The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-18
caAPTER e
AaAtFImany d pssc..ssed.

s \
esRM DEAR said Mr.. Bnthers.
+ N with decision, lyon can't tell
~ know earssts'' said his
ys9fe. quite az positively. She knew
Fvyhen she could tell him q thing and
when she couldn't-
1t was quite impossible to fmpart in
fornation to Mr. B1ithers when he had
the tips of two reso9ute fingers embed
Sded In his ears Mrs. Bl1thers had
s1fved with her husband, more or less,
for twenty-five years, and she knew
him Ike q book. He was forceful
person who would have his own way.
even though he had to put his fingers
in his ears to get it. Moreover, when
he called her tiny dear instead of the
customary Lou it was a sign of SUI
preme obstinacy on his part and could
not by any stretch of the imagination
be regarded as an Indication Of placid
affection. He always said my dear
at the top of his voice and with great
deal of irascib1lity.
Mr.. William w Blithers was self
made man who had begun his career
by shouting Justify at a team of mules
I'm railway construction camp. Other
drivers had tried to improve on his vo-
cabulary, but even the mules were able
to appreciate the futility of such an
ambition, and later on, when he came
ito own two or three railroads, to say
nothing Of a few mines and a steam
yacht, his ability to drive men was
even more noteworthy than his power
over the Jackasses had been
Mr.. and Mrs. BIthers had been dis
cussing royalty. Up to. the previous
week they had restricted thems Elves to
the mobility, but as an event OF unex-
ampled Importance had TRANSFERRED In
the interim they now felt that it would
be the rankest stuptdity TO consider
any one short Of a prince royal In pick
ing out a suitable huSband-or, more
properly speaking. consort-for their
only daughter, Maud Applegate Blith-
lAers, aged twenty:
Mrs. Bftthers long ago had convinced
her hzss6aad that no ordinary human
being of the male persuasion was .wor
thy of their daughters hand and had
set her heart on having nothing mean
er than a duke on the family roll
BlitSers alluded to it for awhile as the
payFoI-with the choice lying between
England and italy.
But now, just as they were on the
point of accepting in lien of a duke an
exceptionally promising count, the
aforesaid event conspireA to complete
" upset all of their plansAor notions.
so to speak 1t was nothing less than
the arrival In America Of an eligible
prince of the royal blood, a ruling
prince at that. AS a matter of fact. he
had not only arrived In America. bur
upon the vast estate adjoining their
own in the CatskiI1s
Peculiarly promising to their hopes
was the indisputable fact that the
princes mother had married an Aneri-
can, thereby establishing a precedent
behind which no constitutional obstacle
could thrive, and had lived very hap
ply with the gentleman in spite of the
critics.
1t appears that the prince after LET
surely crossing the continent on his way
around the world bad come to the
Truxton Kings for long promised and
much desired visit, the duration of
which depended to some extent on his
own fnclinations and not little on the
outcome OF the war talk that affected
two great European nations-Russfa
and Austria. Mr. B1ithers was in C
position TO know that the little pr1nci-
pality over which the young man reign
ed was bound to be drawn into the
cataelysm not as belligerent or an
ally. but in the matter of loan that
inconveniently expired within the year
and which would hardly be renewed
by Russia with the prospect of vast
expenditures of war threatening her
treasury. The loan undoubtedly would
be called, and Graustark was not in a
position to pay out of her own slender
resources, aeyo years Of famine having
fallen upon the people at a time when
prosperity was most to be desired
It was the private opinion of Mr..
Blithers that the young prince and the
trusted agents who accompanied him
ON his journey were in the United
States solely for the purpose of arrans