The Princess Dehra
BY JOHN REED SCOTT.
Capyrlcbt. IMS, by John Kmm) Soott
But this took time; and now
iligeler'a voice rang from the
gardou.
“Make for the side gafa*—
“I’ll look to the rear one!” he
oried; gad almost immediately
they heard him aud his men be
tween them and their exit.
1 The archduke stopped.
L. “Tlmre »g no need to tire our
feelvesby’running,” he said; “we
shall have to fight for it, so we
may as well save our wind.—
Gentlemen,”—turning to De
Goursey and Marsov—“tonight
you are honored above most men
>—you wijl draw swords for the
^regent under her very eye—ha
hold I”
lie luted the hat irora the
princess’ head, and the light of a
aearhy street lamp, that shone
lbove the walls, fell full on the
toils of high piled hair, and the
fair face below it.
Both men cried out in aston
ishment, and, kneeling, kissed
her hand.
Then they pressed on, finding
almost immediately the path by
which they had entered.
Meanwhile, the commotion in
the garden near the palace hard
increased, and now the Duke of
Lotzen’s stern voice out sharply
into the night, from oue of his
windows.
“What the devil is all this
noised’’ he demanded.
“Thieves, your highness,”
Rome oue answered from below—
“five of them in madame’s apart
ments—they escaped into the
garden.”
The duke made no reply, at
least which they could hear; and
the princess laughed.
“He’s off for madame,” Rhe
said; “and we are thieves—rath
er clever of Bigler to have us
killed first and recognized lat
er.”
* “He didn’t see you,” said Ar
rneml; “he recognized me, and
thinks this is the chance he
missed at the De Saure house.”
A moment later they came into
the wide driveway, and face to
face with the count and a bunch
of a dozen men.
He gave a shout that rang
through the garden.
“Seize them!” he cried; “kill
any that resist!” knowing very
well that it would recpiire the
killing of them all. He, himself,
drew his revolver and stepped
to one side—a safer place than in
the fighting line, and one where
lie could get a surer shot at the
archduke, if it were necessary.
But even 12 men hesitate to
close with five, whose swords are
ready ; and in the instant’s pause,
Dehra, flinging off her hat,
sprang between Bigler and the
archduke, and covered the for
mer with her pistol.
“God in heaven! the prin- .
cess!” he cried, and stared at
her.
"Will you play with treason,
my lord countT" she asked.
"Drop that revolver!—drop it,
I say!—and you men, stand
aside !—into line, so 1—return
swords!—now, by the left flank,
march!—fall in behind, count, if
you please—march!"
With a laugh and a shrug he
obeyed.
“The regent commands," he 1
said.—“Attention! salute!" and
with hands to visors the column
went by; while Dehra, fingers at
forehead in acknowledgment,
watched it pass and go down the
drive toward the palace.
Then she turned, and put out
her hand to the archduke.
“I’m tired, dear," she said,
“very tired-Captain De
Coursey, will you brin^ the car
-riage to the gate"
CHAPTER XVIII.
On to Lotzenia.
"It is a most amazing situa
tion,” said the ambassador—as
he and the archduke sat in the
latter’s headquarters, the follow
ing morning—"and one guess is
about as likely to be right as
another. It’s difficult to believe
Spencer honest, and yet she
seemed to play straight last
night. She is of the sort who
fiercely resent a blow and go to
any length to repay it.. And you
think Bigeljr’s interruption was
not prearranged T ’ ’
"It impressed me that way,”
said Armand. "In fact, I’d say
1 am sure of it, if 1 had any but
Lotzen or Spencer to deal with.”
"And you saw enough of the
book to be satisfied it is the
laws?”
"To satisfy myself, yes—if
that fool, Bigler, had waited a
little longer, I would have known
24
beyond a doubt.”
“And, as it is, you can’t be
absolutely certain?”
‘‘No; at least, not certain
enough to make an open issue ef
it with Lotzen.”
Courtney shook his head de
cisively.
“It is a great misfortune you
were not able to make sure,” he
said; “for I’m persuaded it was
not the book. As Itold hey high
ness that day at luncheon, if the
duke ever did have it, he has de
stroyed it to get rid of Fred
erick ’s decree; and if there were
no decree, then he would have
produced it instantly as estab
lishing his right to the crown.”
“If that be true—and I grant
the logic is not easy to avoid—
what was it I saw? I would have
sworn it was the book; it resem
bled it in every particular.”
Courtney’s fingers went up to
his gray imperial, and for a long
while he smoked his cigaret and
stared thoughtfully at the ceil
ing
“It is a fine mess,” he said,
at length; “Spencer mixes it ao
abominably. What really
brought her to Dornlitz?—how
long has she been here ?—did the
duke strike her—if there is a
plot back of it, why should she
have be$n selected to do the open
work with you, of all people?—
why, if Lotzen have the book,
doesn’t he destroy it?—why does
he want you to see it in his very
hands?—W'hy, if he haven’t the
book, does he want to convince
you that he has?— .... If
it’s a plot, then its object was
either the one you suggest: to
tempt you to violent measures
against him to recover the book,
and so to discredit you with the
nobles when it’s not found; or
—and this may be the more like
ly—to inveigle you into a death
trap by using the book as a
lure.”
“Either of which,” observed
the archduke, “would explain
his preservation of the book.”
“Or sentiment,” Courtney
laughed. “Her highness thinks
the duke would never destroy
the laws of his house.”
“1 fancy she wouldn’t be quite
so stroug on that now,” Armand
observed. “I wish you Irad seen
her last night; she was magni
ficent, simply magnificent;—
Richard, she is the T)a!berg of us
all!—it ’s she, not I, nor Lotzen,
who ought to wear the sapphire
crown.”
Courtney nodded in hearty ac
quiescence.
“And as she may not, it is for
you,” he said, gravely, “to make
her a queen by wearing it your
self—and, as I believe I’ve ad
monished once or twice hereto
fore, to do that you must keep
alive—dead archdukes are good
only to bury.”
“I’m very much alive,” the
other laughed, “more alive than
I’ve been since I shed cadet
gray.”
“The lord kuows it is u*t from
lack of effort on your part to get
killed; you’ve tempted death in
every dare-deviltry yon could
find—and this T)e Saur? house
affair is the limit—though last
night was about as idiotic. The
princess has more discretion in
an eye-lash than you have in your
whole head—but for her, you
would be surrounded now * by
tapers and incense—what fresh
atrocity against common pru
dence will you perpetrate next, I
wonder!”
The archduke pushed the de
canter across.
“Take another drink, old
man,” he grinned, “you must be
dry, with such a warm bunch of
ideas jostling one another for
exit—I'll promise to be as dis
creet hereafter as a debutante. I
admit the De Saure business ap
pears foolish now, but then, at
that hour of night, in dai-kness,
rain and storm, would you, or
any other man, have denied a
woman’s call for help? I
couldn't.”
“Nor anything else that prom
ises adventure,” said Courtney.
“If Lotzen doesn’t make an end
of you-” he shrugged his
shoulders and lit another cigaret.
. . . “I’ve sworn a dozen re
solves to quit advising you; and
then, every time 1 see you, you’ve
gone and done some other fool
ish thing, and I blow off—if you
will forgive me this time, and
may be a few more times, I’ll not
do it again.”
“My dear Dick,” said the
arcluluke, “the one thing I’llynot
forgive is for you not to «U it
again. You're the only man in
all this land who would speak
out his mind to ra«; and do you
think it isn’t welcome—to hare
something of the old life occa
sionally I”
For a while both men smoked
in silence, the marshal thought
fully, the ambassador waitSpy;
and in the midst of it Colonel
Bernheim entered with a letter
for the archduke, which, he ex
plained, he had just received, en
closed in another envelope ad
dressed to himself and marked
“Immediate.”
Armand glanced at Courtney
for permission, got it, and read
the letter:
“A
“We ate leaving Dornlitz be
fore daybreak by special train,
ostensibly for Paris, really for
Lotzen castle. The duke guesses
instantly why you were in my
apartments, and what you saw.
We had a fearful scene, and he
struck me again—the cur! It is
the B.; he admitted it, in his rage
—and he has it with him. I am
a prisoner now, and compelled to
accompany him because I know
too much, he says. I'm not ask
ing you for rescue, I can manage
him in a few days; but if you
want the B. you will know now
where to get it. I owe you this,
for the fiasco last night, due to
that fool, B-, though I don't
advise you to follow; Lotzen cas
tle isn’t Ferida palace, and I
can’t aid you there; and besides,
and intends to kill you at the
now, he is bent on your death,
first opportunity. I will find
some way to have this mailed,
sending it to Colonel Bernheim
so it will reach you promptly and
not be delayed by official rou
tine.
•'3a.m.” “M. S.M
Without a word, the archduke
passed the letter over to Court
ney; and without a word Court
ney took it, road it twice, and
passed it back; and fell to blow
ing smoke rings through each
other.
“Well,” said Armand pres
ently, “when you’re satisfied
with the rings, and it seems to
me they couldn’t be bettered, I
shall be glad to have your opin
ion of the letter.”
The other shook his head, and
went on with the rings.
“What is the uset” he an
swered. “You are going to Lot
zenia.”
“I’m sorely tempted, I admit
—but I don’t know—
Courtney flung his cigaret at
the fireplace, and got up.
“Then, if you don’t know, I’ll
tell you what I think—throw
that damn letter into the fire and
stay right here in Dornlitz; if
you let it lure you to Lotzenia,
you are an unmitigated fool.”
“But the book!—and Spencer
only confirms what my own eyes
told me.”
“Lies, lies, rotten lies!” said
Courtney. “He hasn’t the book
—it's all a plant—you escaped
last night because Bigler blun
dered in, and because the regent
was with you—but in that wild
land of the north, you will last
about a day, or less. Why don’t,
you forget the miserable book,
for, a while, and get to work on
your vote in the house of noblest
—there is where you will likely
have to fight it out any way,
even if Frederick did make your
deeree. Play politics a bit, and
you will have Lotzen back in
Dornlitz on the jump—and the
book with him, too, if he has it.”
The archduke went over and
put his hand on Courtney’s shoul
der.
“Dick,” he said, “it’s some
thing worth living for to have
known a man like you, and to
have had him for a friend and
companion; and if 1 don’t*follow
your advice you will understand
it is because 1 can’t. You have
called me headstrong; I grant it,
ifr’s bred in the bone I think; and
‘I’m not of those who can ait, and
wait, and play politics. I shall
find the laws of the Dahlbergs,
somewhere, somehow, long be
fore the year is over; and if nec
essary I’m going to kill Lotzen
in the finding—or be killed—”
he broke off with a laugh and a
shrug. “Positively, old man, I’m
ashamed of myself; I seem to
have become a braggart and a
swash-buckler.”
‘ W ho is the braggart and
swash-buckler, my dear mar
shal t” asked the princess, en
tering suddenly, with Lady Hel
en Radnor, Mile. d’Essolde and
Colonel Moore, “not Mr. Court
ney I hope.”
“Unfortunately, no, your high
ness,” said Armaud. “Candor
! compels me to admit that I was
characterizing myeslf.”
She pointed her crop at the
decanter, and nodded question
inglv to the ambassador.
“No,” said he, “no; it’s only
a sudden rush of remorse for
deeds past and to come.”
“To comet” said she, and
looked at tba archduke inquir
inpy.
For answer he handed h*r
Madeline Spencer’s letter.
She glanced at the signature,
smiled, and with a word of ex
cuse, she carried it over to a
window; and Annand, chatting
with Lady Helen, watched her
curiously as she read and re-read
it; and then she looked up
quickly, and gave him the glance
of summons.
“Have you shown it to Mr.
Courtney?” she asked. “Did he
say what he thought of it?”
“He did—and at some length,
and also what he thought of «ae.
—Briefly, it was to the effect
that the letter is a snare, and that
I’m several kinds of a fool if I
let it lure me to Lotzenia.”
The princess tapped her cre\
softly against her boot, and con
sidered.
“Of course,” said she, in mo
mentary interruption of her
thought, “know what you think
—you think you’re going—but I
don’t know-” and the tap
ping of the crop began afresh. .
■ • - Presently a soft light came
into her eyes, and she flashed him
the adorable smile. “Are you
willing to wait the year for our
wedding, dear?” she asked.
He bent down over her, as
though looking at something in
the letter. •
You know I’m not, sweet
heart” he said, “that’s why I
want to find the laws—to make
you queen the sooner.”
“Your queenT”
“Mine—yes, either here in
Valeria, or over the seas in old
Hugo’s land—as the book de
cides for Lotzen or for me,.”
“And do you honestly think, Ar
mand, that he has the bookT”
“What do you think!” he
asked.
“Women don’t think—they
have only intuition, and mine
says that he has.”
“Then I shall go this night—”
“And I with you.”
“Then I won’t go.”
“Nonsense, dear—why not.!”
Dalberg castle is always ready,
and I shall take the household or
part of it. I most assuredly
would not let you go alone, to be
butchered by our dear and lov
ing cousin.”
He knew it was useless to pro
test.
“Well, come along, little wom
an,” he said; “and may be, to
gether, we can devise a way for
me to get the book out of Lotzen
castle.”
She turned upon him, full
faced and emphatic.
“But I’ll not go, nor shall
you,” she declared, “unless you
promise you won’t do anything
without consulting me. I’m go
ing because, you need some on to
curb your recklessness; and I
have no mind to see you throw
your life away just because you
won’t take a dare.”
The archduke gave her cheek
a surreptitious pinch.
“I promise,” he laughed;
“you'ne something of a Dalberg
dare-devil yourself when the fev
er is on—and you’re the finest
little comrade and commander
God ever made.”
Again she gave him the smile—
and they went back to the others.
“Mr. Courtney,” said she, at
once, “we are about to spend a
short while at Dalberg castle, go
ing tonight by special train, with
a few members of the house
hold; it will be a great pleasure
to Armand and me to have you
with us.”
“I am honored,” said the am
bassador, with a grave bow; “I
shall be glad to go.”
“Even if you do disapprove,”
said she lightly—“but, what
would you, monsieur! I don’t
want to imprison Armand, so the
best thing I can do is to go along
and try to take care of him; and
that’s where you can help me.”
“And that, your highness, is
precisely the reason I’in going,”
he answered;—“Warwick will
stick to his work to the end.”
“The end!’’ she exclaimed,
with sharp seriousness.
In the great Cathedral yon
der,” he answered.—And the
prineess, thinking only of the
coronation, smiled and glanced
with proud faith at the arch
duke.
But to the latter the real in
ference went home, and sharply.
‘‘The crypt, you mean!” he
muttered aside.
And Courtney nodded curtly.
‘‘The crvpt I mean,” he said.
‘‘Even Warwick and Margaret of
Anjou together could not save
the silly Henry.”
But the old, lean-faced prime
minister did not deal in infer
ences when—having come at the
regent’s summons, from his of
fice in the administration wing of
the same building—he was ad
vised of the matter, and that he
was to assume charge of the gov
ernment during her absence.
(To Be Confirmed Next Week!)
“Lots for Your
Money Brands”
Should Not Tempt You—Use
CALUMET
the Economy BAKING POWDER
That's What Millions
ol Housewives Do
BEST BY TEST
—They know that
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that “more for the mon
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The sales of Calumet are
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that of any other bak
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THE WORLD'S GREATEST BAKING POWDER
UNIQUE STRAND OF PEARLS
Ixample of Indian Patience Which It
Is Acknowledged Would Be Hard
to Duplicate.
A strand of pearls worth $10,000 un
earthed from a mound in Ross county,
O., is being held in the Archeological
museum at the State university. The
necklace was unearthed by an expedi
tion headed by the director of the Ohio
Historical society, studying the work
of ancient peoples in southern Ohio.
About 1,000 years ago an Indian pa
tiently gathered together 180 pearls.
They were unpolished, hut of the finest
quality. He succeeded, after untiring
effort, in wearing a tLry hole in each
one in order to strinjf them to bang
about his neck. A part of the string
was found still holding some of the
pearls together and they have all been
restrung in exactly the same position
hey formerly occupied. The gems
.'ere ail extracted from fresh-water
Mussels. The natives so prized jewel
ry and beautiful ornaments that they
made some good imitation pearls. How
such small holes were bored in so neat
a way is a matter of much conjecture.
The director believes they may have
been worn through by the use of sand.
The Indian may have used a stick of
unusually small diameter and worked
the sand through.
A Wise Bride.
The young husband had tnken his
wife to get her a : ew spring hat. The
clerk, remembering her extravagance
before married days, began to show
her very expensive hats, much more
than the girl could afford to pay. One
especially was a beautiful royal
purple and orchid bonnet. The bride
adored it, but knew it was much
more than she could afford to pay. S|
she bravely refused to try it.
But still the clerk persisted.
“Well,” at last the bride capitulated
and her eyes were full of longing, “I'll
try it on, but I'll tell you right now
that I hope I look like the devil
in it.”
Fifty-Fifty.
"In regard to hugging, many girlj
struggle.” “Never mind. Others snug*
gle.”—Louisville Courier-Journal.
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Gives Old Capes Glow of New
Putnair Fadeless Dyes—dyes or tints as yon wish
»
