Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-04-26

ship.
But Miss Braithwaite lay m%otionless,
her face set in lines of suffering, and
after a time Hedwig rose and tiptoed
out of the room.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto was
excited. Tea had already come, and
on the rare occasions when the COVER
ness was Ill, it was his privilege to
pour the tea.
"Nikky is coming" he said rapidly,
"and the three of us will have a party.
Please don't tell me how you like your
tea, and see If I can remember"
"Very well, DEAR" Hedwig said
gently, and went to- the window.
Milky entered almost Immediately.
As a matter of fact, although he
showed no trace of it, Milky had been
having an extremely bad time since
his return; the chancellor, who may or
may not have known that his heart
was breaking, had given him a very
severe scolding on the way back from
Wedeling. 1t did Milky good, too, for
1t reused him to his own defense, and
made him forget, for a few minutes
anyhow, that life was over for him,
and that the chancellor carried his
death sentence in his old leather dis
patch case.
After that, arriving in the capital,
they had driven to the little office
In a back street, and there Milky had
reused himself again enough to give
a description of Peter Niburg, and to
give the location of the house where
he lived. But he slumped again after
that, ate nc dinner, and spent a long
ish time in the place, staring up at
Annunciata's windows, where he had
once seen Hedwig on the balcony.
Then, late in the evening, Milky
was summoned to the kings bedroom,
and came out pale, with his shoulders
very square. He had received a real
wigging this time, and even con-
templated throwing himself in the
river. Only he could swim so dam
nably well!
But he had the natural elasticity Of
youth, and a sort of persistent belief
in his own luck, rather like the chan
cellor's confidence in seven as a num-
ber-a confidence, by the way, which
the countess could easily have shaken.
So he had wakened the next morning
rather cheerful than otherwise, and
over a breakfast of broiled ham had
refused to look ahead farther than the
day.
That afternoon, in the study, Milky
hesitated when he saw Hedwig.
Then he came and bent low over her
hand. And Hedwig, because every in
stinct yearned to touch his shining
bent head, spoke to him very calmly,
was rather distant, a little cold.
"You have been away, I thinkT" she
said.
For a day or two, highness.
"And today" he added, reproach-
fully, "today you did not ride"
81 did not feel like riding" Hedwig
responded listlessly. 81 am tired. I
think ] am always tired"
Lemon and two Jumps" muttered
the crown prince. "That's Nikky's,
Hedwig. Give it to him, please"
Milky went a trifle pale as their
fingers touched. But he tasted his
tea, and pronounced it excellent.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto chat
tered excitedly. He told of the dog,
dilating on its cleverness, but passing
politely over the manner of its return.
Now and then Hedwig glanced at
Milky, when he was not looking, and
always, when they dared, the young
soldiers eyes were on her.
"She will take some tea without
sugar." announced the crown prince.
While he poured it, Hedwig was
thinking. Was it possible that Milky,
of every one, should have been chosen
to carry to Karl the marriage arrange
ments? What an irony! What a jest
1t was true there was a change In
him. He looked subdued, almost sad.
ITO Karnia?' she asked, when
Prince Ferdinand William Otto had
left the room. "Oficially?"
"Not-exactly."
sWhere, in Karnia?"
ST ended" Milky confessed, Eat
Wedeling."
Hedwig gazed at him, her elbows
propped on the tea table. 'Then,"
she said, 81 think you know"
ST know, ~highness."
"And you have nothing to sayT"
"Highness," Milky began huskily,
"you know what I would say. And
that I cannot. To take advantage of
Otto's fancy for me, a child's liking, to
violate the confidence of those who
placed me here-I am doing that, every
moment"
"What about me?" Hedwig asked.
"Do 1 count for nothing? Does 1t not
matter at all how I feel, whether I am
happy or wretched? Isn't that as i'm
portant as honor2"
Milky flung out his hands. "You
know" he said rapidly. "What can I
tell you that you do not know a thou