The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-07-23
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MOTHER OF A PRINCE.

THE MOTHER OF a PRINCE
The walls Of the palace at Ancona
cropped to the sea; against them the
saves danced. Out on the blue watel
ay r. fleet of fishing boats. and the
wind Tapped torn sails. and the UNI
light glanced on battered hulls and lit
sered decks. The woman who sat by
PA open window of the palace pushed
d black trailing of her gown from
har, as IL the somberness hurt her eyes;
she aid her head against the window
frame and stared at the breeze-tosse
waves n the fishing fleet.
1T may be our only hope of Escape
those Wretched boats" she said, half
Aloud, and her blue eyes were full OF
hadness, almost of hopeIessness.
a sound caught her ear. and she
Hfted her head quickly. The door into
khe next room was partly open and
some ono 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, and gazed out once more to the
water.
There had been a spirited young girl
Yoars before who had romped In the
fardens of Malmaison, who had led the
laughter which echoed through those
venue of lime and pIantain, whose
sweetness and vivacity had drawn the
agtre of Napoleon himself into the
vortex Of %gladnesS which was her at
mosphere. Always brightness seemed
to Follow her through the enchantment
OF the place; always she seemed to
move In gaicty. Today, on q March
morning Of 1880, this vas she-Hor-
tense.
The daughter of France she had been,
tho queen OF Holland, and now for
years an exile. Here, i'll, a fugitive. In
her nephew's palace at Ancona, with
the Austrians at the gate Of the city,
she waited in anxiety almost more in
tonse than She could bear the word of
the doctor as to her son, Five days
before, at Forli, her older boy had died.
and her sore heart stirred with q sick
bntng throh 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
had sallen. A woman's soul, might well
be oyercrowded with such sorrow n
such fear. but there was more. Her
two boys had thrown in their lot shortly
before with the italian rev~olutionists,
and had fought, and had distinguished
themselves And now that the revolu-
ton of the Romagna was a failure, that
the Austrian army was advancing vic
hcrtous1y, now that death had taken
The older to safety, the younger-Louis
the invalid lad In the room beyond,
was In imminent danger. He was ex-
cepted from the general amnesty; the
natural ways of escape We're closed, for
the authorities of Tuscany and of
Switzerland had let her know that the
prince would not be permitted in those
territories. From Rome two OF her
sons uncles, Cardinal Fesch and King
Jerome, had sent word that II were
taken by the Austrians he was lost.
And at the moment when Hortense had
Anrfdad IN m 1,-xY hnr hnxrY nfF IN Ut,rlrav
by way Of Corfu, an Austrian fleet APP
peared in the Adriatic.
But the spirit and the wit Of the girl
OF Malmaison were strong In the wom-
an who must save her son. Wherever
nhe went she made new friends, SO
she e 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 the
Princess Hortense as she laughed
phine. He had gone away s%addened,
but had lever quite forgotten his
French sweetheart. At Florence. a
month before. he had appeared. and to
his influence she owed a British pass
port made out for In English lady trav-
cling with two sons. No one would
suspect that h would dare take the
route described In Through Paris to
Nngland-but Hortense dared much al
ways, and everything for her children.
She had set out from Florence to find
them, to draw them from the doomed
army OF insurgents; to save them from
the Austrians. When she found them.
Napoleon. the elder, was dead and
lewis was coming down with his
brothers malady. But the boy kept up
for his mothers sake. and the two.
fresh from their loss. had pressed hur-
redly to Ancona. for there was not a
moment to spare. So Ill herself that
the arrangements for their escape;
Gnglish liveries. q bed In the caleche.
al were arranged; even the tragedy of
duing the place OF the lost boy was ac-
oomplished-as 1t must be. for her
passport read for an English woman
With two sons. The young Marquis
zappi. bearer of dispatches from the
rovolutionists to Paris, gladly agreed
- travel with them. Suddenly Louis
collapsed. File had been dangerously
III for days. but had borne UP pluckily,
hiding every sign 50 that hesmlght help
hts mother. The collapse had beer the
day before. and the doctor had prom
Used that "a hours rest would give him
strength 70 risk the journey SO neces-
nary 10 him.
In such q critical state were the af-
xAirs OF the black-gowned woman who
Eaxed from the palace windows to the
eea. The doctor was with her SON. The
boys condition seemed to her nc better.
but worse thar the day before; she
waited unofficial verdict. The door
opened and she looked up as aftall
man am In.
doctor she stammered and stopped
she feaHfdst ask.
+ III fhajesty.a the Old man said
Ernyely @L gTieve to bo the bearer OF
b bad news,
He is worse. d~octor??" The words
came with a gasp: she felt that She
nouldt not q & more troublG.
Yes, your majesty. the fever has In
cgonsed since yesterday. With his youth
~ strength We may hope-M he Is