The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-09-18
Rescued
An American Girl Is
BeSieged by For
eign SuitOrs
By ETHEL HOLMES

You will scarcely believe your senses
my dear, when you receive this my an
nouncement that l am married. Just
think When you left me only two
days ago told you that under no con
ditiOn whatever would l marry, be
cause knew of no man wished tc
marry, and yet here am l married
And doubtless you will exclaim: Poor
Irene, after all my warnings! Some
one of the hunters for her ten millions
has bagged the game. And now that
he has got her and the millions he will
hang on to the money and the wife
will have to take care Of herself"
But you are wrong, my dear, entire
ly wrong. l have married the best
man in the world, one who loves me
devotedly. Why will people insist that
a sordid interest must always prevail
over the yearnings Of the heart? My
case at least affords an instance where
In love has risen superior to avarice.
But / must begin at the beginning
or, rather, at the beginning of the end
You know all till the 18th, the date of
my parting with you You know that
had promised the count an answer on
the 18th. that a new and attractive
offer from Prince Fiegenheim had been
made to me on the 18th and that, while
the count was delightful man, TIRE.
spective of his title, to be princess
was far more attractive than being q
countess. Meanwhile General Du Poni
had cabled me from Parts that he was
about to sail for America hoping to in.
duce me to reconsider my refusal OF
him.
On looking over my memorandum
book counted seventeen other offers,
including six titles. Can you blame
me for becoming confused? Count Pc
linski stopped at the hotel at which l
was living and would not let me out of
his sight. The prince, who Is wealthy
-he Is an old man-was more digni-
fed, more ceremonious, but he would
not take mo" for an answer. His is
one Of the oldest families in Prussia,
and he Is on intimate terms with the
emperor. The Earl Of Mieleton was
at Newport when you left-he is the
Englishman, you know-but sent me q
long letter from there explaining that
with my fortune he and could put his
castle In order and entertain royalty.
Perhaps If there had not been so
many and such tempting offers | might
have taken up with some one Of them.
But no sooner did get my mind fixed
on the advantages OF one than was
called upon to consider those of an
other The prince would tell me OF the
dinners we would have with the en-
peror and empress and the great social
advantages to be derived therefrom.
Then the count would describe the Jew
els that have been in his family for
centuries, and the exquisite pleasure Of
possessing them almost tempted me to
decide In his favor. But while was
thinking about them the fact that the
earl is an English peer with seat In
the house Of lords would come up be-
fore me, and you know the English no.
bility is the finest In the world. But
there is one thing about the Micletons
that isn't bit nice-the family de-
rived its estates through one Of the
mistresses Of a former king of Eng
land.
Oh, dear! My brain begins to whirl
again of thinking Of all these induce
ments that were so lately pulling me
in every direction. / thought how nice
it would be If they could all be united
in one man. To be German princess
and sit at the emperor's table, a peer
ess of England and be received at
buckingham palace. a Polish countess
and wear family jewels o thousand
years old almost wished we could
have that system that was In vogue in
olden times-Polly Andrew, think IL
was called-whereby a woman could
have as many husbands as she pleased.
q have looked the word up In the die
tionary, and it's polyandrousl Just
think! / could have been O German
princess. an English peeress and a
Polish countess.
As was telling you. the day after
you left found myself In a very un-
comfortable position. l had promised
the count an answer, the prince was of
too high a rank to keep waiting, Gen.
eral Du Pont. who. by the by, didn't
tell you comes of one of the Oldest
families in France and may be presi-
dent some day, arrived from Paris and
the Earl Of AIicleton came down from
Newport. What do you suppose7 Pc
linski was waiting in my private par
lor for his answer when up comes the
princes card. At that moment a note
is handed me from General Du Pont
stating that he had arrived and would
call at noon. 1t was then IL. While
reading his note another waiter hands
me the card Of the Earl Of Micleton.
What was to dor
just sat down and cried. But !
shed only a few tears. hadn't time.
/ must think, or, rather, must act.
My first thought was to accept the
prince, he being Of the highest rank
and considering his intimacy with the
emperor and all that But Just could
not give up being peeress Of England.
General Du Pont had come all the way
from France to plead his cause, and
there was possible presidency Of the
French republic in his suit. AS to Pc
linski, had promised him an answer
ON that very day and had led him to
believe that it would be favorable.
Besides. I got to thinking Of certain
gem he had described to me among
those family jewels. 1t seemed Il
sparkle Just as If it were really before
my very eyes.
1t was dreadful, these four men al
pushing their claims and ! not able tt
fix my mind on any one Of them to ths
exclusion of the others And then thinh
Of the difficulty Of handling 80 many
suitors at once! That alone was enough
to set one Wild.
You know the saying the homeopathic
have, Like cures like" Well, tC
handle all these men was obliged tC
can LIP man. John Jones has bad
full charge of my property ever since
father died and has managed 1t very
well and, ! believe, very honestly.
knew l had something far more diff
cult to manage than property, and
John was the only person could think
of to help me. just telephoned him
to come right up from his Office He
telephoned back that he was conclud
ing the sale Of one of my buildings
that he was anxious to get rid Of and
desired to nail the transaction, fearing
another building would be sold instead
Of mine told him that If the whole
estate were in danger Of being lost
wanted him to come right up anyway
In ten minutes after that he arrived.
l told him Of the four men who wert
trying to get at me to marry me.
Have you no preference3" he asked