Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-09-14

some man with the red beard. He called |
himself the Count Won Glenchen that |
season we met him in London" Her eyes
! ere DINNER than they had been ten
y NJ ago, and she did not see the flush
c ler niece's checks as she murmured
gelfnt but went on in blissful uncon-
lousness.
pHere is news of him. He is going to
be married at last" and she read aloud:
1t is officially announced that a mar
rage has been arranged to take place
shortly between his majesty. King Rex
of Stervia and her royal hiGhness,
Princess Flavia Of Rh0dania."
That was all-0nly a bald press para
graph, but it set the sweet May sunshine
all dazzling before Blanche Drummond's
eyes, and brought the waves Of the ocean
surging Though her ears.
Before God. Blanche. | will never
marry any woman but YOU
He had forgotten her. then. Even a
king could forget his VOW.
She put away her sewing presently
and went up to her own room. Out over
the woods. yellow green in their young
leaves and the distant sea. shimmering
sapphire, the sunshine swept in a food
Of gold. The birds twittered hundred
rad songs, and the scent of the lilac and
hawthorn hung on the air. But she
heard nothing save the memory-voicc OF
her king-lover's pleading, saw nothing
but his diamonds on her hand. Diamonds
that mean cOnstancy. And he was about
to do as she had urged him-marry an
other woman. All. well. When the
Princess. Flavia was Queen OF Stervia
she would put away his love pledge for
ever.
The days crept on, and the weeks. and
now and then paragraph appeared in
the papers anent the forthcoming royal
wedding. 1t was brought to remem-
brance that King Rex was the hand
somest ruler in Europe. The Princess
sol 70 no Pal
complished. The names of the brides
maids were announced. and the clergy to
ofiiclate, and then came the entire pro-
gramme of the great event
4. Blanche read it all through as though
It were part of a dream. In magma
ton she saw her own name in place
of that of Princess Flavia. 1t might
have been. Yet not once did she repent
her decision of that fateful May night.
She still believed that to have yielded
to her love and married him would have
been the greatest wrong she could have
done him. And so his wedding morning
dawned in that tranquil country spot,
and Blanche Drummond's left hand was
minus its blaze of diamonds. She wan
dered out into the garden that morning,
restless and agitated, and, sitting in a
uny summer house beneath q big lilac
tree, fell amusing while the hours
passed, and by and by the glare of the
la3nday sun warned her to return to
fac house. As she neared the garden
gate the vicar was passing on the read
outside, and mechanically she paused to
speak TO him.
so you have returned. Mr.. Willough- |
by. Have you completed your business
in town satisfactorily
Thank you, yes" he answered. "And
feel like giant refreshed by these
few days i'll LOndon-One drops into such
rut, forever in the country. Or course, |
you have not heard this mornings
news"
mo. What has happened?"
The King Of Stervia, who was to have
been married today, you know, was
found dead in his bed this morning"
With choking cry Blanche reeled, and
before the vicar could reach her she |
lay faint and prone on the graveled path. |
For hours she passed from one fit Of
Mysteries to another. The doctor said
her nerves were completely unstrung, |
ana the shock Of the vicar 5 tidings had
been the last straw.
No one dreamed of connecting the |
country girl, who had not been in Lon |
don except for three months of her life. |
-sylth the King, who, instead of being
principal in the pageant OF a wedding
son, in his darkened palace
1t was for her he had died, Blanche |
telt assured, and by sheer effort of will |
she oyercame her nerves and her anguish |
ana Walted-Walted until on the second |
day, the postman brought her little |
package with many foreign stamps there |
on. When she next summoned up |
strength to face the world again and take |
up the burden of life. every one marveled
al the alteration III her. Years older she |
looked. The luster was gone from her
eyes and her expression was that Of a
woman who had just turned away from
the deathbed of all that the world held
dear to her, Above the diamond ring on
her wedding finger was a plain gold cir
clet, engraved with the old tryst-word
''Mizpah, and next her heart lay let
ter, the only letter she had ever received
from her king-lover:
My Blanche--You have seen all the REPORTS |
Of my approaching marriage and you are
thinking that | have altogether forgotten
the one woman | love. Not so. my peerless |
Blanche. 1t has been necessary for state
reasons, to acquiesce in the match arranged
for me Ivy my ministers, but tonight | make |
my own quietuS No other course is open to
me, but the one l am about to take he
lieve me, Blanche. Also | am delivering
the Princess from lifelong hypocrisy. for |
like myself, she has been forced into this |
send back the "Mizpah" ring. and | know
Il merciful God will judge me innocent in
the time we have been absent, the one
from the other. Wear it always for my
sake. Heart of my heart, farewell until we
meet in the land where all are equal and
where Love is the only King. REM
Ladies' Field