Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-07-22
CHAPTER XVI.

would be a friend to Pietro; l WILL
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MOTHER OF A PRINCE.
The walls OF the palace at Ancona
dropped to the sea: against them the
lay a fleet Of fishing boats. and the
WIND Tapped torn sails. n the sun
light glanced on battered hulls and lit
tered decks. The woman who sat by
an open window of the palace pushed
the black trailing of her gown from
n laid her head against the window
frame and stared at the breeze-tossed
waves and the fishing fleet.
1T may be our only hope OF escape
those wretched boats" she said. half
aloud. and her blu eyes were full of
sadness. almost of hopelessness.
"A sound caught her ear, and she
lifted her head quickly. The door into
the next room was partly open and
some one moved there, that was all.
She turned, the lines of her figure fall
Ing again into a melancholy pose.
THE doctor takes a long time" she
spoke. n gazed out once more to the
water.
There had been a spirited young girl
years before who had romped in the
gardens of Malmaison, who had led the
laughter which echoed through those
emu of lime and plantain. whose
sweetness and vivacity had drawn the
figure of Napoleon himself into the
vortex OF gladness which was her at
mosphere. Always brightness seemed
to ollow her through the enchantment
Of the place: always she seemed to
move in gaiety. Today, on a March
morning Of 1880, this was she-Hor-
tense.
The daughter Of France she had been,
the queen of Holland, and now for
years an exile. Here, i'll, a fugitive, in
her nephew's palace at Ancona. with
the Austrfans at the gate of the city,
she waited in anxiety almost more in
the doctor as to her son. Five days
Defore. at Forli. her older boy had died,
and her sore heart stirred with a sick
enlng throb as she thought Of this other
--Louis-now her only child, lying in
the room beyond in a high fever, i'll
with the disease with which his brother
mad fallen. A WOman's soul might we'll
be overcrowded with such sorrow and
such fear. but there was more. Her
Two boys had thrown in their lot shortly
before with the italian r~evolutionists,
and had fought, and a distinguished
themselves. And now that the revolu-
ton OF the ROnagna was a failure, that
the Austrian army was advancing VIC
torfously, now that death had taken
the older to safety. the younger-Louis
the invalid lad in tbs oom beyond.
was In imminent danger. He was ex-
cepted from the general amnesty: the
natural waye Of escape were closed, for
the authorities OF Tuscany and Of
Switzerland had let her NOW that the
prince would not be permitted In those
territories. From Rome two. Of her
sons uncles. Cardinal Fesch n King
Jerome. had sent word that II were
taken by the Austrians he was lost.
And at the moment when Hortense had
decided to carry her boy off to Turkey
by way Of Corfu, an Austrian fleet ap-
peared In the Adriatic.
But the spirit n the wit Of the girl
OF MalmaisOn were strong In the w0m-
an who must save her son. Wherever
winning wa her personality: wherever
h went she found old friends who had
not forgotten her. There had been a
young English earl in the Malmaison
days who had lost his steady heart
70 the piquant fascination Of tho
at him from the side Of jose
phine. He had gone away saddened,
but had never quite forgotten his
French sweetheart. At Florence. q
month before. he had appeared. and to
his influence she owed q British pass
port made out for an English lady trav..
cling with two sons. No n would
suspect that she would dare take the
route described In it-through Paris to
EnSiand-but Hortense dared much al
ways. and everything for her children.
She had set out from Florence to md
them. to draw them from the doomed
the Austrians. When abe found them.
Napoleon. the elder. was dead and
Lewis was coming down with his