Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1907-02-26

Q ically observed that the equipmen
was years behind the times. To tn
: alnazement Of the officials he wa
able to talk lntelligently of forts J.
= all parts Of the world, revealing
; wide and thorough knowledge and ez
tensive inspection. He had seen Amer
lean as well as European Notifications
The GraustaIk engineers went to worl
: at once to perfect the simple change
; he advised, leaving no stone unturne'
to strengthen the place before an at
tack could be made.
Two, three weeks went by, and thu
new guard was becoming an old stor!
to the castle and army folk, He rode
with Beverly every fair day. and h'
looked at her window by night from
afar off in the somber barracks. She
could not dissipate the feeling that he
knew her to be other than the princess
although he betrayed himself by nC
word or sign. She was enjoying the
fun of 1t too intensely to expose it to
the risk of destruction by revealing
her true identity to him. Logically
that would mean the end of everything.
No doubt he felt the same and kept
his counsel, but the game could not
last forever, that was certain. A
month or two more and Beverly would
have to think of her return to Wash
ingtOn.
His courage, his cool impudence, his
subtle wit, charmed her more than she
could express. Now she was begin
ming to study him from standpoint
peculiarly and selishly her own. Where
recently she had sung his praise to Ye-
tive and others she now was strangely
retlcent. She was to understand an
other day why this change had come
over her. Stories of his cleVerness
came to her ears from Lorry and An
guish and even from Dangloss. She
was proud, vastly proud, Of him in
these days.
The Iron Count alone discredited the
ability and the conscientiousness of
the "mountebank," as he named the
man who had put his nose out of joint
Beverly, seeing much of MarlanX,
made the mistake of Gliding him
frankly and gayly about this aversion.
She even argued the guards case be-
fore the head Of the army, imprudently
pointing out many of his superior quail |
tiles In advocating his cause The |
count was learning forbearance in his |
old age. He saw the wisdom Of pro-
crastination. Baldos was in favor, but
some day there would come a time for
his undoing.
In the barracks he was acquiring
fame. Reports went forth with unbias-
ed freedom. He established himself as
the best swordsman in the service, as
well as the most efficient marksman.
With the foils and sabers he easily
vanquished the foremost fencers lin
high and low circles. He could ride
like a Cossack or like an American
cowboy. OF them all, his warmest ad-
mirer was Haddan, the man set to
watch him for the secret service. 1t
may be timely to state that Haddan
watched in vain.
The princess, humoring her own fan
cy, as well as Beverly's foibles, took to
riding with her high spirited young
guest on many a little jaunt to the
hills. She usually rode with Lorry or
cheerfully assuming the sub
dued position beftting a lady-in-wait-
ing apparently restored to favor on
probation. She enjoyed Beverlys
unique position. In order to maintain
her attitude as princess the fair young
deceiver was obliged to pose in the
extremely delectabe attitude Of being
LOrry's wife.
"How can you expect the paragon to
make love to you, DEAR if he thinks
you are another mans wife?" Yetive
asked, her blue eyes beaming with the
fun of it all.
Pooh" shifted Beverly. "You have
only to consult history to find the ex-
,use. It's the dear old habit of men to
make love to queens and get beheaded
'or it. Besides, he is not expected to
make love to me. How in the world
lid you get that into your head?
On day soon after the return Of
4orry and Anguish from a trip to the
rontier Beverly expressed a desire to 4
fsit the monastery of st. Valentine,
Ugh on the mountain top 1t was a :
Dng ride over the circuitous route by
7hich the steep incline was avoided,
nd it was necessary for the party to
lake an early start Yetive rode with !
larry Anguish and his wife the count :
SIS, while Beverlys companion was the !,
allant Colonel QuinnoX. Baldos, rele-
ated to the background, brought up =
le rear with Haddan. :,
For week or more Beverly had been =
toward Baldos in the most 7.
avalier fashion. Her friends had !,
cen teasing her, and, to her own in =
ense amazement she resented it. The
act that she felt the sting of their sly =
iunts was sufficient to arouse in her
le distressing conviction that he had
ecome important enough to prove en-
While confessing to her Il