Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-09-19
TWO
QUEENS
By KEITH GORDON
Copyright. 1901. bB Keith Gordon
By KEITH GORDON
Copyright. 1901. bB Keith Gordon

feeling for each other could not be de-
scribed as platonic. Bettina, to be
sure, affected Inconsistencies as she
sauntered through the lofty rooms
where the marble figures flashed cold
~ into view, exciting one to a new love
of mere flesh and blood, but all the
time she knew that to the man at her
side she was queen of the world: also
it was evident enough from the look of
discomfort on the mans face that her
loyal subject was not altogether happy.
Your place is right here on a pedes-
tai along with the other statues" was
what he was saying to her. "The trou-
bic with you is, Betty, that you won't
listen to your heart. l might as well
plead with this marble figurer'
The queen, with well feigned reluc-
lance, brought her glance back from
the headless Victory" that seemed
forever on the point of flight to the
youth at her side, who was glowering
at her with an odd mixture Of rebel
lion and alteration in his face
Really. Steve" she replied at last,
''Im ashamed Of you It's not my
heart that's at fault: it's your purse.
You know that perfectly well" And,
with her chin at an angle beautifully
eloquent Of injured innocence. she pre-
tended to study the sculptured figures
about her In reality she watched him
felt him straining at his chains-with
an eXultant sense of the charm of be-
ing queen.
Her words and glance made him saw
age. 1t was hard enough to bear her
delay in putting their love affair on
that practical basis which points like
an index finger to matrimony. but so
long as it had seemed to him an honest
hesitation he had borne it with what
grace he could summon.
His lips set in an infeXible line, and
without a word his hand closed firmly
upon her arm, and with more deterni-
nation than gentleness he guided her
to a bench near by.
Well? she questioned when she had
settled herself in a corner of the seat
and he had squared himself beside her
In truth, though she strove valiantly
to conceal it. the queen was a trife
startled.
Her late .obedient subject studied her
for some moments in silence and with
an expression rather too suggestive of
flint to be entirely to the queens taste.
Then he spoke, and his words fell as
crisply as icicles.
cit is about time that you understood
me-" he began at last. You have play
ed with me long enough. What 1 have
to say now is just this: You may take
me or leave me, precisely as you
choose, but whichever you do must be
done at once"
He paused a moment and then elab-
grated:
I'm tired of playing the devoted
subject, tired Of being made to feel
that my love is nothing and my lack
of wealth everything. l have twelve
hundred year" He paused for brief
moment, conscious of mad desire to
make the matter as bad as possible,
then added, And there is no certainty
that I'll ever have more"
L
cheerfully any man who had dared to
make such an assertion about him, to
say it to her about himself at this par
ticular moment afforded him a grim
satisfaction
"What I want-what l will have" he
continued in a muffied voice without
giving her chance to speak, sis def
mite, a final answer" And then, before
the queen had really caught her breath,
he finished in a tone nothing short of
command, "And l want it within five
minutesr'
For one fieeting moment something
! like pale dismay showed in the girls
face. She had never counted on mo-
ment like this. Then her eyes kindled
royalty, and a flush of anger over
spread her face.
Almost uncOnsciOusly she rose, her
companion following her example, and
her eyes biazed their resentment into
the cold determination of his for a full
second before she addressed him.
You may have your answer this mo-
ment" she flung at him in a tone Of
| dangerous ClSdIu6SS. ONLY WOOHeJ
that l could ever have hesitatedI # is
'NO'-a thousand times Nor"
She noticed with a cruel delight the
sudden, still whiteness that overspread
his face as. with an ironical bow. he
turned and walked rapidly away. Then
a new feeling suddenly clutched at he1
heart
Had she not lately been a queen, with
a loyal, faithful subject to whom she
had turned an ear quite royalty indif
ferent? Had not a revolution occurred
IN her small domain and republic
been proclaimed? Could she not IN
derstand now the sorrows of Marie
Antoinette or a Eugene?
And so at last the latest of. dethroned
queens reached her own door trying tc
philosophiZe about the matter as
doubtless, her predecessors had before
her. After all, it was for the best She
| was poor, and Steve was poor-in pos
sessions. But by some freakish opera
ton of the law of compensation bott
r-oro o,dorad with tastes of an nm