Arizona republican., 1901-05-08
N5~665-6 6-55I666666566010 6 4 NIGHT IN fl DILIGENCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS QQQQQQQE

door of the hotel at Coir. A tail, slim
 figure appeared in the doorway, an up
 lifted face lightly framed In erratts
 tresses of browngold hair, crowned by
 a somber Tam-o' Shanter travelling
 hat. The girl stood confronting al
 fron-gray world built up of mou ,lns
 and storm clouds.
 | Really going to face the W d .her?'
 said voice from behin, her, and q
 chilly looking lady car'e onward, rub.
 bling her hands in sci ,ongratulation. 1 Elizabeth-that was the name in the
 copy of Brownin.s in her bag-thoughI
 of the number of the guineas in her
 purse. and Q. her promise to the Prin- cess Pon p.i.a to arrive at the Palazzo Pompiliani at a certain moment.
 "I am really going" she said. "A
 storm on the Alps will be rather glori. ous."
 She got into the diligence and put her face out to smile good-by. Strong brows, an intelligent. inquisitive line of slender nose, and mouth with elastic
 curves suggested that this must have | been a very piquant face before the f shadow of those, or other, storm clouds {, fell on it.
 | One good thing gained to her by the weather was that she had the diligence all to herself. Her first impression af- ter she had planted her bag under her feet and settled herself in corner was that she ought to seize the opportunity afforded her for q good cry" How | ever, she reflected that strength was to be in future her only reliable friend. Now that she was putting these hard. gray mountains between her and the past. scarcely one look back could bo safely adventured. Yet there was a glance with shaded eyes Only yester : day she was a queen in her own world, queen of her fathers heart and home. Now she was suddenly dethroned and bankrupt, her girlhood crushed under the ruins of her fathers fortunes and the tragedy of his death. She knew that like things had happened before in the world she had lived in. She re- membered individually such case. Her regret for the sorrow of those peo- pie had hung about her the length of a morning. but she had danced with spirit at a ball the same night. What, she wondered, had become of that So- and-So girl? Probably she. too, had gone out to be English governess to the daughter of some other princess of the Pompilianis.
 Elizabeth opsned her bag and rum maged for magazine. but 1t was the Browning that came 10 her hand. It was not merely as Browning that she was taking the book across the Alps with her; yet she would hardly have acknowledged that 1t was for the handwriting of the word Eliza beth in the front page corner. She held the book close. though she did not open it, and her desire for the magazine ap- peared forgotten.
 Night came down early. the weather darkness hastening it's fall. At point in the road long whistle signaled the driver of the diligence, who thereupon came to stop. A man opened the door of the vehicle made a step to get in. but drew back again.
 Only one lady?" he said. in English. Then l shall not intrude. l shall do very we'll outside, driver
 Elizabeth felt guilty, though relieved. As the vehicle swung on and she lay back in her corner, she was disturbed by an echo. something in the ring of the voice that had spoken at the door out of the darkness. She had pushed the Browning away from her Now the storm came down in earnest, a dry. scattering wind, freezing as the breath of icebergs: the diligence rocked and swung: it seemed to her that at any moment coach and horses and freight might ride off on the gale down the precipice.
 As the night wore on and the cold grew more intense she heard the out side traveller coughing, the man who had equal right with herself to the shelter of an inside seat. Was she go- ing to be so selfish or so prudish as to give over this fellow creature to suffer- ing. perhaps danger. for the gratifica- ton of her preference for privacy? She watched her opportunity and com municated with the driver.
 Will you tell tho gentleman" she said in German. that the lady requests him to come inside of the coach?'
 A safe halting place was chosen, and the outside passenger got into the com fortable interior He thanked the lady and retired into an opposite corner. and his few words were spoken In German There was no mistake about the voice this time. What had seemed a mere echo on the wind from her own brain had become a reality. The impossible had come to pass. She smiled a little pained smile In the impenetrable dark ness of her place and her wrappings.
 The man slept. but Elizabeth was wakeful. The storm was unabated One or two wild looking stars looked rents in the masses of wind clouds
 Another hour passed. The man woke sat up and struck match.
 Excuse me-" he said, 'I want to see what o'clock it is."
 Taken by surprise Elizabeth allowed her open-eyed face to be revealed by the puny flame. which also lit up for the moment the clean-cut features of the fellow traveller. a resolute mouth and chin. thinking forehead and calm gray eyes holding more latent tender ness in their depths than do the eyes of most women.
 "Eliz--.."
 The tiny phosphor flash vanished: the two sat in darkness as before. and the mountains thundered.
 Elizabeth passed in an instant through an exercise which to a woman is something like what the buckling on