The Princess Dehra
BY JOHN REED SCOTT.
Copyright. 1908. by John Rood Scott
The archduke reflected a mom
ent. ‘‘1 can give you his exact
words: ‘Do you tiiin,’ be said,
‘that I, who iiave been the heir
presumptive since the instant of
my birth, almost, will calmly step
aside and permit you to take my
placet Do you fancy for an in
atant that the people of Valeria
would have a foreigner for king?
Ano cvenif old Frederick were
to become so infatuated with yen
that he would restore you to
lingo's place in the line of suc
cession, do you imagine that the
bouse of nobles would hesitate
to annul it the instant he died?
' When lie had finished. Dehra's
finger.: were healing a tattoo on
Ihc chair’s arm, and her eyes
were snapping—as once or twice
he had. seen Frederick’s snap.
“And. I suppose you never told
the king?” idle exclaimed.
“Naturally not.”
“Of course, of course,” with a
toss of the handsome head.
“That’s a man’s way—his silly,
senseless way—never tell tales
about a rival. And as a result,
sec what a mess you have made.
Had you informed the king, he
instantly would have proclaimed
you as his heir and then dis
graced Lotzeu publicly and sent
him into exile. And you would
now be his successor, without a
shadow of opposition.”
Armand subdued a r.-nilc.
“You don’t understand, Debra-—
—“he begau.
Quite rignt, sue cm in;
“quite right.; I don’t. Why did
n’t you tel! met 1 would have
told I Tie King, you may be sure.”
“Of course you would, little
woman; that’s .just the reason 1
didn’t tell you.”
She shrugged her shoulders,
and the tattoo began afresh.
“I’ve no patience with such
nonsense,” she declared; “Lot
zen deserved no gentlemanly con
sideration ; he would have shown
none to you; and besides, it was
your duty to your King and your
House to uphold the Laws of the
Dalbergs and to prevent any at
tempt to violate them.”
“I am very much afraid that
lately, between Lotzen and my
self, the laws of the Dalbergs
have been sadly slighted.”
His bantering jarred upon her.
“To me, Armand,” she answered
gravely, “our Laws are holy. For
almost a thousand years they
have been our unchallenged rule
of governance. I can under
stand why, to you, they have no
sacredriess and no sentiment; but
Lotzen has been horn and bred
tinder them, and should honor
them with his life—and more
especially as they alone made
him the Heir Presumptive. But
for the decree of the first l)al
hiTg king, four hundred years
ago, l would be the Queeiiregnant
of Valeria.”
“ It’s a pity, a crying pity 1” he
exclaimed.
She looked down at him with
shining eyes. “No, dear, it is
n’t; once 1 thought it was; but
now 1 ’m quite content to be
Queen-consort.”
lie took both her hands and
held them between his own.
“That, dear, is what makes it
possible, and worth the struggle;
and it Va'.eria'tloes accept me as
its King, it will he solely for love
of you, and to get you for its
Queen.”
A smile of satisfaction crossed
her face. ‘ I hope the people do
love me,” she said. “I would
like to feel 1 may have helped
you, even a little.”
“A little! but for you, my
princess, I’d go Iwek to America
an.I leave the way clear for Lot
yon.
»Sfie laughed softly. “No, no,
Arrnand, you would do nothing
of the sort. A Dal berg never
fcn.i from duty —and least of all
t li ■* Dal berg whom God has made
in the image of the greatest of
them all.”
11* glanced in the tall mirror
act- »ss the room, lie was wear
ing the dress uniform of the lied
ll'i/'ars (who bad been inspect
ed immediately before the Foot
Guards; and lie, as titular Col
onel, bad led them in the march
1\V), and there was no denying
he made a handsome figure, in
the brilliant tunic and black, fur
bound doblman, his Orders
sparkling, his sword across bis
knees.
She put her head close beside
his and smiled at him in the mir
ror.
“Henry the Great was not at
all bad looking,’’ she said.
He smiled back at her. “But
with a beastly bad temper, at
times. I’m told.’’
4
“I'm not afraid—I mean his
wife wasn’t afraid; tradition
is, she managed him very skil
fully.”
“Doubtless,” he agreed; “any
clever woman can manage a man
if she takes the trouble to try.”
“And shall I try, Armand?”
"Try!” he chuckled; “you
couldn’t help trying; man tam
ing is your natural avocation. By
all means, manage me—only,
don’t let me know it.”
“i’ll not,” she laughed—“the
King never—“and she straight
ened sharply. “I forget, dear,
I forgot!” And sh? got up sud
denly, and went over to the
window. Nor did he follow her;
but waited silently, knowing well
it was no time for even him to
intrude.
After a while she came slowly
back to him, a wistfully sad look
in her eyes. And as he met her
she gave him both her hands.
“1 shall never he anything but
a thoughtless child, Armand,”
she said, with a wan, little smile.
“So he kind to me, dear—and
don’t forget.”
He drew her arms about, his
neck. “Let us always be child
ren to each other,” lie answered,
“forgetting, when together, 4mt
the joy of living, the pleasures
of to-day, the anticipations of to
morrow.”
She shook her head. “A
woman is alwuys a child in
love,” she said; “it’s the man
who grows into maturity, and
sobers with ngc.”
He knew quite well she was
right, and for the moment he had
no words to answer; arid she un
derstood and helped him.
“Hut this is no time for either
of us to be children,” she went
on; “there is work to do and
plans to be arranged.” She drew
a chair close to the table and,
resting boll) arms upon it, looked
up at the Archduke expectantly.
“What is first?”
He hesitated.
“Come, dear,” she said;
“Frederick was my father and
my dearest friend, but there re
mains for him now only the last
sad offices the living do the
dead; we will do them; but we
also do what he has decreed.
We will seat you in his place,
and confound Lotzen and his
satellites.”
He took her hand and gravely
raised it to his lips.
“ You are a rare woman, Deh
ra,” he said, “a rare woman.
No man can reach your level,
nor understand the beauty of
your faith, the meaning of your
love. Yet, at least, avi 11 l try to
do you honor and to give you
truth.”
She drew him down and kissed
him lightly on the cheek.
“You do not know the Dal
berg women, dear,” she said—
“to them the King is next to
God—and the line that separates
is very narrow.”
“Hut I’m not yet the King,”
he protested.
“You’ve been king, in fact,
since the moment Frederick died.
With us, the tenet still obtains
in all its ancient strength; the
throne is never vacant.”
“So it’s Lotzen or 1, and to
morrow the book will decide.”
“Yes,” she agreed; “to-mor
row the Hook will decide lor the
Nation; but wo know it will be
you.”
“Not exactly,” lie smiled;
“we think we know; we can’t
be sure until we see the decree.”
“1 have no doubt,” she av
erred, “my father’s words can
bear but one construction.”
“It would seem so—yet I’ve
long learned that, in this life, it’s
the certain things that usually
are lost.”
She sprang up. “Why not
settle it at once—let us send for
the book;.of course it is at the
palace—it was there lust night.”
He shook his head decisively.
“No dear, no; believe me it is
not wise now for either of us to
touch the hook. It were best
that it be opened only by the
prime minister in presence of the
royal council. We must give
I.otr.cn no reason to cry for
gcry.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Small good would it do him,
as against Frederick’s writing
and my testimony. However, we
can wait—the council meets in
the morning, I assume?”
“Yes; at 10 o’clock, at the
palace.”
She looked up quickly. “The
key?” she asked; “it was al
ways on his watch chain—have
you got it?”"
“No.” said he; “I never
thought of It.”
She rang the bell and sent for
the chamberlain.
“Bring me King Frederick's
watch, and the orders he was
wearing,” she said. When they
came she handed the orders to
Arrnand. . ,H
.“Thgy are yours now, dear,”
she said. She took the watch
and held up the chain, from the
end of which hung the small, an
tique key of Uie brass bound
box, in which Ihe book of laws
had been kept for centuries that
now reached back to tradition.
She contemplated, for a moment,
the swaying bit of gold and
bronze, then loosed it from the
ring.
“This also is yours, sire,” she
said, and proffered it to him.
But he declined. “Tomor
row,” he said.
“And in the meantime?”
“ff Count Epping is still in
the castle, we will let him hold
it.” *
The princess nodded in approv
al. “Doubtless that is wiser,”
she said, “though quite unprece
dented; none but the king ever
holds that key, save when he
rides to war.”
“We are dealing with a situ
ation that has no precedents,”
he smiled; “we must make
some.”
As he went toward the bell, a
servant entered with a card.
“Admit him,” he said . . “It
is Epping,” he explancd.
The prime minister of Valera
was one of those extraordinary
exceptions that occassionally oc
cur in public officials; he had on
purpose in life but to serve his
king. Without regard to his own
private ends or personal ambi
tion, he had administered his
office for a generation, and
Frederick trusted him as few
monarchs ev*tr trusted a power
ful subject. To the nation, he
was honesty and justice inear
. nate, and only the king and the
princess royal excelled him in
popularity and respect. Seventy
years had passed over the tall
and slender figure, leaving a
crown of silver above the pale,
lean face, with its tight-shut
mouth, high check bones and
faded blue eyes; but they had
brought no stoop to the shoul
ders, nor feebleness to the step,
nor dullness to the brain.
lie saluted Armand with for
mal dgnity; then bent over
Debra’s hand, silently and long
—and when he rose a tear was
trembling on his lashes. He
dashed it away impatiently and
turned to the archduke.
“Sire,” he said—and Armand,
in sheer surprise, made no ob
jection—“I have brought the
proclamation announcing his late
majesty’s death and your ac
cession. It should be published®
in the morning. Will it please
you to sign it now?”
There are moments in life so
sharp with emotion that they cut
into one's memory like a sculp
tor’s tool, and. ever after, stand
clear lined and cameoed against
the blurred background of com
monplace existence. Such was
the moment at the palace when
Frederick had handed him the
patents of an archduke, and such
now was this. “Sire!” the word
was pounding in his brain.
“Sire!” he, who, less than a year
ago, was but a major in the
American army; “Sire”—he—
king of Valera!
Then, through the mirage, he
saw Dehra’s smiling face, and he
awoke suddenly to consciousness
and the need for speech, and for
immediate decision. Should he
sign the proclamation on the
chance that the decree was in his
favor, and that he was, in truth,
the king? He hesitated just an
instant—tempted by his own de
sires and by the eager eves of the
fair woman before him; then he
straightened his shoulders and
chose Hie way of prudenee.
He waved the prime minister
to a chair.
“Your pardon, rnv lord,” he
said; “your form of address was
so new and unexpected, it for the
moment bound my tongue.”
The old man bowed. ”1 think
I understand, Sire,” lie said,
with a smile that, for an instant,
softened amazingly his stern
faee. “Yet, believe me, one says
it to you very naturally”—and
his glance strayed deliberately
to the wall opposite, where hung
a small copy of the Great Henry’s
portrait in the uniform of the
l\ed Huzzars. “It is very won
derful,” he commented;—“and
1 fancy it won you instant favor
and, even now, may be, makes
us willing to accept you as our
king. Sometimes, your majes
ty, sentiment dominates even a
nation.”
“Then I trust sentiment will
be content with the physical re
semblance and not examine the
idol too closely.”
The count smiled again; thia
time rather
“The first duf}’
to look like one/’ lie
sentiment demands nothing
else/’ and, with placicf insisf
enee, he laid the proclamation on
the table beside Armand.
The picked it up and
read it—and put it down.
“My lord,” he said, “I prefer
not to exercise any prerogative
of kingship until the royal coun
cil has exanfined the book of laws
and confirmed my title under the
decrees.”
The faded blue eyes looked at
him contemplatively.
” I assumed there was no ques
tion as to the succession,” he re
marked.
“Nor did I mearr to intijnate
jthere was,” Armand answered.
“Then, with all respect, Sire, 1
see no reason why you should
not sign the proclamation.”
Armand shook his head. “May
be I am foolish,” he said; “but
I will not assume the govern
ment until after the council to
morrow—it will do no harm to
delay the proclamation for a few
hours. And, in the interim, you
will oblige her royal highness
and me by keeping this key.
which she removed from King
Frederick’s watc hchain, but a
moment before you came.”
1 he count nodded and took the
key.
“I recognize it,” he replied.
“I know the lock it opens.”
“Good,” said Armand;-“the
box ;-n at the palace, and doubt
less you also know what it con
tains. For reasons you may
easily appreciate, I desire to
avoid any imputation that the
hook has been touched since his
majesty s demise. You will pro
duce this key at the meeting to
morrow, explaining how and
where you got it; and then, in
the presence of the council, I
shall open the box and if, by the
laws of the Dalbergs, I am hefld
of the house, I will eater into my
heritage and try to keep it.”
The prime minister* got up;
gladness in his heart, 1 hough his
face was quite impassive, lie
had come in doubt and misgiv
ing; he was easy now—here was
a man who led, a man to be
served t he asked no more—he
I was content.
“I understand,” lie said; “the
proclamation can wait;” then he
drew himself to his full height.
“God save your majesty” he
ended.
(To Be Continue^ Next Week)
RUSSIAN FAMINE PERSIST3.
WHAT with domestic politics,
the tariff controversy, the
Daugherty ruling on ships and
liquor, the Legion convention, the
turn of events In the Near East, the
Lloyd George resignation, and count
less other matters to distract us, we
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last. Murray S. Kenworthy, of the
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