The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-26

i tween his slender till;crs. his eyes OK
aminfng raiiectivelv the many-cos9red
pebbles, fresh washed ~ the inflow
ing tide of tho Atlantic, gilttefing.
foam tiecked. ia the early morH.1e
1 Sunlight at his feet, fsut Ii swqss not
the pebbles, the foam, tie great yaTes
ca shing la = iisl iii1., tnat he'd the
4 p1ince'3 tEp.i,Sllss + taat was respoi.
stble for the ,lcar iiHc hat puckeiei
/ his weIl-marked hrowg No; 1t was
A royal Tn4nSAte. rseel, I'd some da5 $
before. s.sn1 4 ms s.etee by the nag,
/ ~ parent, SEATING iea' iy and 15i-
n.iely, leaving ~ Il pnolo for -
So L1.-i1.slI- for .1.lL@..
/ ti'at il WAS high tIgns fcg Prince Frea-
| a. elk. eldfsc ~ me rel .ri9g
1 house, to put aside the gay mask Of
youth and to begin to accustom his
shoulders to the burden Of coming
dutieg; in a word. to take to himself
/ a Wife. u princess of parts, worthy
some day 20 be queen and consort Of
the realm
IT was all very We'll. Frederick
/ frowned, for gray-haired scribes to
sit apart and dictate to prince his
duties and obligations. To order n
raan to- MARY, entirely against his
own inclination, was bad enough, hot
to give him TO freedom whatever rs
to the choice of hts wife---thlt was
I the unEpeakab!e outrage,
+.s had tssf~A lc.iA
nitely: 1T III expected Of Frederick
crown prince ana future KING. TO pre-
sent himself to Roberta, Princes Of
Marlborough. IN view TO future natft-
1nonial alliance"
/ Roberta Of Marlborough. Why she,
+ of all people? The prince recalled
vt
pcssipS, Of how the above mentioned
: Roberta had turned away two ertsErIa-
ed heads Of Europe, not to mention
j countless dukes and carls innu'ner-
able 1t was with despair and doubt
/ that he now looked forward IN his
future meeting with the Princess Ro
berta.
The time set was only two weeks
away SO, after having received The
orders, Frederick. accom- panied by his
trustworthy valet, stating official busi-
ress as his excuse. left 3t'A 'apital snd
Journeyed. incosnito. TO the little sea =
coast resort to reconcile himself TO
/ the future, and to gain confidence for
the coming ordeal
II was an Oft season. and the few
/ patrons of the great hotels being for
I the most part Americans and Ger
! mans. there was little likelihood that
! the princes modest disguise Of tour
/ ing gentlemen would be recognized
! -f.lzttG-f. t. Vas arerare
undisturbed in his morning strolls.
! For several days the prince had
! noticed footprints preceding his,
| along the shelving beach. He was at
/ first but half interested, being so
I morhidiy engrosged in his own affairs.
| However, as time progressed he gain
ed more OF his accustomed interest
in things external. and, after week,
50 keenly had the pungent tonic OF
sea air acted upon his oYerMrnught
/ nerves That he was quite his own
/ joyous Sell again and eager Tor R1-
venture.
| There was no dim suggestion of
| thrill or mystery in anything about
him except possibly those eYer-re-
newed footprints, preceding his,
morning after morning, freshly mold
ed in the sand. They held material
for conjecture at any rate.
He laughed, wholeheartedly, as he
bent over the marks In the soft.
damp sand He would dc some de-
tective work on his own account and
t find otft - ttist--wi4e this effietetts
scoandT,sf WAS who dared pge<.stte a
! prince, unasking and unasked, In his
morning walks along the shore. The
(
iow-heeled imprint OF the shoe, was
evidently boy. But. no--the prince
smiled in glee over his clever sur
rnise---a boys foot could never pc as
slender and shapely as that. The
wanderer must be a woman. a young
woman, for the old are not abroad
so early in the morning. And
bright, breezy. athletic young woman,
for the lacy, ruffied kind do not deign
to tread upon the sands except ny
moonlight and to the twang of gull
tars:
Sure enough. the tracks came to
an abrupt terminus before q great
bowlief some half mile beyond. and
Prince Frederick. peering curiously
around 1t. discovered a young, rosy
csieeked individual gazing penstvety
out across the sea.
The prince pondered. He was
pleased at the good result OF his de-
tectiye weak, but now. having had
glimpse of her. he did not want things
to end abduptly just when they were
becoming most interesting. Now, il
the young lady should drop a hand
kerchlef for the wind to blow casually
at his feet. or if she had a lapdog to
snari and snap at his ankles, thereby
attracting profIse apologies from It's
remorseful owner, all might be- WELL
But there was no handkerchief appar-
ent. and the young person looked as il
she had never fondie9 a lapdeg In her
life.
However. there was no need Of in
termediary agent, for, as the prince
leaned uneonsciously forward, IN his
eager endeayor to see more clearly
the girl almost hidden by the gray
bowlder. she looked up. her face es-
pressing neither surprise nor dismay
Al the sight Of the tall stranger above
simplicity of a child:
i've been wondering why does the
time OF the tide change every day
and what kind are those ships out
there on the ocean,
The prince seated himself before his
inclined interrogation,
without further preliminary, his dark
eyes meeting the inquiring gaze of the
blue ones with an answering frank
ness He said:
Il put away my knowledge of tides
with my school books at--ah---Iston."
and added: do You really want TO
know about them and the ships. or do
you, as Is my predioament, just want
some one to talk tor
She smiled across at him. II just
want some one to talk to-, she said.
Then her eyes went strangely serious.
Il come up here every clay to think. |
hut the thinking. after time, gets
weartsome, and I'm lonely.''
r. r,L- I.r. ~,f. u Il