Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-03-29
that, he had a chance for life.

haU Ill lahC I liz lAliDA VI
his cap, and pass it to the king.
Karl took it. The smile was gone
now, and something ugly and terrible
had taken it's place. But that, too,
faded as he looked at the letter.
Ii vas a blank piece of note paper.
y :
With the approach of the anniver-
sary of his sons death, the king grew
increasingly restless. Each year he de-
termined to put away this old grief,
and each year, as his bodily weakness
increased, he found it harder to do so.
On other years he had had the crown
prince with him as much as possible
on this dreary day of days. But the
crown prince was exiled, in disgrace.
Not even for the comfort of his small
presence could stern discipline be re-
Taxed.
Annunciata was not much comfort to
him. They had always differed, more
or less, the truth being, perhaps, that
she was too much like the king ever
to sympathize fully with him. Both
were arrogant, determined, obstinate.
And those qualities, which age was be-
ginning to soften in the king, were
now, in Annunciata, in full strength
and blooming.
But there was more than fundamen-
tai similarity at fault. Against her
father the archduchess held her I'M
happy marriage.
And now, secretly willing that He'd,
wig should marry Karl, she was ready
to annoy him by objecting to it.
On the day after her conversation
with General Mettlich, she visited the
king. 1t was afternoon. The king had
spent the morning in his study, prop
ped with pillows as was always the
case now, working with a secretary.
The secretary was gone when she en-
tered, and he sat alone.
He had passed a trying day. Once
having broken down the chancellor's
barrier of silence, the king had in
sisted on full knowledge, with the re-
suit that he had sat, aghast, amid the
ruins of his former complacency. The
country and the smaller cities were
comparatively quiet, so far as demon
STATIONS against the government were
concerned. But unquestionably they
plotted. AS for the capital, it was a
seething riot of sedition, from the re-
ports. A copy of a newspaper, secret
ly printed and more secretly circu-
lated, had brought fire to the kings
eyes. 1t lay on his knees as his
daughter entered.
swell, father" she said, looking
down at him, "how do you feel?"
"Sit down." he said. The question
as to his health was too perfunctory
to require reply.
Annunciata sat, with a jingling of
chains. She chose a straight chair,
and faced him, very erect.
"How old is Hedwig?" demanded the
king.
Nineteen"
"Hedwig is old enough to marry.
Her grandmother was not nineteen
when I married her"
ut would be better" said An
n~unciata, ito marry her while she is
| 1OuuS3 OClOlC OAC hAON0 any D(bANA
"Any better than what?' inquired
the king testify.
"Any better than to marry at ALL"
The king eyed her. She was not,
then, even attempting to hide her
claws. But he was an old bird, and
not to be caught in an argumentative
cage.
There are several possibilities for
Hedwig," he said. II have gone into
the matter pretty thoroughly. AS you
know, l have had this on my mind for
some time. 1t is necessary to arrange
things before I-go."
The king, of course, was neither
asking nor expecting sympathy from
her, but mentally, and somewhat grim
ly, he compared her unmoved face with
that of his old friend and chancellor,
only a few nights before.
at is q regrettable fact" he went
on, shat / must leave, as 1 shall, a sad
ly troubled country. But for that
he paused. But for that, he meant,
he would gladly go. He needed rest.
lis 0R41Al, 0l1AA 81 dAAfS3 eAAC 0NAAJ
more and more against its worn body,
He believed in another life, did the old
king. He wanted the hearty handclasp
of his boy again. Even the wife who
had married him against her will had
grown close to him in later years. He
needed her too. A little rest, then,
and after that a new life, with those
who had gone ahead.
"a sadly troubled country" he re-
peated.
"AlI countries are troubled. We are
no worse than Others"
"Perhaps moi. But things are
changing. The old order is changing.
The spirit of unrest-I shall not live
to see 1t. You may, Annunciata. But
the day is coming when all thrones
will totter. Like this one"
Now at last he had pierced her