, 1904-06-22

nosited their occupants n dashed
away again. Officers OH foot, with
their cloaks covering their uniforms,
walked in the obscurity of the streets
to mingle on equal terms in the bril-
liant ballroom with princes and pashas.
The CAV world of the Caucasus was
made gayer by the addition OF the
swarms from the orient. Bands blared
their military music. Gowns that came
from Paris swept the ballroom floor as
the stately DANES who wore them
walked with Persians and Turks of
high degree. Laughter. conversation,
introductions and presentations made
a perfectly harmonious bedlam.
But there was one at the ball who
listened to the words of welcome he
received, while his eyes noted the ap-
pearance of one he sought.
"Will she never Gomez" he asked
himself. "Or does she hate me so that
she will brave her uncle's wrath rather
than meet me?"
Colonel Jurnieff and Mile. Alma,"
he heard some n say. He turned TO
look. He stood s~pellbound. He had not
imagined, although he knew her well,
that such a being could exist as enter
ed the door at hat moment. By the
side of the grim faced colonel walked
a vision from some other land, it SEEM
ed. Never had anything like it been
seen at a governors ball in Tifis. AL
mas costume was a combination or
Paris and the C~aucasus-the daintiest
lace and the costliest silks. Pearls
adorned her snowy neck. Her little
feet were clad in dainty shoes of white
doeskin. Her white arms were round
and full, her shoulders perfect. The
white fan she carried seemed to watt
a mystic thrall upon all she passed.
Her voice was silvery in it's music. She
was the gayest of them all.
Can it be that that lovely creature
has at last consented to be my wife?"
said the prince to himself.
prince Dellnikof, you know my
niece, Alma JurnieffT
The prince bowed low. Alma extend
ed her hand %graciously.
81 know the prince very WE'LL" she
said, 'but since l have been enjoying
my visit at Tifis he has been quite a
stranger"
81 did not-I did not know
." congratulate you, prince, upon
your appointment. My father wrote
about it."
"What woman Is this?" asked the
colonel as he moved away, leaving her
with Dellnikoff. "She is a riddle. l
cannot solve her. But she loves him.
/ can see love in her very eyes,"
She placed her hand on the princes
arm, and they joined the throng. Turk
ish pashas saw her and blinked their
eyes as they thought of their own fad
ed beauties in their harems; Persian
princes sought presentations; Chinese
mandarins almost forgot their names
when she spoke to them. She had
come to conquer, and she conquered.
She was the queen of the ball, and
Dellnikoff was the envied of princes.
mile. Alma will lead the grand march
with the guest of honor" said the gov
ernor.
The band struck up 1.-THE Carl" and
princes and generals fell In behind her.
Dellnikoff's heart beat with pride as
he felt the warm and living hand of
the girl upon his arm. The warm per-
fume that came from her fan intoxi-
Gated him. He, the suave, the blase,
the gay one from st. Petersburg, was
like a boy at his first party. In he
dance that followed, as he felt his arm
around her waist, a thrill of pleasure
drove the blood quicker through his
heart. After the dance he led her to
the conservatory.
"You have changed" he said as his
eyes devoured her. "As you grow
more beautiful you grow more gra-
cious. A year ago you spurned me
almost"
"Almost!" she answered, with a CO.
quettish laugh that sent the blood to
his head. Are you SO weak that al
most drives you from a woman's side?'
but your father" he stammered.
"He said you-were in-love with an
American. He sent you here, SO he
told me, to keep you from that fellow"
Alma put her fan before her face
and laughed "a singularly rollicking
laugh.
"Sent me away to keep me from a
man l have seen but a few times, a
man engaged in selling American wind
mills and pumps! oh, prince, do you
think that Tifis, with all its strength,
could keep me from the mar l loved
II l knew where he was to be found?"
He bent over her. His hot breath
on her cheek brought a blush to it.
She looked up into his face with a fas-
cinating smile.