The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-07-23
CHAPTER XVI
THE MOTHER OF A PRINCE.

~ - CHAPTER XVI
THE MOTHER OF A PRINCE.
The walls OF the palace at AT.cona
cropped to the sea; against them the
waves danced. Out on the blue water
~ fleet OF fishing boats, and the
wind Tapped torn sails. and the sun
nght glanced on battered hulls and lit
bersd decks. The woman who sat by
N open window of the palace pushed
kho black trailing OF her gown from
~. as II the somberness hurt her eyes;
nho laid her head against the window
0ame and stared at the breeze-tossed
UAyes and the fishing fleet.
1t may be our only hope OF escape
hose wretched boats" she said, half
aloud. and her blue eyes were full of
nAAness, almost of hopelessness.
A sound caught her ear. and she
Hfted her head quickly. The door into
The next room was partly open and
pczne one moved there, that was all.
phe turned, the lines OF her figure fall
ln9 again into melancholy pose.
The doctor takes long time" she
spoke, and gazed out once more to the
water. a.
There had been a spirited young girl
yoArs before who had romped In the
gardens of Malmaison, who had led the
laughter which echoed through those
avenues OF lime and plantain, whose
nweetness and vtvacity had drawn the
HGure Of Napoleon himself into the
vortex OF gladness which was her at
Enosphere. Always brightness seemed
% follow her through the enchantment
q the place; always she seemed to
move In gaiety. Today, on q March
morning OF 1880. this was she--Hor-
tenge.
TTh. Aa,ohta. 80 rsrarno s,,o No haav,
the queen OF Holland, and now for
pears an exile. Here, IN, fugitive, in
her nephew's palace at Ancona, with
ne Austrians at the gate Of the city.
rhe waited in anxiety almost more in
Asnse than she could bear the word OF
The doctor as 70 her son. Five days
before. at Forli, her older boy had died,
and her sore heart stirred with sick
oning throb as she thought of this other
r--Louis--now her only child, lying In
The room beyond in q high fever. Ill
with the disease with which his brother
had fallen. A woman's soul might well
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 revplutionists,
and had fought, and had distinguished
themselves. And now that the revolu-
ton Of the Romagna was failure, that
chs Austrian army was advancing VIC
Aoriously. now that death had taken
tho older TO safety, the younger-Louis
tho invalid lad In the room beyond,
wAa In imminent danger. He was ex-
Oopted from the general amnesty; the
natural ways OF escape were 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
decided to carry her boy off to Turkey
BY way OF Corfu an Austrian fleet ap-
peared In the Adriatic.
But the spirit and the wit OF the girl
Of Malmaison were strong In the wom-
nm who must save her son. Wherever
nhe went she made new friends. so
winning was her personality; wherever
ohe went she found old friends who had
not forgotten her. There had been
young English earl In the Malmaison
days who had lost his steady heart
10 the piquant fascination OF the
princess Hortense as she laughed
a him from the side of Jose
mime. He had gone away saddened,
but had never quite forgotten his
French sweetheart. At Florence.
month before. he had appeared. and to
his influence she owed British pass
cling with two SONS. No one would
suspect that she would dare take the
route described in it--through Paris TO
BneTand--but Hortense dared much al
ways, and everything for her children.
she had set out from Florence to IND
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
LAWS 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-
riedly to Ancona, for there was not a
ohe could not stand alone she made AL
The arrangements for their escape;
6nglish liveries, a bed In the caleche.
I'll were arranged; even the tragedy OF
Ming the place Of the lost boy was ac-
oornplished--as II must be, for her
passport read for an English woman
with two sons. The young Marquis
1appi. bearer OF dispatches from the
Povolutionists to Paris. gladly agreed
- travel with them. Suddenly Louis
oollapsed. He had been dangerously
III for days. but had borne UP pluckily,
hiding every sign so that he might help
his mother. The collapse had been the
\ day before. and the doctor had prom
lad that "a hours rest would give him
strength TO risk the journey so neces-
nAry to him.
In such critical state were the af-
fairs OF the black-gowned woman who
gA1ed from the palace windows to the
ga. The doctor was with her son. The
boys condition seemed to her no better,
but worse than the day before; she
waited an official verdict. The door
OpeneS and she looked up as tall
man came In.
Doctor she stammered ana stopped
---She feared to ask.
"Your majesty" the old man said
gravely. II grieve to be the bearer Of
had news" ID
He is worse. doctor ?" The words
came with a gasp; she felt that she
could not face move trouble.
Oroaged since yesterday. With his youth
nnd skrength we may hope1f he "a