The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-12-28

himself to marry her. despite all
opposition; he was ready to give
up his noble inheritance for the
sake of love. But there were 9th
er forces greater than a young
mans love at work. The ali-pow-
erful ruler of an empire learned of
this proposed mesalliance and was
Mortified. Two weeks afterward
the prince was called. The will of
the crown was made known to him
and-he obeyed. Olga Platanova
was cast aside but not forgotten.
He became the husband of an I'M
loved, scrawny lady of diadems
When the situation became more
than he could bear he blew out
his brains.
When Olga heard the news of
his death she was not stricken by
grief. She cried out her Joy to a
now cloudless sky. for he had JUS
titled the great love that had been
theirs and would be theirs to the
end of time.
From a passive believer in the
doctrines of her father and his
circle she became at once their
most impassioned exponent. Over
night she changed from a gentle
hearted girl into a woman whose
breast famed with a lust for ven
geance against a class from which
death alone could free her lover
She threw herself. heart and soul
into the deliberations and trans
actions of the great red circle: her
father understood and yet was
amazed.
Then he was put to death by the
class she had come to hate. One
more stone in the sepulchre of her
tender. girlish ideals. When the
time came she travelled to Grau-
stark in response to the call of the
Committee of Ten; she came pre-
pared to kill the creature she
would be asked to kill. And yet
down in her heart she was sore
afraid.
She was there, not to kill a man
grown old in wrongs to her people,
but to destroy the life of gentle,
innocent boy of seven!
There were times when her
heart shrank from the unholy deed
she had been selected to perform;
she even prayed that death might
come to her before the hour in
which she was to do this execrable
thing in behalf of the humanity
she served. But there was never
a thought of receding from the
bloody task set down for her
a task so morbid, so horrid that
even the most vicious of men
gloated in the satisfaction that
they had not been chosen in her
place. Weeks before she came to
lGraustark Olga Platanova had
been chosen by lot to be the one
to do this diaobolical murder. She
did not finch, but came resolute
and ready. Even the men in the
Committee of Ten looked upon the
slender, dark-eyed girl with an
awe that could not be conquered.
She had not the manner of an as
sassin, and yet they knew that she
would not draw back; she was as
soft and as sweet as the Madon-
mas they secretly worshipped. and
yet her heart was steeled to pur-
pose that appalled, the fiercest of
them.
On a Saturday night, following
the last visit of Truxton King to
the armorer, the Committee of
Ten met in the underground room
| to hear the latest word from one
who could not be with them in
person, but was always there in
spirit-if they were to believe his
most jealous utterances. The Iron
Count Marlanx, professed hater of
all that was rich and noble, was
the power behind the Committee
of Ten. The assassination of the
little prince and the overthrow of
the royal family awaited his pleas
ure: he was the man who would
give the word.
Continued Tomorrow.