The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-19

years old, and she certainly was 8 fright when she cried, and, my lords, she cried all the time- No, I'll not marry her. Be good enough to say to the Prince Of Dawsbergen that I'm very much obliged to him, but it's quite out of the question:
 And the hfteen-year-old crown prin- cess, 400 miles away, cool1y informed her doting parents that she was tired of being a princess anyway and very much preferred marrying some one who lived in a cottage. In fine, she stamped her little foot and said she'd jump into the river before she'd marry the Prince of Graustark.
 "But he's 8 very handsome, adorable boy,'' began her mother
 And half American, just as you are, my child,'' put in her father encourag- ingly Nothing could be more suit able than
 ''I don't intend to marry anybody until I'm thirty at least. so that ends it, daddy-I mean your poor old high ness.'
 Naturally we do not expect you to be married before you are out of short frocks, my dear,'' said Prince Dantan stifhy. "But a betrotha1 is quite another thing. It is customary to arrange these marriages years be- fore''-
 ''Is Prince Robin in love with me?'
 ffI-ahem-that's very silly ques- tion. He hasn't seen you since you were a baby. But he will be in love with you, never fear"
 "He may be in love with some one else, for all we know, so where do come in?''
 Come in?'' gasped her father.
 She's part American, dear" ex- plained the mother with her prettiest smile
 Besides said the crown princess, with fnality, "Tm not even going to be engaged to a man I've never seen. And if you insist, I'll run away as sure as anything.'f
 And so the matter rested. Five years have passed since the initial over lures were made by the two courts, and although several sly attempts were made to bring the young people to a proper understanding of their case they aroused nothing more than scornfuI laughter on the part of the principals.
 And no one saw the portentous shad- ow cast by the slim daughter of Will liam w. Blithers. for the simple req son that neither Graustark nor Daws- bergen knew that it existed. They lived in serene ignorance of the fact that God, while he was about it, put Maud App1egate B1ithers into the world on precisely the same day that the crown princess of DawsbeEgen first saw the light of day.
 On the twenty-second anniversary of his birth Prince Robin fared forth in quest of love and romance, not with out hope of adventure for he was a valorous chap with the heritage of warriors in his veins. Said he to him. self, in dreamy contemplation of the long journey ahead of him: 'I will traverse the great highways that my mother trod, and I will look for the Golden Girl sitting by the wayside. She must be there, and though it is a wide world, am young and my eyes are sharp. I will find her sitting at the roadside eager for me to come, not housed in a gloomy castle surrounded by the spooks of a hundred ancestors They who live in castles wed to hate. and they who wed at the roadside live to love. Fortune attend me! If love des at the roadside waiting do not let me pass it by. All the princesses are not inside the castles. Some sit out
 
 love 1s their companion. So away I go, Ia, la! looking for the princes with the happy heart and the smiling lips! It is a wide world, but my eyes are sharp I shall find my princess
 But, alas, for his fine young dream, he found no golden girl at the roadside nor anything that suggested romance. There were happy hearts and smiHng n11 for. lii but he passed them by, for his eyes were sharp and his wits awake And so at last he came to Gotham, his heart as free as the air he breathed, confessing that his quest had been in vain. History failed to repeat itself. His mothers, romance would stand alone and shine without a flicker to the end of time. There could be no counterpart.
 well, I had the fun of looking,'' he philosophical Go himself, for no man knew of his secret projecD and grin ned with sort of amused tolerance for the sentimental side of his nature. I'm sff4y ass to have even dreamed of finding her as I passed along, and if I had found her what the deuce could have done about it anyway? This isn't the day for medieval lady snatching. I dare say I'm just as well off for not having found her. I still have the zest for hunting farther, and there's a lot in that.'' Then aloud, Hobbs, are we on timer"
 ''We are, sir,'' said Hobbs without even glancing at his watch. The train was passing One Hundred and Twen- ty-ffth street. gro the minute, sir. We will be in in ten minutes if noth- ing happens. MT. King will be at the station to meet you, sir. Any orders, sir?''
 Yes; pinch me, Hobbs
 Pinch your highnessl" in amaze ment. My word, sir, wot''-
 'I just want to be sure that the dream is over, Hobbs. Never mind. You needn't pinch me. I'm awake and Ia z,1.cva it ho Stratchad his Gna