The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1918-05-08
she was too much like the king ever

K 10 Synlphtnlze Iuiy WIFI niiu. DUH
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 1t.
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 seer, tary.
The secretary was gone when she en-
tered, and he sat alone.
He had passed 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, 1t was n
seething riot of sedition, from the re-
ports. A copy of 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 ut him, chow do you feel?"
"Sit down." he said. The question
as to his health was too perfunctory
to require reply.
Annunciata sat, with jingling Of
chains. She chose 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 l married her."
ut would be better" said An
nunciata, ito marry her while she is
young, before she knows any better"
"Any better than whatT' 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, 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
~, he compared her unmoved face with
that of his old friend and chancellor,
only few nights before.
at is regrettable fact" he went
on, shat / must leave, as shall, u sad
ly troubled country. But for that"
he paused. But for that, he meant,
| he would gladly go. He needed rest.
His spirit, still so alive, chafed daily
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.
"All countries are troubled. We are
no worse than Others"
"Perhaps not. 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
armor. "Like this one"
"That is what said. Rouse your
self, Annunciata. Leave that little
boudoir of yours, with its accursed
clocks and its heat and its flub-dub-
berg, and see what is about you! Dis
content! Revolution! We are hardly
safe from day to day. Do you think
that what happened nine years ago
was flash that died as it came? Nom
sense. Read this!"
He held out the paper and she put
on her pince-nez and read its headings,
a trifle disdainfully. But the next mo-
ment she rose, and stood In front Of
him, almost as pale as he was. "You
allow this sort OF thing to be pub
lished?"
mo. But It is published"
sand they dare TO say things Ike
this? Why, tit Is
Exactly. 1t is, undoubtedly" He
was very calm. II would not have
troubled you with it. But the sit
uation is bad. We are rather help
less"
"Not-the army, tooT
ssNNhat n,n $40 tOIIo UNh,., ,hf,,,s,