Evening star., 1896-09-12

myself for permitting the lady to take me
Tor the baron. If l was the subject of
hoax, was certainly right in entering into
the spirit Of the thing and thus making the
scheme recoil in some measure upon the
headS OF Its inventors ! thought Of Bak-
Darah. the BARRIERS second brother in the
Arabian Nights" the youth who was en-
ticed by the old woman into the palace of
the grand vizier. where he was at first
petted and bamboozled. then buffeted and
pinched by the beautiful lady and her
slaves In the words Of the barber, He
knew not. poor fellow, that the ladies OF
our great and powerful lords amuse them
selves by making such fun as this with any
young man who Is silly enough tn thrust
himself Into their hands," The case of the
parDer's brother and myself seemed analo-
gous. and 1t occurred to me that l was GER
tainly at liberty to humor my eccentric
hostess. and that 1t behooved me- at the
same time. to be upon my guard, lest 1
should be overtaken with misfortunes SINH
lar to those of the unlucky Bakbarah
mad now been with the princess for an
hour. and her manner, her words and her
actions had operated complete change In
my Ideas. no longer thought that my re-
ception was a huge joke. l saw that she
was serious and in earnest. and I reasoned
1t out in my mind something in this ia an
ion: That the princess had been in some
way lndiscreet. that the scoundrel of q
baron had got some hold upon her. and that
through threats or undue pressure, the un-
fortunate and lovely creature had been in
ouced 10 make runaway match with him.
There was only one flaw in my chain of
reasoning; she had never seen him, 1t is
true. but she had talked with him at the
masked ball How was 1t that after hear
ing my voice, she could still suppose me to
be the baron?
blessed the luck which had brought
me to the door in the Burgerschlact wall
before him. and I resolved that IL was
my duty to aid her in every way in my
power and never to leave her side ill she
was free from his Vaccinations. The
best procedure, as 1t seemed to me- was
to humor her present design of eloping
world thus be in the very heart of the
business and could strike a blow at the
proper time. In fact 1 saw no other way
Of remaining with her at ALL Thus, in
stead of engaging, as 1 thought, in wild
ard lght-hearted froiic, I found myself
plunged all at once into the vortex OF an
exciting and fantastic tragedy.
In the incredibly short space of fifteen
mil mn ute utes IT. the princess reappeared. accom-
her evening gown to a very chic and
dainty travelling suit, with a somewhat
short skirt. a tight-fitting jacket and 4
soft gray felt hat with feather in the
side. Melanie was also attired in travel
ing costume. and carried a small handbag
and several wraps. l was very much
surprised at this.
rs Melanie going with us?" 1 exclaimed,
Certainly. Herr Baron, did you suppose
Tor an instant that would go without
her? And, besides. you know that that
was part Of the agreement"
''Oh. Of COURSE said 1, with as good
grace as possible. You must pardon
me for not thinking of 1t, but, as you your
self remarked, I am not exactly myself to-
night"
1 wondered at the same time what other
agreements that confounded Baron Lud-
wig Won Pilsener had made for me.
Melanie was trim and pretty girl, to be
sure. At least 1 had thought so before
seeing the princess but running away
with two women was not the same as rum
ming away with one. by a good 6eal. 1t
took away a great part Of the romance of
the thing. and 1 would not have the same
opportunities for protecting the princess
as would were she to be alone. 1t also
occurred to me, for obvious reasons, to
wonder whether the baron's carriage had
seats In the inside for more than two per-
sons. and what disposition we should make
of Melanie in case 1t did not. 1 was will
Ing to submit to the Inconvenience of rid
ing three on seat, at least, with my
present two companions. but 1 drew the
line when it came to sitting on the boy
With the driver.
Well" said the princess. I'VE are ready,
and the quicker we go now the better
I forgot to tell you that after sent for