The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-25
CHAPTER II.

 tersburg and fnancier of high stand ing, had returned to Edelweiss soon after the distressing death of the late
 Princess Yetive and her American hus-
 band, and to him was intrusted the
 treasury portfolio.
 The financing of the great railroad
 project by which Edelweiss was to be
 connected with the Siberian line in the
 north fell to his lot at a time when no one else could have saved the little
 government from heavy losses or even
 bankruptcy.
 The opening of this narrative finds the ministry preparing to float a new i 100000 gavvo issue of bonds fer con-
 struction and equipment purposes.
 Agents of the government were ready to depart for London and Paris to take
 up the matter with the great banking houses. St. Petersburg and Berlin were
 not to be given the opportunity to gob-
 ble up these extremely fine securities.
 This seemingly extraordinary exclu- sion of Russian and German bidders
 was the result of vigorous objections
 raised by en utter outsider, the Ameri- can, John Tullis, long time friend and l companion of Grenfall Lorry, consort to the late princess.
 Tullis was strange man in many particulars. He was under forty years
 of age, but even at that rather imma- ture time of life he had come to be
 recognized as a shrewd, successful financial power in his home city, New
 York. At the very zenith of his pow
 CT he, suddenly and with quixotic dis
 regard for consequences gave up his
 own business and came to Graustark for residence, following a promise
 made to Grenfal1 Lorry when the lat
 ter lay dying in little inn near Brus-
 sels.
 They had been lifelong friends. Tul-
 lis jestingly called himself the little princes ''morganatic godfather" For two years he had been a constant resi- dent of Graustark.
 His wide awake, resourceful brain,
 attuned by nature to the difficulties of
 administration, lent itself capably to
 the solving of many knotty financial
 puzzles; the ministry was never loath
 to call on him for advice and seldom
 disposed to disregard it. An outsider,
 he never offered suggestion or plan
 unasked. To this single qualification he owed much of the popularity and esteem in which he was held by the
 classes and the masses. Socially he freedom of the most exclusive homes in Edelweiss.
 There was but one man connected with the government to whom the pop ularity and influence of John, Tullis proved distasteful. That man was the Duke of Perse. On more than one
 occasion the cabinet had chosen to be
 guided by the sagacity of John Tullis in preference to following the lines laid down by the astute minister of finance. The decision to offer the new bond issue in London and Paris was l due to the earnest, forceful argument of John Tullis-outside the cabinet chamber, to be sure. This was but
 one instance in which the plan of the treasurer was overridden. He resent
 ed the plain though delicate influence
 
 had made it plain to the ministry that l Graustark could not afford to place it. self in debt to the Russians, into whose
 hands sooner or later the destinies of the railroad might be expected to fall.
 The wise men of Graustark saw his
 point without force of argument and
 voted down in the parliament the dukes proposition to place the loan in St. Petersburg and Berlin. For this
 particular act of trespass upon the
 duke's official preserves he won the hatred of the worthy treasurer and his
 no inconsiderable following among the
 deputies.
 But John Tullis was not in Edel-
 weiss for the purpose of meddling with state affairs. He was there be-
 cause he elected to stand mentor to
 the son of his lifelong friend, even though that son was a prince of the
 blood and controlled by the will of
 three regents chosen by his own sub-
 jects.
 To say that the tiny prince loved
 his big, broad shouldered, ruddy cheek ed, adoring mentor would be putting it too gently; be idolized him. Tullis was father, mother and big brother to the little fellow in knickers. One woman in Graustark was the
 source of never ending and constantly increasing interest to this stalwart companion to the prince. That woman
 was, alas, the wife of another man!
 Moreover, she was the daughter of the Duke of Perse.
 The young and witty Countess of Marlanx came often to Edelweiss. She
 was a favorite at the castle, notwith- standing the unhealthy record of her ancient and discredited husband, the Iron Count. Tullis had not seen the count, but he had heard such tales of him that he could not but pity this glorious young creature who called | him husband.
 At present we are permitted to at tend a meeting of the cabinet; which sits occasionally in solemn collective
 ness just off the throne room within the tapestried walls of dark little antechamber known to the outside world as the room of wrangles." The question under discussion relates