The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1901-06-07
CONTINUED from last week.
CHAPTER NIX.
80.
50. Copyright, 1000,
81: BY Harold MacGrath.

wv hulhcIouS coy COInSfS. nau
danced badly and out of time. The
music and the babel of tongues had
become murmurous and ndistinct
And SO that is the Princess Hide
gardeg' she said after "A spell
Yes; she is your double. Is she not
beautifuly"
rs that left handed compliment to
me| Phyllis was smiling, but she
was colorless.
What do you think of herr" sup
pressing the eagerness in my voice.
"She is TO be envied," softly.
And | grew puzzled.
Jack, for n man who has associat-
ed with the first diplomatists of the
world. who has learned 10 read the
world as another might read n book
you are surprisingly unadept in the art
Of Discrimination.
That is n very long sentence" said
l in order TO gain time enough TO
fathom what she meant. | could not.
So | said, What do you mean?"
~ our whole face was saying To the
princess, i love you! A glance told
me all. l was glad for your sake that
no other woman saw you at that mo-
ment. But suppose it would not have
mattered TO you"
Not If all the world had seen the
look" moodily.
Poor Jack, you are very unlucky!
Her voice was full of pity. 81 feel so
sorry for you, it is all SO impossible.
And she loves Won too"
How do you know"
81 looked ut her while she was look
ing at you
You have wonderful eyes"
$50 / have been told. | wonder why
she gave you that withered and worm
eaten roseT
a whim." | said. staring at the rug
l wondered how she came to surmise
that it was Gretchen's rose? Intuition
perhaps.
''Do you love her well enough" ask
ed Phyllis, plucking the lace on her
fan, ito sacrifice all the world for her,
to give up ali your own happiness that
she might become happyI'
"She never can be happy without me
If she loves me as l believe" l adj
NIT that this was a selfish thought TO
express.
"Then why is it impossible your
love and hers? If her love for you is
as great as you say it is, what is a
king, prince or a principality to herr"
ut is none of those. 1t is because
she has given her word, the word Of a
princess. What would you do in her
place" suddenly.
81" Phyllis leaned back among the
cushions, her eyes half closed and a
smile on her lips. 81 am afraid that if
/ loved you | should follow you to the
end Of the world. Honor is fine
thing, but in her case it is an empty
word. If she broke this word for you,
who would be wronged? No one, since
the prince covets only her dowry and
the king desires only his will obeyed.
Perhaps l do not understand what So
cial obligation means to these people
who are born in purple"
perhaps that is it. Phyllis listen,
and l will tell you a romance which
has not yet been drawn to its end.
Once upon a time-let me call it
fairy story" said l. drawing down a
palm leaf as If TO read the tale from
its blades. "Once upon q time in
country far from ours there lived a
prince and n princess. The prince was
rather a bad fellow. His faith in his
wife was not the best, and he made
vow that if ever children came he
would make them as evil as himself
Not long after the good fairy brought
two children to her godchild, the prin-
cess. Remembering the VOW made by
the prince, the good fairy carried away
one of the children, and no one knew
anything about it save the princess
and the fairy. When the remaining
child was years old, the princess died.
The child from then on grew like a
wild flower. The prince did his best to
spoil her, but the good fairy watched
over her just as carefully as she watch
ed over the child she had hidden away.
BY and by the wicked prince died. The
child reached womanhood. The good
fairy went away and left her. Per-
haps she now gave her whole attention
to the other" / let the palm leaf slip
back and drew down fresh one, Phyl-
lis watching me with interest. 1.-THE
child the fairy left was still child for
all her womanhood. She was willful
and capricious; she rode, she fenced.
she hunted; she was as unlike other
women as could be. At last the king,
who was her guardian. grew weary Of
her caprices. So he commanded that
she marry. But what had the fairy
done with the other child, the twin
sister of this wild princess? Perhaps
In this instance the good fairy died
and left her work unfinished, to be
taken up and pursued by a convention
al newspaper reporter. Now this pro
tenn. fairy ascertained that the good
fairy had left the lost princess In the
care of one of a foreign race. Having
n wife and daughter of his own, he
brought the princess up as his niece,
not knowing himself who she really
was. She became wise, respected and
beautiful I'm mind and form. Fate,
who governs all fairy stories, first