The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-06-05

from her. In fact, if you had opened
the door Of the inner room at Mr.. Cad
bury Taylor's a little quicker, you
would have come upon me, for I was
the assistant who tried to persuade him
that you really met the Princess Won
| Steinheimer.
Lord Donal for the first time laugh
ed heartily.
"Well, if that doesn't beat ALL And
I suppose Cadbury Taylor hasn't the
slightest suspicion that you are the per-
son he was looking for?"
"No, not the slightest"
II say, that is the best joke I have
heard in ten years." said Lord Donal,
and here, breakfast arriving, Jennie
gave him'his directions.
"You are to drink a small portion Of
that brandy she said, ssand then put
the rest in your coffee. You must eat a
good breakfast, and that will help you
to forget your troubles-that is, if you
have any real troubles.
ooh, my troubles are real enoughl''
said the young man. "When ! met. you
before, princess, I was reasonably sue
cessfui. We even talked about enbassa-
dorships, didn't we, in spite of the fact
that ambassadors were making them
selves unnecessarily obtrusive that
night? Now you see before you a ruined
man. No; lam not joking. 1t is true. I
was given a commission, or, rather,
knowing the danger there was in it, I
begged that the commission might be
| given me. 1t was merely to take a letter
from st. Petersburg to London. / have
failed, and when that is said all is
said"
"But surely" said the girl, ''you
could not be expected to ward off such
lawless robbery as you have been the
victim off"
"That is just what 1 expected and
what Isupposed I could ward off. In my
profession, which, after all, has a great
similarity to yours, except that / think
we have to do more lying in ours, there
must be no such word as fail. The very
best excuses are listened to with toler-
ance, perhaps, and a shrug of the shout
ders, but failure, nc matter from what
cause, is fell doom. l have failed. I
shall not make any excuses. I will go to
London and say merely, The Russian
police have robbed me-. Oh, | know
perfectly who did the trick and how it
was done. Then / shall send in my res
ignation. They will accept it, with po-
lite words of regret, and will say to
each other: Poor fellow! He had a bril-
liant career before him, but he got
drunk, or something, and fell in the
ditch All, well, we won't talk any
more about it'll"
"Then you don't acspise the newspa-
per profession, Lord DonalY"
"Despise it! Bless you, mol 1 look up
to it, belonging myself to a profession
very much lower down in the scale Of
morality, as I have said. But, prin-
cess" he added, leaning toward her,
will you resign from the newspaper if
I resign from diplomacy?"
The girl slowly shook her head, her
eyes on the tablecloth before her.
81 will telegraph my resignation"
he said impetuously, eff you will tele-
graph yours to your paper"
"You are feeling i'll and worried this
morning, Lord Donal, and so you take
a pessimistic view Of life. You must
not resign"
"Oh, but I mustl L have failed, and
that is enough"
SIT isn't enough, You must do moth
ing until you reach London"
II like your word must, Jennie"
said the young man audaciously. "It
implies something, you know"
"What does it imply, Lord Donal?"
she asked, glancing up at him.
cit implies that you are going to leave
the Lord off my name"
"That wouldn't be very difficult, " re-
piled Jennie.
81 am delighted to hear you say so,"
exclaimed his lordship, "and, now that
l may know how it sounds from your
dear lips, call me Dom"
emo; if I eve consented to omit the
title, I should call you Donal. I like
the name in its entirety"
He reached his hand across the table.
care you willing, then, to accept a
man at the very lowest ebb of his for
tunes2 / know that if 1 were Of the
mold that heroes are made of I would
hesitate to proffer you a blighted life.
But / loved you the moment I saw you,
and, remembering my fruitless search
for you, I cannot run the risk of losing
you again. I have not the courage"
She placed her hand in his and looked
him for the first time squarely in the
eyes.
care you sure, Donal," she said,
"that / am not a mere effgy on which
you are hanging the wornout garments
of a past affection? You thought I was
the princess at first"
mo I didn't" he protested. "As
soon as I heard you speak T knew you
were the one I was destined to meet"
"Ah, Donal, Donal, at lovers per-
juries they say Jove laughsl I don't
think you were quite so certain as all
that. But I, too, am a coward, and I
dare not refuse you"
What an unholy spot for a pro-
posal, he whispered, ''and yet they