Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-08-04
Observation-Disclosures
CsPyri1ht.ls 1891. Anthony Hope HAWKING

Winter was melting into spring. snow
dwelled only on the hilltops. Lake ,Talti
was unbound and sparkIed in the sun.
The days grew longer yet were far too
short. To ride with him to volseni, to
hear the cheers. to see the love they
bore him, to watch him at work, to
seem to share the labor and the love
then to shake OFF the kindly clinging
friends and take to mountain path or
wander. the reins on the horses necks,
by the margin of the lake and come
home through the late dusk. talking
often. silent often. always together in
thought us in bodily presence-was not
this enough? IF l had to die in a
month should owe life a tremendous
debt already" That is her own sum-
ming up. 1t is pleasant to remember.
1t would be enough to say-love;
enough with nature ardent as hers.
Yet with love much else conspired.
There was the thought of what she had
done, OF the things to which she was a
party. There was the sense of power,
the satisfaction of ambition, promise
of more things. There was the APP
plause of yolseni as we'll as the devo-
ton Of the prince. There was. too-it
persisted all through her life-tle fun
ny, half childishmnd. to a severe eye,
urchinlike pleasure in the feeling that
these Were fine doings for Sophy
Crouch Of Morpingham. in Essex!
Fancy mel" is the indefensibly print
tive form in which this delight shows
in one of the few letters bearing date
from the castle of Praslok.
Yet 1t is possible to find this simple,
gracious surprise at fortunes fancies
worthy of love. Her own courage. her
own catching Mt fortunes forelock.
seemed to have been always uncon-
scious and instructive. These she new
er hints at nor even begins to analyze
OF her love for the prince she speaks
once or twice and once in reference to
what she had felt for Casimir. 81 loved
him most when he left me and when
he died." she writes. II love him not
less now because love monseigneur.
but can love monseigneur more for
having loved Casimir. God babe the
dear dead die but he babe me live. and
death helped to teach me how to do it,
Again she reflects. Flow wonderfully
everything is worth while--even sor-
rows!" Following which reflection in
the very next line-she is writing to
Julia "reminiscences the naive out
burst: II look just splendid in my
sheepskin tunic. and he's given me the
sweetest toy of revolver. That's in
case they ever. charge and try and cut
us up behind our gnns!'' She is laugh.
ing at herself, but the laugh is charged
with an infectious enjoyment. So she
lived, loved and laughed through those
unequaled days, trying to soothe Marie
Zerkovitch, bantering Max Won Holl.
brandt, giving her masculine mind aud
her feminine soul wholly to her prince
"She was like slngularly able and en-
ergetic sunbeam" Max says quantity,
himself obviously not untouched by
her attractions.
The princes mind was simple. He
was quite sincere about his guns He
had no wish to go on his travels until
they had arrived and he could deliver
them into the safe custody of his train
ed and trusty Volsenians and of Luke
witch, their captain. Less than that was
not safety with Stenovics In Office and
Colonel Stafnitz on duty at the capital.
But Marie Zerkoyitch was right, too,
even though loverexacting, as Max had
told her. The letter to the king held
but half the truth. and that half not the
more significant. He could not go from
Sophy's side to seek wife. The de-
sire Of his heart and the delight of his
eyes--she was here In Praslok.
Her charm was not only for his heart
and eyes. her fascination not solely for
his passion. On his intellect also she
laid her powerful hold, opening the mar
row confines of his mind to broader
views and softening the rigor of his
ideals He had seen himself only as
the stern master. the Just chastlser of
turbulent capital and an unruly sol
diery. But was there not a higher aim
Might he not be loved in the plains as
on the hills, at Slayna as at Volseni?
BY himself he could not achieve that.
His pride nay. his obstinacy forbade
the first step. But what his sensitive
dignity rejected for himself he could
see her sunny graciousness accomplish
without loss of self respect, naturally,
all spontaneously. He was soldier.
Hers were the powers of peace, of that
Instructive craftsmanship of the emo
tions, by which hearts are won and
kingdoms knit together by a tie strong
er than the sword. Because In his
minds eye he saw her doing this, the
idea at which the men in the palace
had smiled and which even Marie Ter.
kovitch would have accepted as the
lesser evil. never came into his head
In the future years she was to be open
II at his side. doing these things for
him and for the land Of his love and
labor. Would she not be better part
ner than some stranger. to whom he
must go cap In hand. to whom his
country would be place Of exile and
his countrymen seem half barbarians.
whose life with him would be one long
tale Of forced and unwilling conde,
scension? A pride more subtle than
his fathers rose In revolt.
II he could make the king see that!
There stood the difficulty. Right in the
way Of his darling hope was the one
thing on which the king insisted. The
pride Of family-the great alliance-the
single point wherein the easy king
was an obstacle SO formidable! Yet
had be despaired he would have been
no such loveras