The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-27

on his return, out of sheer boredom de-
claTed war against him. Dynasties have
Iallen for less. Fate was. with Milan; his
WlIe TOO. The Prince of Bulgaria came
charging along, ready and anxious to de-
mollsh everything. Incidentally Milan had
lost all ardor for the fray. He shut him
thing he could have DONE
Nathalie thought of her boy. Then the
Austrian occurred to her. Never yet had
he served her; he longed to; she know it.
and she sent him to meet the Bulgarian
prince He went, yet not in his official ca
pacity, but in an assumed one. In the pre-
tended name of the Emperor he commanded
that hostilities should cease. Through that
conjunction of ruSe and aplomb did Ma
thahe, save Seryia for her princeling. 1t
was the act, not or queen, perhaps, but
of a heroine
ACT 1.-THE DIVINITY THAT DOTH
HEDGE A KING"
When hyena has eaten he is at peace
with the world. But when were folly and
viciousness ever filled? They are insatia-
BILE, and was Milan. Not satisfied with
the peril from which he had escaped, as in
different to Nathalie's diplomacy as he had
grown to her beauty, promptly he set about
to devise something new. With throne for
springboard, one does not need to be a
gymnast to execute fantasies. While all
the world looked on he threw a series of
somersaults that first astounded, then dis
gusted, and, ultimately, perplexed. 1t
seemed paradoxical that for the entertain
ment of drunken cocottes g. king could
turn himself into a clown. But his origin
was forgot.
The first feat which the descendant Of
sWineherdS performed was the tranSforma-
ton Of his palace into a pig sty. The cir
cult was complete, and in 1t he revolved
A gentleWoLoAn, as has been noted, sees
nothing which Is not intended for her; but
dignity demands that she shall not close her
eyes to what is before her face Milan had
installed Artemisia Cristics, the wife of a
former secretary, a woman who diScredited
virtue in affecting to possess it, within the
palace walls. The insult was not outrage
Gus merely; 1t was middle class: Shock a
Russian woman and the CoSsack appears
Nathalie rebelled. Her son, her children,
her regalia she transferred from Servia to
Italy. and in the Cascine, at Florence, on
not for her rank, but for the sunburst of
The roigration would have suited Milan
lad she omitted to take the boy There was
nothing fatherly In that. 1T was not for
his son he cared; it was for the Crown
Prince, or, more exactly, the dynasty. The
fact Is worth noting, particularly as on it
the point of this story turns.
ACT III-"THE REST is SILENCE"
From Italy Nathalie wandered to Ger
many. Then, presently, the tiger cat
awoke. One paw he stretched over the
frontiers, and in the claws drew back the
boy, installed him in the palace where Ar
temisia reigned, and, to prevent reprisals,
forced doting prelate, the Metropolitan
Theodosius, to pronounce a divorce. That
divorce, obtained in violation of ecclesias-
teal law, the synod subsequently quashed.
Not at once, of course. Other matters in
tervened. To begin with, it costs money to
Wear crown on the side of the head. That
money Milan needed. With a bogus mort
gage he bunkoed the Car. The act was
lli-auvised. NO one likes to be jockeyed.
autOCrAt do
Inc Gar TOOK 1t out in Withdrawing his
representative from Belgrade. The pro-
penarsi' Il pSsIsy, was enective. 1t meant
lation; the dynasty. perhaps, upset To
AVOID that, In his sons favor Milan abdi-
GATED. rolled, hiccoughing. over Europe, cut
by his peers, insulted by his Interiors. blk
ing creditors losing at cards and omitting
. 10 pay, entertaining the end of the century
WITH the spectacle of an outlawed King
Yet, through that unexceeded parade
whenever he awoke from his cups and CO.
cottes the thought of the dynasty was with
MIN. Meanwhile, whatever he could barter
ne had sold, even TO an agreement to keep
away from Servia- A few weeks ago he
reappeared there
Why? Why, indeed! In the course Of
that parade dozen times the KingJet' his
son, has been his guest. Amused al first
py me Irankness OF the lads viciousness,
latterly he discerned in him that vacancy
and uncertainty of thought which are fhe
preludes of imbecility There was a kettle
Of fish for which he had not bargainede
for there was the rupture of the dynasty
the fall of the house of Obrenovics, Servia
gobbled by Turkey, perhaps, or worse still
handed over to her rightful lord-Kara.
georgeovics.
But Artemisia had not discredred virtue
for nothing. Her reward is a boy To pro-
long the dynasty there is the means. Only
to accomplish that primarily the brat must
be legitimatized; the quashed divorce must
be revamped and rendered valid; the moth
er married TO the father. lit IS with these
iaudable aims that Milan IS in Servia, and
L is because of them that Nathalie is at
Kfef.
There, on q buttressed height, a convent
stands The tombs do NOT hold all of those
that are dead. There are women that live
whose lives are passed. The convent is
their GENE terry. In its silence is resignatfon
II Is that which the lady seeks-surcease
behind the veil from this final humiliation.
May she find it, Pity, too
Gone are the blare of bugles and the swirl
of plumes; gone the diadem; gone the
thorns; gone the youth and beauty which
she yielded for them She has had all the
world could give except the one thing
which transcends all others. And behind
the veil, in rememorating what kings can
do, 1t may be that she will reflect what
mere love might have effected.