The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-11-16

And she, reading in the kings eyes
the answer that he would have, said:
1.-The trooper compelled me TO come
hither with him, and no threatened to
kill me if / would not give him my
necklace, but | refused, and then he
drew a knife and menaced me with it,
IL l fell into u swoon and knew no
moro until 1awoke and found you here,
and now | see that my necklace is gone"
Bring her horse" the king com
mandcd, and ride in front and behind.
We will return to the city at the best
speed we may"
Then he mounted the princess ON her
horse and rode by her side, supporting
her with his arm, and the troopers were
some way off in front and behind. And
the princess felt the pin again in her
hair, and, putting up her hand, she
pulled it out, and she said:
He has given me back my pin"
"Of whom do you s~peak?" asked the
king.
"Of Lord Harry Culverhouse. IL he
indeed dead, Rudolf"
Are you still dreaming?" answered
the king, with n laugh. What had that
fellow to do with Harry C~ulverhouse?"
but the pin?" she cried.
My wife set it III your hair before
you started, for she wished to replace
the one you gave to Lord Harry"
'She did not touch my hair today"
cried tho princess.
AYE, but she did,, said he.
The princess suddenly fell to sobbipg,
and she said:
Tell me the truth, tell me the truth.
= Spro1u ~ ,,,, -, t,,tl, I o,l II,,., Nal
verhouse?"
Then Rudolf drow very close to her,
and he said softly:
Sweet sister, the noble gentleman
whom we knew, he whom l loved and
who loved you i'll chivalrous Difference,
went from us two months ago. Be not
troubled about him, for now all is we'll
with him. But there was an unhappy
man with you, who was not Harry Gull
verhouse, and who had murderous and
mad thoughts in his heart. Yet st the
end he also died, as readily and as
nobly as our dear friend himself would
have died for your sake. | pray you ask
no moro OF him, but lie confronted to
know that though he died by the sword
yet he died in peace and willingly. But
of our dear friend, as we knew him,
think as much as You will, for the love
OF an honest gentleman is a good thing
to think Of.
The Princess Osra, hearing this, laid
her hand i'll her brothers. hand, and for
a long while she did not speak. Thor
she said:
But our friend will not come again,
Rudolf"
mo, you will never see our friend
again." answered tho king.
"Then when you sec him-for | think
you will see him once ~again-lay this
pin in his hand and bid him take it aud
keep it for the sake Of the love l bear
him. Perhaps no will hear you"
1T may be. | cannot tell, " said the
king.
"And if he has tho necklace" said
she, pray him to give that to you, and
sell it, Rudolf, and give the value of 1t
in gifts to the poor. Yes, to all thai are
unhappy and afflicted, even as the poor
man who was with me tonight"
$50 DO it, Osra, said the king, and
he kissed her. But she burst again sud
denly into passionate weeping, calling
God to witness that her face was a curse
to her and q curse to her friends and
praying the king to suffer her to take
the veil in a convent. that she might
trouble honest men no more. And thus
he brought her in n sad plight to the
palace and gave her into the arms of his
wife, still sobbing bitterly. And he
himself took the pin, and when the body
OF the mad trooper was found, with his
own hand he covered the face and put
the pin IN the hand from which he took
the ruby necklace, and he sold tho neck
lace and used the proceeds Of 1t an his
sister had desired.
Thus the madness Of Lord Harry Cul.
verhouse which was bred in him by the
beauty of the Princess Osra worked its
way with him and brought him first
into peril or great vllla1ny and at las
to death. And his nan passed no MOI,
on the lips OF any in Strelsau nor be
tween King Rudolf and his sister, Will,
the story that the king had told to the
troopers was believed by all, and none
save tho king knew what Lord Harry
Culverhouse had lone in his madness
But Osra mourned for him and for II
long while she would not go abroad or
receive any of the princes or mobiles who
came to the court, but lay still, sick and
full of grief, bewailing the harm that
she had wrought. Yet as timo passed
she grew again happy, for she was
young and the world was sweet to her,
and then, as King Rudolf had hidden
her, she remembered Lord Harry Cul.
verhouse as he had been before his mad
ness came upon him. Yet still more did
she remember how, even in his madness,
he had done her no harm, but had
watched beside her through tho night
and had. as morning dawned, entreated
death at the hands of the king, prefer
ring to die rather than that the talk Of
O single idle tongue should fall foully
upon her name. Therefore she mourned
for him with secret tears.
But he, although no monument
marked his grave and although men
spoke Of him only as the mad trooper
ATAN Behind every cr,