Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-03-01
~ ROBERTS RINEHARTaAsp


low tones. But the chancellor, who
had gone In with Karl and then re-
tired, stood by window, with his
arms folded over his chest, and waited.
lie put resolutely out of his mind the
face of the dying man on his pillows.
and thought only of this thing which
Observation-Disclosures brought about
There was no yielding in his face or
in his heart, no doubt of his course.
He saw, instead of the lovers lettering
In the place, new and greater king
dom, anarchy held down by an IRON
j. shod heel, peace and the fruits there
\ Of, until out of very prosperity the
people grew fat and content.
He saw boy king, carefully taught,
growing into his responsibilities until,
big with the vision of the country's
welfare, he should finally ascend the
throne. He saw the river filed with
ships, carrying merchandise over the
world and returning with the wealth
! Of the world. Great buildings, too,
lifted their heads on his horizon, a
dream city, with order for disorder,
4 and citizens instead Of inhabitants.
When at last he stirred and sighed,
4 1t was because his old friend, in his
bed in the next room, would see moth
\ ing of all this, and that he himself
could not hope for more than the be-
ginning, before hissiiine came also.
The first large dinner for months
was given that night at The puacc, to
do King Karl all possible honor. The
geld service which had been presented
! TO the king by the ear of Russia was
used. The anticipatory gloom of the
court was laid aside, and jewels
brought from vaults We're worn for the
first time in months. Uniforms OF
various sorts, but all gorgeous, tolched
tine shoulders, and came away, bear
ing White, powdery traces OF the meet
ing. The greenhouses at the summer
palace had been sacked for flowers and
plants. The corridor from the great
salon to the dining hall, always a
dreary passage had suddenly become
n fairy path of early spring bloom.
! Even Annunciata, hung now with
ropes of pearls, her hair dressed high
/ for a tiara of diamonds, her canoes
! exchanged for pearls, looked royal.
proying conclusively that clutter, as TO
dress, is entirely u matter of value.
Miss Braithwaite, who had begun
recently to think palace the drearlest
place. in the world, and the most COM
inonplace, found the preparations
rather exciting. Being British she
/ dearly loved the aristocracy, and
4 shrugged her shoulders at any family
which took up less than Il page in the
peerage. She resented deeply the in-
trusion of the comInoner into British
politics, and considered Lloyd George
an upstart and an interloper.
That evening she took the crown
prince to see the preparations for the
festivities. The flowers appealed to
him, and he asked for and secured
rose, which he held carefully. But the
magnificence of the table only family
impressed him, and when he heard
that Milky would not be present, he
lost interest entirely. "Will they
wheel my grandfather in in a chairT
he inquired.
HE Is too ILL.," Miss Braithwaite
said.
i "Hell be rather lonely, when they're
all at the party. You don't suppose l
could go and sit with him, do youy'
i "lt will be long after your bed
tine"
Bedtime being the one rule which was
never under and circumstances broken,
he did not persist. TO have insisted
might have meant five marks off in
Miss Braithwaite's book, and his rec
ord was very good that week. To-
gether the elderly English woman and
the boy went back to the school room.
The Countess Loschek, who had
dressed with heavy heart, was easily
! the most beautiful of the women that
night. A little court paid tribute to
her beauty, and bowed the deeper and
! fiattered the more as she openly
scorned and fiouted them. She caught
once a flicker of admiration in Karrs
] face, and although her head went
! high, her heart beat stormily under
/ 1t.
Hedwig was like a flower that re-
! quired the sun. Only her sun was
I happiness. She was in soft white
chiffons. her hair and frock alike girl
{ ish and unpretentious. Her mother.
} coming into her dressing room, had
Feyed her with disfavor.
. you look like schoolgirl" she
! said. and had sent for rouge, and with
her own royal hands applied it. He'd
} wig stood silent, and allowed her to
, fhave her way without protest. Had
submitted, too, to diamond pin in her
hair, and a string of her mothers
! pearls.
! "There," said Annunciata, standing
4 off aud surveying her, .'you look less
J like baby"
She did, indeed 1t took Hedwi2
y quite five minutes to wash the rouge
! on her face, and there was, one nigh
II q wall onpfosr "a p1atnnrt a pnt.