The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-06-25

finite patience. She used all her arts,
all her knowledge of human nature, to
gain the affections of the youthful
prince, and she succeeded A Catherine
could not have played the cards more
clever1y, but then Catherine would not
have stopped to such petty game.
Before Alexander of Servia was ff-
teen he had a mistress, and she was
Draga Maschin, a woman of thirty.
: So long as Draga Maschin was mere
ly the favorite of the boy king and did
not attempt to make capital out of the
fact, nobody paid any particular atten-
ton to it. It was supposed that it was
simply youthful infatuation and that
the boy would outgrow it. But, instead
of waning, such was the cleverness of
the woman that it increased. Many
filings and Sights she had to endure
She only smiled very sweetly and
slowed them away in the pigeonholes
of her memory
When, at the age of seventeen, King
Alexander planned and executed his
clever coup d'etat, declaring himself of
age and the actual ruler of Servia, the
wise recognized the influence of Draga
Maschin. ~s.
Then she Haunted herself as the kings
mistress. Her husband, who loved her,
was helpless. He struggled against her
ambition, seeking to regain love, he
never had. Frightful stories of her de-
prayity were common talk. She appar-
entity paid no attention to them. 1t is
true that she began to use influence over
the king to further the interests of the
members of her family, but she worked
under cover. Her position was none too
secure. !
Queen Natalie, awakened too late to-
the power of the cattle-dealer's daugh-
fer, tried to combat her influence There
was open war between them, and Draga
won. She prevailed upon Alexander to
Danish his mother from court That, of
course, was after Natalie had dismissed
Draga Maschin as a lady in waiting.
The king established Draga Maschin
in handsome home, and Draga Has
chin's husband, disgraced, heartbroken,
committed suicide It can be understood
how Col. Maschin of the massacre re-
joiced when he had the privilege of en-
tering the royal palace to murder the
woman whom he believed had sent his
brother to his grave and laughed while
he was dying.
Draga Maschin had everything she
desired save what she wanted most, that
for which she had been scheming all the
years-a throne
The woman of nearly forty persuaded
a man of twenty-five, and that man a
king, whose mistress she had been since
he was a little boy of fifteen, to marry
her. Whether Alexander was really de-
eeived by the trick she practiced or
whether he was a party to it shall never
be known And whatever its effect upon
him may have been, its influence upon
he people of Servia was disastrous. If |
she had borne Alexander an heir they
night have forgiven her as it was. they
lated her for the deception.
The people Of Seryia believe that
Queen Draga planned to substitute her
listers child for her own
Once secure on the throne, all the pet
mess, the meanness, the baseness of
oragas character asserted themselves.
shegave her passions free rein. She was
queen at last, and determined to enjoy
he privileges of her rank.
From the very start she began paying
1T old scores and with usurious inter-
st. Not slight, not a chance remark
vas forgotten. and the punishment was
leayy. The officers in the army who had
fleered at her in the old days felt the
weight of her displeasnre Women who
ad snubbed her were made to suffer