Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-08-17
p VI.

bluest ewes in all the world.
CHAPTER vi.
The princess rose at dawn the FOL
lowing day. She routed u Hans, the
head groom, snd told him to saddle
Artemis, the sslim-limbed, seal-bfown
'flfy which an English noblemah had
given her. Ten minutes later she was
in the saddle, and the heayiness on
her heart seemed to rise and vanish
like the opal mists on the bosom of
the motionless lake. A pale star
blinked at her, and the day, flushed
like the cheek of a waking infant, be-
gan drowsily to creep over the rolling
mountains.
How silent all the city was Only
here and there above the chimneys
rose a languid film of smoke. The
gates of the park shut behind with a
clang, and so for a time she was alone
and free, She touched Arterais with a
spur, and the flly broke into a canter
toward the lake road. The girls nos
trils dilated. Every flower, the thou
sand resinous saps of the forest, the
earth itself, yielded up s coo sweet
perfume that was to the mind what
a glass of wine is to the blood, exhil-
aration.
Notified with pink, anE gray, and
blue, and gold, the ever-changing hues
of the morning, the surface of the lake
was as smooth as her mirror and, like
1t, always rejecting beauty. Fish
leaped forth and fell with a sounding
splash, and the circles would widen
and gradually vanish. "A blackbird
young fox barked Importantly; a hawk
flashed by. The mists swan hither
and thither mysterfuusly, growing
thinner and fainter as the gold of day
grew brighter and clearer. Suddenly
i'm the words of the old tent-maker-
the false morning died, and it was day.
I'm afraid that somewhere among
the princess ancestors there was a
troubador; for she was something OF
a poet. Indeed, / have already re-
marked that she wrote verses. The
atmospheric change of the morning
turned her mind into sentimental
channels. How she envied the peas
n woman. who might come and go at
will, sleep in the open or in the hut,
loving or hating with perfect freedom!
All, Prince Charming, Prince Charm
ing! where were you? Why did you
loiter? Perhaps for her there was nc
Prince Charming. 1t might be so. She
sighed.
She would marry ~Doppelkinn
That horrible Steinbocki
She was glad, glad that she had struck
him, again and again, across his lying
eyes and evil mouth. She had believed
that she knew the world: it was all
yet a mystery; the older she grew the
less she understood Wasn't anybody
good? Was everybody TO be distrust-
ed? Which way should She turn now?
The world was beautiful enough; il
was the people in it. Poor Betty She
had her troubles, too, nut somehow
she refused to confide them. She acted
very much as If she were IN love.
She gazed at the hawk OBVIOUSLY.
How proud and free he was, so high
up there, circling and circling. Even
the fox was freer than She; the for
ests were his, and he might go whittier
he listed. And the fish that leaped in
frolic from the water, m the black
bird in the PUSHES! She could mot un-
derstand.
She would eve marry Doppeikinn
never.
But how should she escape-how?
On Wednesday night she woul1 be
given her quarterly allowance of a
Thousand crowns, and on Thursday she
must act. Yes. yes, that was it,
where they never would
think TO search for her. She knew a !
place in which to hide. From Doppel-
kim she would go straight to Dresden
and seek the protection of her old gov |
erness, who would hide her till the
duke came to his senses. If only she
had an independent fortune, how she |
would snap her fingers at them all! |
She was distracted by the sound OF |
1angling steel. Artemis had cast a |
shoe, How annoying! 1t would take
ten minutes TO reach old Bauer's
smithy, and ten minutes more to put
on a shoe. She brought the FLY down
a walk.
What was the use of being s prin-
cess II n was not allowed to act in
= royal fashion? It wasn't so terrible
to wear mems clothes, and, besides,
they were very comfortable for riding
! horse; and as for riding a bicycle So |
the public streets, hadn't that ugly |
Italian duchess ridden through the
OF Rome, and in knickerbock-
srs, too? Nobody seemed to mind it
here. But in Barscheit it had been
little short of a crime. She recalled
he flaming fagots and the red-hot wire
If her unfortunate wheel. A smile rip
pied over her face. but it passed quick
y. There was nothing left to smile
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