The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-06-02
Question Of
Money
BY WARREN MILLER

fornia forty MINER" inherited from
his progenitor not only wealth, bu
something Of his brusqueness. jim
went to Italy soon after completing hi
education, where he fell In with one
Of the many princes of that country,
man of fifty, with family OF mar
riageable daughters. 1t occurred tc
Jim that, since he was known to be
very rich, he might aspire to the hand
of one of these princesses notwith
standing that be was commoner
Jim asked an Italian friend what he
thought about 1t, and the friend said
that a match might be brought about
but 1t must be done In the European
and not the American way.
Jim, after long elaboration, conclud-
ed to enter the matrimonial machine
and get himself ground out a husband.
In Z way he would be free to back out
provided he was willing to appear to
turn down . girl who would not be per-
mitted to turn him down, whether she
liked him or not, for her father had the
disposition Of her hand and If he gave
his consent to the match that settled
the matter for his daughter.
The Princess Lita was twenty years
old snd beautiful girl, but any girl
brought out for inspection by the man
who has been provided to be her hus-
bsnd ID naturally at disadvantage.
The princess was tongue tied during
the whole visit, and when Jim left the
pslasSo he drew a sigh Of relief
"Great heavensw he said to htm-
self. "Just think Of having to spend
i lifetime with a woman as hard to
talk to a. THAR
Jim was now as anxious to with
draw from the affair as he had been
to get into 1t. He had thought much
and with pride upon taking princess
back home with him as his wife. but
even this honor was not enough to
mako up for living with a woman who
had not spoken word to him during
his visit.
The next question was how to with
draw from the arrangement. After
much thought and discarding many
plans Jim settled on the following:
He would say that so beautiful, so
high born a lady, would be considered
in America to have demeaned herself
by marrying a miners grandson and
her place in American society would
he equivocal. For that reason mar
riage between them would be inadvts-
able.
Jim turned this over in his mind,
looking at 1t from every point OF view,
and considered 1t stroke of genius
He communicated 1t to the prince, who
said nothing, but was much disap-
pointed at the failure to provide for
one of his daughters, especially since
his finances were in an extremely low
state. Jim asked permission to send |
token of his own disappointment to
the young lady. 1t was granted, pro-
vided the article was not Of any pecu |
MARY value Jim sent through the |
prince brooch consisting of cluster |
of diamonds
Jim, through the American minister,
secured an invitation to a reception of
the king of Italy at the Quirinal pal
ace. He got himself up In as fine style
as possible. but since most of the men
present wore some sort Of uniform
Jim's ordinary evening dress looked
commonplace. A group of men sur
rounded a young lady who was evil
IDENTITY attracting them with her viyaci-
ty. Jim approached in order to get a
view Of her and recognized the prin-
cess he had turned down. Later he
met her walking with man en-
blazoned with medals and was prepar-
Ing to give her courtly bow when
she passed him, chatting in an ami
mated fashion with her attendant but
without the slightest recognition Of |
him. {
Nothing viii demoralize a man so
quickly as being ignored by a woman. ]
Jim realized that he had made a guy
IF himself. Either he had no business a
to ask the prince for his daughter or
he should have accepted the gift when
made. But Jim was thrown out Of
MS equilibrium by another considera-
ion. He had declined a belle, one :
whose yivacity was as apparent on :
his second meeting as was her stiff /
less on the first. He deplored having
urned down not only princess, but {
'ery attractive princess. o
After q weeks consideration as TO | f
he practical ility Of undoing what he o
lad done he remembered that he had u
'een told that the princess hand was u
It the disposal OF her father and her Ct
ather was in the market financially a
or a husband for her. Jim concluded :
o submit the matter to him, feeling
ssured that IL he could control his
laughter the door would still be open
0 him.
So he called on the prince and told
i'm that he had determined to make
Is home in Italy and the reasons
Thy he had considered marriage with
be princess inadvisable did not per-
hin to any country save America. He
therefore, begged leave to renew his
roposition.
The prince. who seemed disposed to
eep on good terms with him. said that
e was greatly disappointed at being
Dliged to refuse him, but an Austrian
Dbleman who had met his daughter at
lie Quirinal ball had proposed for her
and and had been accepted
Jim was thrown almost into a fever
: this refusal and believed that he
I'd ruined his peace Of mind forever.