Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-05-01

Know 1t now, know 1t now, she
whispered softly that night to the tree
that rose by her window. "Heigh-ho,
what am to do? cannot live; no, and
now cannot die All me, what am to
do! wish I were a peasant girl, but,
then, perhaps he would not All, yes,
but he wouldr' And her long laugh
rippled in triumph through the night
and blended with the rustling Of the
leaves under summer breeze, and she
stretched her white arms to heaven, i'm
ploring the kind God with prayers that
the dared not speak even to his pitiful
ear.
Love knows no princesses, my prin-
oess. 1t was that she heard as she fled
from him next day. She should have re-
puked him. But for that she must have
staid; and to stay she had not dared.
Yet she must rebuke him. She must see
him again in order to rebuke him. Yet
all this while she must be pestered with
the court Of the grand duke of Mitten-
helm. And when she would not name
day on which the embassy should come
| the king flew into passion and declared
that he would himself set date for it.
Was his sister mad, he asked, that she
would do nothing but walk every day
by the rivers bank?
Surely I must be mad" thought
Osra, ''for no sane being could be at
once so joyful and SO piteously un
happy"
Did he know what it was he asked?
He seemed to know nothing of it. He
did not speak any more now of prin-
cesses, only of his princess; nor Of Osra,
save of his hearts queen, and when his
eyes asked love they asked as though
none would refuse and there could-be
no cause for refusal He would have
wooed his neighbor s daughter thus, and
thus he wooed the sister of King Ru-
dolf. "Will you love me?" was his ques-
ton not Though you love, yet dare
you own your lover" He seemed to shut
the whole world from her. leaving moth
ing but her and him, and in world
that held none but her and him she
could love. unbalanced, untroubled and
with no trembling.
"You forget who am" she faltered
once
"You are the beauty of the world, :
he answered. smiling, and he kissed he1
hand-a matter about which she coulc
make no great ado, for it was not the
first time that he had kissed it.
But the embassy from the grand duke
was to come in week and to be received
with great pomp. The ambassador wa
already on the way, carrying proposal
and gifts. Therefore Osra went, pal
and sad, down to the river bank tina
day, having declared again to the kim
tn;it She would live and die unmarried
But the king had laughed again. Surel
she needed kindness and consolation
that sad day But fate had kept by he
a crowning sorrow, for she found hl1
also almost sad, at least she could nc
tell whether he were sad or not, for h
smiled and yet seemed i'll at ease, llk
man who ventures a fall with fortune
hoping and fearing. And he said to he1
Madam, in week I return to m
own country"
She looked at him in silence with liz
y just parted. For her life she could nc
speak, but the sun grew dark and tn
r. river changed its merry tune to mourn
o full dirges:
Z $50 the dream ends" said he. SIS
" comes the awakening. But if life wei
4 all dream!" And his eyes sought her
~ eyes, she, whispered, eff life wei
70 all dream, sir?"
'sThen should dream of two dream
q ers whose dream was one, and in th'
10 dream I should see them ride togeth'
III at break of day from Strelsau.
N "Whither?" she murmured.
"To paradise, said he. "But Il
r. dream ends. If it did not end'- {
b. paused.
eff it did not end?" breathless loni
id ing whisper echoed
IN eff it did not end now, it should n
end even with DEATH" said he.
ID "You see them in your dream? "
see them riding
':Aye, swiftly, side by side, they tV
er alone, through the morning. None
near, none knows"
He seemed to be searching her ia
for something that yet he scarcely hop
m to find.
at "And their DREAM" said he, "brin
en- them at last to small cottage, al
m there they live"-
an ''They live?"
of "And work, he added. "For s
ad keeps his home while he works
ed "What does she do?" asked Osra, wi
v. smiling, wondering eyes.
- "She gets his food for him when
if comes home weary in the evening a
or makes bright fire and'-
re "Ah, and she runs to meet him
We the door. Oh, further than the door!
no ''But she has worked hard and
weary"
H. "No, she is not weary" cried Osl
''It is for him.
he ''The wise say this is silly talk, y Sc
he.
~ "The wise are fools, then," cri
Osra
el- $50 the dream would please "
MADAME" he asked. She had come
- to know how she left him. Someh'
Ike while he still spoke she would suddel
cd escape by fight. He did not purs'
h but let her CO. So now she returned
RI. the CITY, her eyes filled with that gold
no dream, and she entered the home
to though it had been some strange pals
I'D decked with new magnificence, and
an alien in it. For her true home see
ed now rather in the cottage of
dream, and she moved unfam1lla
through the pomp that had been h
from birth. Her soul was gone from