The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-12

garded, until one day, when she was
barely IA, the whole cantonment dis
covered all at once that Private Gin
tons girl was beautiful. And every
day her beauty seemed to grow, until
all the good looks of her mother were
as nothing compared with the mar
Vicious perfection of the beauty of the
child. She had not only inherited
good looks and intelligence from her
mother, but she had added to them
ambition and a certain refinement of
manner.
Private Clifton and his wife were
troubled. 1t is not good for a private
soldier stationed in a far-away place,
to have a daughter too beautiful and
too ambitious. Trouble is apt to
come of it. So Private Clifton kept
his daughter much in the house and
hoped that she would get over her
notions, marry a sergeant, or at least
a corporal, and settle down.
Enter the Fairy Prince.
Then one day all Delhi put on It's
gala attire to welcome Jar Mahomed
Rao Khan, the ruler of a Central
Asian Khanate far away beyond the
mountains to the northwest, who was
to visit the Grand Mogul. The entrance
of the Rao Khan into the capital of
the Moguls and his passage from the
Cashmere Gate up to the splendid pal
ace of Shah Jehan, was a scene of
splendor like that witnessed when
predecessor of Jar Mahomed, the
Khan Abdalla, came over the noun
tains to find a bride in Delhi. The
houses were hung with priceless tap
estries. while through the streets
groups of beautiful children went
strewing the most delicious flowers
around, till every part of the city was
as fragrant as If a caravan of musk
had passed through it," From the
gardens in the suburbs to the Impe-
rial palace it was one unbrOken line
of splendor. The gallant appearance
of the Rajahs and the Mogul lords,
distinguished by those insignia of the
Emperors favor, the feathers of the
egret of Cashmere in their turbans,
and the small. silVer-rimmed kettle
drums at the bows of their saddles;
the costly armor of the cavaliers, who
WED with the guards of the Khan in
the brightness of their silver battle
axes and the massiveness of their
maces of gold; the glittering of gilt
pineapples TO the tops of palanquins,
the embroidered trappings of the eqe-
plants, bearing on their backs gor-
geOus howdahs. made the picture
which brought all Delhi out to see.
What the Prince Saw in the Gutter.
In the procession Mahomed Rao
Khan rode alone upon a milk-white
Arabian stallion, his saddle encrusted
with gems and a great diamond star
shining in the front of his tall As
trachan cap. He was a middle-aged
man, stern of appearance and sharp
of eye.
AS he let his glance roam over the
throng which lined the street he
caught sight of Alice Clifton standing
with group of other children who
had come from the cantonment to see
the show. He looked at her steadily
and boldly as he passed. and Alice let
her glance fall modestly beneath his
eagle gaze. Her cheap, coarse frock
and her poor little ornaments seemed
so mean and squand in the midst of
all that splendor.
That evening Alice had a birthday
party for which her mother made tea
and cakes and told the children stories
of English fields and English daisies.
But Alice declared that English fields
and daisies did not interest her,
and that it would be stupid liv-
ing in a place where one met
nobody except white people all
the time. She was born in India and
wanted to stay there and, perhaps,
some day become a Maharanee and
ride on an elephant with gilded tusks
Even while they talked a rumor ran
through the cantonment that an off,
Ger of the court was there with a mes
sage for Private Clifton from Ma
homed Rao Khan saying that he
wanted to marry the beautiful girl
whom he had seen that day in the
street as he passed along.
Alice jumped for joy-the fairy
prince had come just as she had ex-
pected he would. But Private Clifton
and his wife were not so enthusiastic.