, do
your
mo" returned Prince Henry, sadly. ~
am here simply as a matter of form; that is
all. | said I'd be here, and here / am. /
shall content myself with saying good-by to
Portia. and congratulating you"
"Ahr' said Prince John, softening
you've had hard luck, Hal, for fact
I'm deucedly sorry for you, old fellow, but
1t wasn't my fault"
mo" returned Prince Henry, 'ts wasn't"
And then Portia came in.