The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-10-02

dead and that 1 am king, seeing also
that | am no longer a bachelor, but a
married man (and here he bowed to
Margaret of Tuscany, his newly welded
wife), and seeing that Osra is turned 20
years of age-why, we are all going to
be sober folk at Strelsau from this day
forward, and we are going to play no
more pranks. Here's a pledge of it..
And, having said this, King Rudolf III
took a deep draft of wine.
At this moment the ushers announced
that the Lord Harry Culverhouse had
come to take his leave of their majesties
and of the princess. This gentleman had
accompanied the embassy GnaC Came
from England to congratulate the king
on his marriage, and he had staid some
months in Strelsau, very eagerly acced-
ing to the kings invitation to prolong
his visit, for such were his folly and
headstrong passion that he had fallen
most desperately in love with the fair
face of Princess Osra and could not en-
dure to live out of her presence. Yet
now he came to bid farewell, and when
he was ushered in Rudolf received him
with much graciousness and made him
a present of his own miniature set in
diamonds, while the queen gave him
her miniature set in the lid of a golden
casket. In return Lord Harry prayed
the king to accept a richly mounted
sword and the queen an ivory fan,
painted by the greatest artist of France
and bearing her cipher in jewels. Then
he came to Princess Osra, and she, hav-
Sn~ hI1Ian I,x, o oil gI 49,.
poor maid, my lord, and l can give no
great gift, but take this pin from my
hair and keep it for my sake" And she
drew out a golden pip from her hair, a
long and sharp pin, bearing for it's head
her cipher in b%rilliants, and she gave it
to him, smiling.
But he, bowling low and then falling
ON his knee, offered her a box Of red
morocco leather, and when she opened
it she saw a necklace of rubies of great
splendor. The princess flushed red see
ing that the gift was most costly. And
she would fain have refused it and held
il. out again to Lord Harry. But he
turned swiftly away, and, bowling once
more, withdrew. Then the princess
said to her brother, at is too costly"
The king, seeing how splendid the
gift was, frowned a little, but then he
said:
"He must be a man of very great
wealth. They are rich in England. /
am sorry the gift is so great, but we
cannot refuse it without wounding his
honor"
So the princess set the ruby necklace
xuith how ntbar inxuolc ,nl fhnaohf Gov.
a day or two that Lord Harry was no
wiser than other men and then forgot
him.
Now, Lord Harry Culverhouse, on
leaving the kings presence, had mount
ed his horse, which was a fine charger
and splendidly equipped, and ridden
alone out of Strelsau, for he had dis
missed all his servants and dispatched
them with suitable g%ratuities to their
w country. He rode through the
afternoon, and in the evening he reached
a village 10 miles away. Here he
stopped at a cottage, and an old man
came out and escorted him inside. A
bundle lay on the table in the little
parlor of the cottage.
Here are the clothes, my lord, said
the old man, laying his hand on the
bundle.
"And here are mine, answered Lord
Harry. "And the horse stands ready
for you" With this he began to pull
off the fine clothes in which he had had
audience of the king, and he opened
the bundle and put on the old and plain
suit which it contained. Then he held
out his hand to the old man, saying,
"Give me the b crowns, Solomon. and
our bargain is complete"
Then Solomon the Jew gave him
crowns and babe him farewell, and he
placed the crowns in his purse and
walked out of the cottage, possessing
nothing in the world saving his ole
clothes, 8 crowns and the golden pin
that had fastened the ruddy hair Of
Princess Osra, for everything else that
he had possessed-his lands and houses
in England, his horses and carriages
his money, his clothes and all that wa.
his-he had battered with Solomon the
Jew in order that he might buy thu
ruby necklace which he had given t.
Princess Osra. Such was the strange
madness wrought in him by her face.
1t was now late evening, and III
walked to and fro all night. In tn,
morning he went to the shop of a bar
Der, and in return for one of his crown
the barber cropped his long curls shor
and shaved off his mustache and CAV
him a dye with which he stained hi
complexion to a darker tint, and h
made his face dirty and soiled his hand
and roughened the skin of them by
chatting them on some f1ints which lay
by the roadside. Then, changing n sec
ond crown, he bought a loaf of brea'
and set off to trudge to Strelsau, for il
Strelsau was Osra, and he would not b
anywhere else in the world. And whel
he had arrived there he went to a ser
geant of the kings guard and prevailed
on him by a present of 3 crowns to Ell
list him as a trooper, and this the ser
geant, having found that Lord Harr.
could ride and knew how to use hi
sword, agreed to do. Thus Lord Harr,
became a trooper in the guard of KIM
Rudolf, having for all his possessions
save what the kings stores affordet
him, a few pence and the golden PHI
that had fastened the hair of Princes
Osra. And nobody knew him excep
Solomon the Jew, and he, having mad'
a good profit, held his peace both thel
and afterward.
Many q day Lord Harry mounted guart