The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-11
By GEORGE BARR M'CUTCHEON
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Copyright. 1908. by Dodd. Me
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than deliver him into the hands of his enemies Would that be fair?'
 But he is thiefp'
 "No more so than Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme. who unquestion7 ably cheated the natives out of the very treasure we have seen carried away. I am not a constable nor a thief catcher I am a soldier of the defense, not an officer of the crown, at this stage of the game. Today I shall contriye to send word to Rasula that Won Blitz has stolen the treasure chests. MT. von Blitz will have a sad time explaining this little defection to his friends. We must not overlook the fact that Lady Deppingham and Rob- ert Browne are quite willing to take everything from the islanders. Every thing that Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme possessed in this island belongs to them under the terms of the will.'
 They were at the top of the second flight of stairs by this time and quite a distaHce from the treasure chamber.
 His coolness. the absence of any sign of returning sentiment, was puzzling her sorely. Half an hour before she had been carried away, rendered help less, by the passion that swayed him. Now he spoke and looked as if he had forgotten the result of his storming. Strangely enough, she. was piqued.
 When they came into the well light ed upper corridor he proceeded ruth 1essly to upset all of her harsh calcu- lations. He stopped suddenly, step ofI cy,<, drew up in surprise he reached down and took both of her hands in his. For the moment she was too amazed to oppose this sudden action. She looked up into his face, many emo tions in her own-reproof, wonder, dis may, hauteur, joy.
 Wait he said gently. They were quite alone. She saw the most won- derful light in his gray eyes. Her lips parted in quick, timorous confusion. "I love you. I am sorry for what I did down there. T. couldn't help it. nor could you. Yet I took a cruel ad vantage of you. know what you've been thinking too. You have been saying to yourself that I wanted to see how far could go. Don't speak. know! You are wrong. I've absolute ly worshiped you since those first days in Thorberg, wildly, hopelessly, day and night. I was afraid of you-yes, afraid of you because you are prin- cess. But I've got over all that, Ge- nevra. You are a woman, a living, real woman, with the blood and the heart and the lips that were made for men to crave. I want to tell you this here in the light of day, not in the darkness that hid all the truth in me except that which you might have felt in my kiss.'
 "Please-please don't" she said once more, her lip trembling, herbeyes full of the softness that the woman who loves cannot hide. ''You shall not go on! It is wrongy'
 ''It is not wrongr' he cried hotly. 'My love is not wrong. I want you to understand and to believe. I can't hope that you will be my wife. It's too wildly improbable. You are not for such as l.. You are pledged to man of your own world, your own ex- alted world. But listen, Genevra. See, my eyes call you darling even though my lips dare not Genevra, I'd give my soul to hear you say that you will be my wife You do understand how 1t is with me?''
 The delicious sense of possession thrilled her. She glowed with the re- turn of her self esteem, in the restora- tion of that quality which proclaimed her a princess of the blood. She was sure of him now. She was sure of herself. She had her emotions we'll in hand. And so, despite the delicious warmth that swept through her being. she chose to reveal no sign of it to him.
 'I do understand she said quietly. meeting his gaze with a directness that hurt him sorely. And you, too, understand. I could not be your wife. am glad, yet sorry, that you love me, and I am proud to have heard you say that you want me. But I am a sensible creature. MT. Chase, and being sensible, am therefore selfish. have seen women of my unhappy sta tion venture outside of their narrow confines in the search for lifelong joy with men who might have, been kings had they not been born S1r1der happier stars-men of the great wide world instead of the soulless, heartless patch which such as I call a realm. Not one in a hundred of those women found the happiness they were SD sure Ol grasping just outside their prison walls. It was not in the blood. We must marry and live and die in the sphere to which we were born4 We must go through life unloved and uncherished, bringing princes into the world, seeing happiness and love just beyond our reach all the time. We are bound by chains no force can break-the chains of prejudice"
 She had withdrawn her hands from his. He was standing before her as calm and unmoved as a statue.
 Just the same" he went on gently, "you love me as l love you. You kissed me. I could feel love in you then. ] can see it in you now. You will marry Prince Karl in June, and all the rest of your life will be bleak December. You will never forget this month of March-our month"; He paused for a moment to look deeply into her in credulous eyes His face writhed in sudden pain Then he burst forth with