The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-08-11

curiOusly enough, the king told me
yesterday that his two old aunts. who
formerly lived in our wing of the pal
ace, had sometimes heard the clatter
of horses hoOfs, the jingle of harness,
the grinding OF brakes, and the rum
bling of heavy carriage wheels"
HIN! % grunted the emperor. 1--WE
heard that same story before, Louisa.
The departing coach means trouble to
the reigning family"
THAT is exactly what the king said
to me only last evening"" answered
Louisa frankly. docs it mean trouble
to me, wonder?"
Certainly not" I declared. Your
imperial highness need not worry for
one moment over such things. Nobody
nowadays regards such phenomena as
presage of evil There is no doubt
some perfectly natural explanation of
the sounds. Every old palace, castle
and even private house, has its tradi-
tiOns.''
The Kaisers Merry Mood
Then the emperor, after acknowl-
edging the salute of Baron Georg Won
Metzsch, controller of the royal house
hold-a tall, thin, crafty-eyed man,
with hair tfnged with gray, and wear
ing a dark blue uniform and many
decorations-cha the topic of con-
versatio9.
The kaiser was in particularly merry
mood that night. He had gone to Ores
den against his inclination, for he had
long ago arranged an Easter review
on the TempelhOfer Field, but the visit
was, knew, for the purpose of con-
sultation in secret with the king of
SaxOny.
Several times I wondered upon what
his majesty of Saxony had stumbled.
That morning the emperor and king
had been closeted alone together for
fully three hours, and the outcome of
the secret conference seemed to have
put the all-highest into a most excel
lent mood.
The Saxon crown prince and his
wife were at that time most devoted
couple, though all of US knew that
the modern ideas Louisa had brought
to Dresden from the Hapsburg court
had much shocked old King George
and his cOnsort. The Saxon court was
unused to a pretty women with buoy
ant spirits rejoicing in life with CAPT
tai e.
According to the court whisperings,
trouble had started few days after
marriage, when the king, having given
his daughter-in-law a tiara of dia-
monds, royal heirloom, with strict
injunctions to wear them just as they
,,
tury-he one evening at the opera saw
her wearing the stones reset in that
style known as art nouveau. The king
became furious, and ordered them to
be set again in their original settings,
whereupon Louisa coOlly returned the
present.
Such was the commencement of the
old kings iIl-feeling toward her.
The state ball that night was GER
tainIy a brilliant one for such a small
court, and next day we all returned
to Potsdam. Louisa, in a depressed
mood, for while dancing with Count
Won Casten Rudenhausen of the Prus-
sian Guard her lovely rope of pearls
had suddenly parted as though cut by
knife.
A Mysterious Absence.
Before we left Dresden, however,
met the crown princess in one of the
corridors. 1t was nine o'clock in the
morning. She wore her riding-habit,
having just come in from her morning
canter.
"WeIl, countI'' she laughed $50
you are leaving US Unexpectedly! !
oh Tn To n 81 RI
PotSdam soon. The emperor invited
me last night Au revoir!''
Her imperial highness paid her
promised visit to the empress at the
Neues Palais in July.
At the time of her arrival the en-
peror had left suddenly and gone away
to Hubertusstock. When anything IN
usual upset him he always went there
I overheard him the day before his de
| parture shouting to Lohlein as passed
| along one of the corridors. The judi
cial councillor seemed to be trying tc
pacify him, but apparently entirely
without avail.
You are as sly as all the rest =
I heard the emperor declare in that
shriIl, high-pitched tone which always
denotes his anger. 'Tn hear none OF
it-no excuses. I want no fawning
no Jew-juggling.'
The next heard was that the kaiser
had left for that lonely retreat t.
| which he went when he wished to BIZ
alone in those periods of crazy impetu
osity which periodically seized him
and further, that he had taken will
him his crafty erony, LOhlein.
During that mysterious absence
when the tinseled world of Potsdan
seemed at peace-the good-lookinj
Saxon crown princess arrived.
was on duty on the railway plat
form to bow over her hand and to vel
come her.
"Ahi Count Won Beltzendorff Well
did I not say that 1 should not b.
very long before returned TO Pots
dam, eh7'' she exclaimed. Then Wit
a merry laugh: do you remembe
those gathering hoofs and my brokel
rope of pearls? Nothing has haI
pened yet"
An Angry Emperor.
Il Three days later an incident occur
red which caused me a good deal o
, thought, and, truth to tell, mystifie