The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-21

return to faith i'll the stock, would be MIR.
Byers and his associates; the public would
come in afterward, and when the public
came in he and his associates would go
out again, richer by vast sums. The money
and his god faith-his honor among finan-
ciers-bouna him, and the triumph of his
brains, the beauty of his coup, the admit
ration Of his fellows, the unwilling APP
parse of the hard -ht-all these allured
him nightly. On the other side, there
was nothing except the necessity of dis
appointing Mrs. Rivers, of telling her
that tine necessary resources We're not
| forthcoming, that the agitation and the
manifesto had served their turn, that the
prince had been made II fool of, that she
herself had been made fool of, too.
Many such a revelation had he made to
defeated opponents-clamly, jestingly, per
haps-between the puffs of his cigar, not
Winding what they thought Why should
he mind what Mrs. Rivers thought? She
would no longer wish to kiss that lean,
strong hand of his; she might cry (she had
Lady Craigennoch to cry to- He looked
across at his wife, who was knitting;
he would not have minded telling amy
thing to her. But so intensely did he
mind telling what he had to tell to Ellen
Rivers that the millions, his good faith,
the icy of winning and the beauty of the
coup, all hung doubtful in the balance
against the look in the eyes of the lady
at Prince Julian's. What an Internal
fool | ami" he groaned. Mrs. Byers
glanced up for a moment, smiled SYM
pathetically. and went ON with her kit
ting; she supposed that there must be
some temporary hitch about the latest
million, or perhaps Shum had been
troublesome; that was sometimes what
was upsettiDg Mr. Byers.
The next morning Mr.. Shum was
troublesome he thought that the mo-
ment for action had come; the poor
stock had been blown upon enough, the
process of reha bilitation should begin.
Various other gentlemen, weighty with
money, dropped in with their hats on
the back of their heads and expressed
the same views. Byers fenced with
them, discussed the question rather I'M
conclusyely, took now this side and now
that, hesitated, facilitated, shilly-shallied.
The men wondered at him; they knew
they were right; and, right or wrong,
ByeTs had been won't to know his own
mind: their money was at stake; they
looked at one another uncOmfOrta bly,.
Then the youngest of them. a fair boy,
great at dances and late supperS, but
with brain for figures and cool bold
ness which made him already rich and
respected in the city, tilted his shining
hat still little further back and drawled
out, IF you've lost your nerve, Byers,
you'd better let somebody else engineer
the thing"
What her fair fame is to a proud wo--
man, the prestige of his nerve was to Mr.
Byers. The boy had spoken the decisive
word by chance, by the unerring instinct
which in any sphere Of thought is gen
ius. In half an hour all was planned,
the government of the Princes country
saved, and the agitation at an end. The
necessary resources would now be forth
coming, confidence would return, the
millions would be made, the coup
brought off, the triumph won.
SO in the next fortnight it happened;
Prince Julian looked on with vague be-
wiIderment, reading the articles and par
agraphs which told him that he had
abandoned all thought of action, had re-
signed himself to wait for an express
recall from his loving subjects (which
the Greek Kalends), that in fact he
would do nothing. Mrs. Rivers read the
paragraphs too, and waited and waited
and waited for the coming of Mr.. Byers
and the necessary resources; she smiled
at what she read, for she had confidence
ia the cause, or, at least, in herself and
in Mr.. Byers. But the days went ON.
Slowly the stock rose; then in went the
public with rush. The paragraphs and
the articles dwindled and ceased; there
was a cOmmotion somewhere else in Eu-
rope; Priace Julian and his manifesto
were forgotten. What did it mean? She
wrote note asking Mr.. Byers to call.
1t was just at this time also that Mr..
Henry Shum accepted the invitation of
the Conservative association of the Hat
ton garden division of Holborn Bars to
contest the seat at the approaching gen.
eral election, and that Lady Craigennoch
gave orders for the complete renovation
of her town house. Both these actions
involved, of course, some expense, how
much, it is hard to say precisely. The
house was rather large and the seat
was very safe.
Prince Julian sat in his library in
Palace Gate and Mrs. Rivers stood beside
him, her hand resting on the arm of his
chair. Now and then the prince glanced
UP at her face rather timidly. They had
agreed that matters showed no progress;
then Mrs. Rivers had become silent.
HAS Byers thrown us over?" the
prince asked at last.
Hush, hush," she answered. in a COW
voice. 'Wait till he's been; he's coming
to-day" Her voice sank lower still as
she whispered: ''He can't have; O, he
cant!'
There was silence again. A few min
utes passed before the prince broke out
fretfully; ''I'm sick of the whole thing.
I'm very we'll as l am. If they want
me, let them send for me. I can't force
myself ON them"
She looked down for a moment, and
touched his hair with her hand.
''If this has come to nothing Ill never
try again. l don't like being made a
fool Of"
Her hand rested for a moment on his
forehead; he looked up smiling.