The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-03-02
NJ A s X E ID
80. ID E "A TIL
lOriginal.1

4
prince to his prime minister, fare fast
1 degenerating. While there is no evil in
them, there is no good. Some wizard
has cast upon them the spell Of frivoli-
| ty. Their days are given to out of door
sports, their nights to dancing and
feasting."
~ have pondered, your highness, on
their condition and have concluded that
they can only be brought to their senses
by some impressive lesson"
"Have you plan|
| 81 have. / would suggest that your
highness issue an order for a grand
masquerade to be given at the palace"
"Do you desire our attendance?"
"Only for brief space"
The prince sat in deep thought.
"Gilderstane," he said at last, "you
have given us many proofs of your wis
dom as well as of your fidelity. 1t shall
be as you desire"
A royal command was issued for
masquerade that was to exceed in
| splendor any fete that had been pre-
| viously given. Society at once dropped
| pleasure in the present to take firmer
hold on pleasure in the future. All were
busy hunting original costumes. The
principally was secured for the oldest,
the richest costumes, while artists were
called upon to produce the most fantas-
tic designs.
The evening arrived. The palace was
blaze of lights and, though it was
winter, it's interior resembled q garden
Of the tropics. The arriving guests
sprang from their carriages with eager
steps and hurried into the palace.
Pleasure had been pent during the in
terval Of preparation and was now
ready to burst forth with new vigor.
Brilliant lights fell on Respondent cos
tunes. Jewels received the rays, broke
them and sent them back in dazzling
hues. The music had in it a quickening
thrill to set the blood coursing, the feet
flying. There were girls with supple
figures, women with queenly ones,
slender youths and men Of stately mien,
all swaying, rocking in the dance. AS
the hours flew by the music grew mad
der, the dancing more abandoned.
From a supper room came popping Of
corks, bursts of laughter, shouts Of
merriment. The dancers, breaking
from prescribed forms, danced alone.
Ivory arms waved aloft. Beneath a
fringe Of silk and lace shapely feet In
kid futtered like the wings of swarm
of white butterflies.
The clock struck IL.
The music stopped.
The dancers, wondering, paused and
stood still.
Two lackeys threw open portal, and
the prince, attended by his suit, en-
tered, moving silently and amid silence
to the throne. When he was seated
four masked men came through a side
door bearing a bier covered with
canopy of satin and velvet and, max
ing their way through the guests, who
opened before them, set 1t down In the
center of the ballroom. Then, while
the jewellers looked on with repressed
expectation, one Of the bearers remov-
ed pail and uncovered figure mask
ed and in costume.
"What singular featurev
"His highness has outdone himself
in originality"
"Who could have consented to play
so grewsome a part-the part Of the
dead?"
SIS he dead"
"Dead! He will arise presently and
give us a novel dance, something never
seen before. Come, let us form ring
and spin about him to give him inspira
ton"
The speaker seized the hand Of
girl looking on, and willy nilly, she was
carried along. others joining till cir
Gle was formed extending to the very
limits Of the ballroom, all dancing
shouting, singing round and round.
Presently one of the dancers broke
from the ring and advanced to the bier
"Come," he said, "arise and give us
the dance of DEATH" And he tore
away the mask.
A thrill Of horror shot through the
crowd. There, rigid, a form Of clay,
face of marble, cheeks hollow, eyes
sunken, chin dropped upon the breast
lay the earthly part Of one who few
days before had been the merriest man
in the principality.
The assembly stood as If petrifled.
If there were sounds, they were gasps
of horror; If there were movement, 1t
was by some who had tainted. The
prince sat immovable. From the foot
Of the throne the prime minister adj
vanced few PAGES, then stopped and
spoke:
"Fool this night thy soul shall be
required of thee"
There was a silence during which the
speaker kept his finger pointed to the
corpse and his eye fixed on the people.
The prince sat silent on his throne,
rigid as figure Of stone. For time
no one moved or seemed to move, but
presently the throng grew thinner.
When all were gone the prince de-
seconded from his throne and, hand in
hand with his prime minister, left the
room. Lastly the bearers took up the
corpse and bore it away, the lights
were turned off, and where there had
been flare of splendor a single star
looked in through q window.
nro,,, 4hof finn fha YNrinoo had tho