Smyrna times., 1907-03-06
The Fourth
Lady In Waiting.
By EDITH J. HUBERT.

"A herald from his imperial majesty
the czar of Russiap'
There was q flare of trumpets, an
eager swaying of the lines of court
iers, a soft ripple of laughter and then
silence.
Before me stretched an interminable
path of red velvet fianked on either
side by rows of smirking, bowling crea-
lures clad in rainbow hued satins. vel
vets and glittering with jewels. At the
farther end, ON throne of ivory and
gold, sat a regal, white robed woman,
crowned and girdled with diamonds.
Behind her stood two dusky giants
majestically waving fans of peacock
feathers. AT her feet knelt two tiny
pages attired in blue and silver.
She was the queen of Bodalva and
one of the most beautiful women in the
world. l was a nobody. 1t was my
province to deliver into her royaI hand
the scroll intrusted to my keeping by
my gracious master. For weeks 1 had
been looking forward to this audience
with feverish eagerness. But now, at
the crucial moment, when grace of
bearing and fluency of speech would
perhaps serve to win me a smile from
those perfect lips, 1 stood gaping like
clown in the midst of her lackeys.
My feet refused to move, my knees
trembled, the scroll in my hand shook,
my tongue Glove to the roof of my
mouth. There was a muff1ed giggle on
my right. Then a clear, exquisitely
modulated voice smote the air like the
notes of a golden harp.
''Methinks," said the queen, flashing
laughter from her violet eyes, that the
messenger of our fair cousin, the czar,
is unduly overawed by our presence.
Be not afraid to approach, Sir Herald.
We are quite harmless"
Again came that subdued g.ggle, all
the more maddening that it had about
it batting familiarity, but at frown
from the queen it was quickly sup
pressed.
Summoning all my will power,
plunged desperately forward and in a
moment was kneeling at the foot of the
throne between the two pages.
"The humble as we'll as the great,
your majesty" l faltered. "are over
come by the spell of beauty"
She smiled and, indicating by a ges-
ture that l was to rise, took the scroll
and, unrolling it, hastily scanned its
contents.
A change, swift and terrible, came
over her countenance. Her eyes flash
ed. Her cheeks paled. Her lips
Strengthened to a scarlet line. Tearing
the parchment thrice across, she cast
It at my feet and hissed in a low tone
of concentrated fury: "That. varlet. is
my answer to your master! See thai
you deliver it to him with all possible
haste! Out of my sight! Begonev'
Then again her wonderful voice ranl
out in all its clearness.
Men of Bodalva," she said, "nevel
while Sylvia lives shall you bend you
neck beneath the yoke of the Russian
| tyrantr'
"Long live Queen Sylviap' shouted
the courtiers And from somewhere il
the distance came the sounds of tn
multuous applause-clapping stamping
and cries of "Brava! Bravaw
Mechanically | backed down the ret
| velvet path, unheeding the Kisses ant
black looks which beset me on eithe
side, and presently found myself in
small anteroom, the walls of whicl
were hung with doublets, hose, cloaks
plumed hats and various articles o
armor. Almost Immediately was con
fronted by tall, thin, iashily dresses
man, who eyed me with an expression
of extreme disfavor.
"See here" he said. "We don't wan
supers in this company to forget thei
cues and occupy the center of the stag
for ten minutes, and we don't wan
any lines thrown in either. The ma
who wrote that play can attend
that"
But" l stammered, 'the queen
Miss Elsworth-said something to m
that wasn't in"-
whats that to your he interrupte
sarcastically. You're not star jus
yet are youI Who are you, anyway
One of them young chaps from the co
lege, amt you?"
l nodded.
"First time onf"
Again / nodded. He shrugged b
shoulders.
xWell 1 won't report you if you loo
sharp for the rest of the performanc
luckily for you the boss is away t
night. What are you doing it for, an.
way? Stage struck or Ellsworth struck
/ did not deign to answer, and, wit
a derisive guffaw, he went out, sian
ming the door behind him.
I had been alone scarcely minu
when that irritating giggle again fe
upon my ears.
who's there?' l cried, finging opt
the door and peering into the dim
lighted corridor
SSH Go backr' whispered a feminil
voice. And as / obeyed its commar
the doorway framed a petite gold'
haired damsel, resplendent in pink Sc