Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-10-26
Rescued
An American Girl Is
Besieged by For
eign Suitors
By ETHEL HOLMES

LII oC0l. ohCA YOU iONOANC ms MJ I'll
nouncemeI@ that | am married. Just
think! When you left me only two
days ago l told you that under no con
dition whatever would l marry, be-
marry, and yet here am l married.
And doubtless you viii eXclaim: poor
Irene, after all my warnings! Some
one of the hunters for her ten millions
has bagged. the game. And now that
be has got her and the millions he will
hang OF to the money and the wife
will have to take care of herself"
But you are wrong, my dear, entire
~ wrong. | 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 warnings 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 10Th. the date of
my parting with you. You know that
1 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 a delightful man, ire
spective of his title, to be a princess
was far more attractive than being a
countess. Meanwhile General Du Pont
had cabled me from Paris that he was
about to sail for America hoping to In
duce nj to reconsider my refusal of
him.
On looking over my memorandum
book l counted seventeen other offers,
including six titles! Can you blame
me for becoming confused? Count Po-
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 al old man-waS more digni-
fled, more, ceremonious, but he would
not take NO for an answer. His is
one of the oldest families In Prussia,
and he is on intimate terms with the
emperor. The Earl Of Micleton was
at Newport when you left-he is the
Englishman, you know-but sent me a
long letter from there explaining that
with my fortune he and l could put his
castle in order and entertain royalty.
Perhaps if there had not been so
many and such tempting offers I might
have taken up with some one Of them.
But no sooner did l get my mind fixed
N the advantages of one than l 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 l was
thinking about them the fact that the
earl is an English peer with a 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 n thing about the Micletons
that isn't a bit nice-the family de-
rived it's estates through one of the
mistresses of a former king of Eng
land.
oh, dear! My brain begins to whirl
again at thinking of all these induce
ments that were sc lately pulling me
in every direction. / thought how nice
1t would be If they could all be united
In n man. To be a German princess
and sit at the emperor's table, a peer
ess of England and be received ar
Buckingham palace, a Polish countess
and wea family jewels a thousand
-nar1 oI1 I olro4r4 x-fo6oJ xv1 could
have that system that was in vogue In
olden ti~mes-Polly Andrew, l think 1t
was called-whereby a woman could
have as many husbands as she pleased.
q have looked the word up in the die
%tionary, and ITS polyandrous.) Just
think! I could have been a German
princess, an English peeress and a
Polish countess.
As l was telling you, the day after
you left 1 found myself in a very I'M
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, l didn't
tell you comes of me of the Oldest
families in France and may be presi-
dent some day, arrived from Paris, and
the Earl of Micleton came down from
Newport. What do you suppose? Pc
linski was waiting in my private par
Tor 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 II. While
reading his note another waiter hands
me the CARD of the Earl of Micleton.
What was I to do?
l just sat down and cried. But !
shed only a few tears. l hadn't time.
I must think, or, rather, l must act.
My first thought was to accept the
prince, he being of the highest rank
n considering his intimacy with the
emperor and all that. But l just could
not give up being a peeress of England.