Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1908-10-09

Of beauty, the warm rose that spread
upward from a girls childlike diMples
to the womanly arch Of her brows-all
these charms aud more which rendered
one girl hundred times adorable took !
hold Of him and made him not an EN-
perOr, but q man. unarmOred.
When the music ceased he fancied
for an instant that some accident had
-befalaen- the musicians. Then when he
realized that the end Of the dance hal
come in it's due time he remembered
with pleasure rule Of his court sstab-
lished in the days Of those who had
t,een before him. After each dance an
interval of ten minutes was allowed
before the beginning Of another. Ten
minutes are not much to q man who
has things to say which could hardly
he said in ten hours. Still, they are
something. and to waste even one
would he like splitting drop OF pre-
cious elixir from tiny bottle contain
ing but nine other drops.
They had scarcely spoken yet. ex-
cept for commonplaces which any one
, might have overheard. since the day
on the mountain. and in this first mo-
ment Of the ten each was wondering
whether or no that day should be ig-
nOred between them. Leopold did not
feel that 1t should he spoken of. for 1t
was possible that the girl did not recog-
nize the chamois hunter in the emper
or. and Virginia did not feel that she
could speak Of 1t. But, then, few
things turn out as people feel they
should.
Next to the throne room was the
ballroom. and beyond was another
known as the waldsaal. which Leo
pold had fitted up for the qualification
Of a fancy. 1t was named the wald.
saai because it represented q wood.
Walls and ceiling were masked with
thick growing creepers trained over in
visible wires. through which peeped
stars Of electric light, like the check
erings Of sunshine between netted
branches. Trees grew up. with their
roots in boxes hidden beneath the
moss covered floor. There were grot.
toes Of ivy draped rock in the corners,
and here and there, out from leafy
shadows. glittered the glass eyes of
birds and animals-eagles, stays, cham
OILS, wolves and bears-which the EN-
peror had shot.
This strange room, SO vast as to seem
empty when dozens of people wan
dered beneath its trees and among it's
rock grottoes, was thrown open to
guests whenever ball was: given at
the palace. but the conservatories and
palm houses were more popular, aud
when Leopold brought Miss Mowbray
to the waldsaal after their dance 1t
was in the hope that they might not
Ike disturbed.
She was lovelier than ever in her
white dress under the trees, looking
up at him with q wonderful look III
her eyes, and the young mans calm
ness was mastered by the beating Of
his blood.
",rhis is kind of Madness he said
to himself 1T will pass. 1t must
pass" And aloud. meaning all the
while to say something different and
commonplace, the real words in his
mind broke through the crust of con
,yentionality. why did you do it?'
!, yirginia's eyes widened. 81 don't
understand" Then, in an instant, she
found that she did understand. She
knew. too. that the question had asked
itself in spite Of him. but that once 1t
/ had been uttered he would stand to his
guns.
:! II mean the thing l shall have 70
thank you for always"
:, IL Virginia had had time to think
she might have prepared some pretty
\ answer; but, there being no time. her
response came. as his question had.
)! from the heart, II couldn't help doing
. it."
"You couldn't help risking your life
] to- He dared not finish.
8 ut was to save Nor was there
! any end for her sentence.
. Then perhaps 1t was not strange that
/, he forgot certain restrictions which a
t royal man In conversing with a COM
y moner is not supposed to forget In
fact. he forgot that he was royal or
;. that she was not, and his voice grew
e unsteady. his tone eager. as II he had
e been some poor subaltern with the girl
t OF his first love.
3 "There's something must show
you," he said Opening button OF the
: military coat blazing with Jewels and
! orders. he drew out a loop Of thin gold
. chain. At the end dangled small
y bright thing that flashed under a stal
= Of electric light.
l ssAfv rim oV' I.roa fha41 ViroiOf0