The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-06-08
times NOVEL A WEEK
sBY Z. PHILLIPS oPPENHEIM

It is about thirty feet from the
ground, but they had a sort of APP
paratus for pulling up the bar
rels. and a rope ladder for the
men"
The Princess sighed gently.
I'VE will see Ii tomorrow. she
said; now shall We play bridget?
Cecil led the way out of the
dining-room into q smaller apart
ment.
The Princess seated herself be-
fore a Louis Quinze eard-table.
and threw a pack of cards across
the faded green baize cloth.
"Shall we challenge these two
boys. NigeI?" she asked.
Il am perfectly willing" For
rest answered. shall We cut for
deaI?"
Cecil de la Borne leaned over
and turned up a card.
am quite content, he re-
marked. what do you say, Eng
leton?"
Engleton hesitated for a mo-
ment.
LET us cut for partners" he
drawled. 81 am afraid of the
EE1hCcss anu fOilcSt. Inc last
time l found them a quite irwin
chile couple"
The Princess glanced toward
Forrest. who only shrugged his
shoulders.
Just as you WILL" he answered.
He turned up an ace and the
Princess a three.
After ALL" he remarked. with
a smile. lit seems as though fate
were going to link us together. p"
II am not so sure, Cecil de la
Borne said, also throwing down
an ace. 1T depends now upon
Engleton."
Engleton drew a card at ran
dom from the pack. FORESTS eyes
seemed to narrow a little as he
looked down at It. Engleton had
| drawn another ace.
Forrest and l." he remarked.
Jolly low cutting, too, Forrest,
but / think this is our first rub
Der together. Here's good luck to
us!'
They cut again for deal. and
the game proceeded.
Jeanne had moved across
| towards the window, and laid her
fingers upon the heavy curtains.
Cecil de la Borne, who was
dummy, got up and stood by her
side.
''Can you see the sea from here
4 In the daytime, Mr.. De Ia
Borne?" she asked.
1T is scarcely a hundred yards
away" he answered.
The girl stood looking out into
I the darkness. Outside, the wind
and sea imposed their thunder
upon the land. Within. there was
no sound but the softer patter of
the cards, the languid voices of
the four who played bridge. A
curious little company. on the
whole.
The Princess of Strurm, whose
birth was as sure as her social
standing was doubtful, ignored by
the great heads of her family. i'm
poverished. living no one knew
how, yet remaining the legal
guardian of a setpdaughter. who
was reputed to be one of the
greatest heiresses in Europe.
| The courts had moved to have
her set aside, and failed. A Car
/ Qlnal Oh HtI ldl6 huSbhbu y Adilhs
| empowered to treat with her on
behalf of his relations. offered a
| fortune for her cession of Jeanne.
and was laughed at his pains.
| Whatever her life had been, she
remained custodian of the child
of the great banker whom she had
married late in life.
Jeanne, she was determined.
should enter life under her wing,
and hers only. In the end she
had her way. Jeanne, Just from
her convent school in France, was
entering life now, not through
| the respectable but somewhat
bourgeois avenue by which her
great moneyed relatives would
have led her, but under the aus
pices of her stepmother, whose
position as chaperon to a great
heiress had already thrown open
a great many doors which would
have been permanently closed to
her in any other guise.
Then there was Lord Ronald
| Engleton. an orphan brought up
In Paris, a dabbler in all modern
liniquities, redeemed from folly
only by a certain cleverness. He
had excellent qualities, which he
did his best to conceal.
BY his side sat Forrest, more
than middle-aged, a man who had
| wandered all over the world who