Smyrna times., 1901-11-06

waves of the ocean surglng through
her ears.
Before God, Blanche, will never
marry any woman but your
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 flood of gold. The birds
twittered a hundred glad songs, and the |
scent of the lilac and hawthorn hung |
on the air. But she heard nothing save !
the memory voice of her king lovers |
pleading, saw nothing but his dia
monds on her Embellishments 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
forever.
Yhe days crept on, and the weeks,
and now and then a paragraph ap-
peared in the papers anent the forth
coming royal wedding. 1t was brought
to remembrance that King Rex was
the handsomest ruler in Europe. The
Princess Flavia was said to be beau
tiful and accomplished. The names of
the bridesmaids were announced and
the clergy who were to Officiate, and
then came the entire programme of the
! great event.
Blanche read it all through as though
| it were part of "a dream. In magma
tion she saw her own name in place
of that of Princess Flava. 1t might
have been. Yet not once did she re-
pent 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 tran
quill country spot, and Blanche Drum
mond's left hand was minus its blaze
of diamonds. She wandered out into
the garden that morning, restless and
agitated and, sitting in a tiny summer
house beneath a big lilac tree, feD
amusing while the hours passed, and
by and by the glare of the MONDAY
sun warned her to return to the house.
AS she neared the garden gate the
vicar was passing on the road outside
and mechanically she paused to speak
to him.
; $50 you have returned, Mr.. viii
lOughby. Have you completed youl
business in town satisfactorily"
''Thank you. yes" he answered. "Ant
feel like a giant refreshed by these
! few days in LondOn-One drops int
! such a rut, forever in the country
i OF course you have not heard thi
t mornings news?"
+ mo. What has happened?'
: "The king of Stervia. who was t,
? have been married today. you know
+ was found dead in his bed this morn
g ing"
e With a choking cry Blanche reeleC
- and before the vicar could reach he
s she lay faint and prone on the gravele
e path. For hours she passed from on
- fit of Mysteries to another. The doctO
T said her nerves were completely Ill
II strung. and the shock of the vicar
u tidings had been the last straw.
No one dreamed of connecting til
L country girl, who had not been in Lol
d don except for three months of her lif
with the king, who, instead of bein
if principal in the pageant of weddin,
D. lay dead, it was whispered of poisol
II in his darkened palace.
g 1t was for her he had died, Blanci
It felt assured. and by sheer effort of wi
it she overcame her nerves and her al
a guiSh and waited-waited until on IL
second day the postman brought her
s. little package with many foreig
stamps thereon. When she next sun
k. moned up strength to face the wOrl
lie again and take up the burden of lif
e. every one marveled at the alteratiC
ut in her. Years older she looked. I'll
luster was gone from her eyes, and b
st expression was that of a woman WI
Ds had just turned away from the deaf
er bed of all that the world held dear
Id her. Above the diamond ring on h
IL wedding finger was plain gold circl
of engraved with the old tryst word "Mi
e. pah," and next her heart lay lettt
the only letter she had ever receiv,
from her king lover:
he My Blanche-You have seen all the reports
- my approaching marriage, and you are Think
IL that have altogether forgotten the one won
n l love. No so, my peerless Blanche. 1t has bt
ne necessary, for state reasons, to acquiesce in
&C match arranged for by my ministers but
night make my own quetus No other cou
er is open to me but the one am about to take,
lieve me, Blanche; also l am delivering the pr
So cess from a lifelong hypocrisy, for, like mys'
= she has been forced into this. l send back
VI Mzpah ring, and ] know a merciful God v
q Judge me innocent in the time have been
ID sent the one from the other Wear it always
orr my sake. Heart of my heart, farewell until
meet in the land where all equal and VIII
OF love is the only king. RE1
hp