THE NATIONAL SUNDAY MAGAZINE
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four scientifically satisfactory rounds, although they
came to hlows over it afterwards when Mr. Smith
told Mr. Brown what he thought of him for hitting
with such fervor just after they had eaten n hearty
meal.)
A great many mothers inspected Prince Hohin
with interest and confessed to a really genuine
enthusiasm: something they had not experienced
since ono of the German princes got close enough
to Newport to see it quite clearly through his
murine glasses from the bridge of a battleship. The
ruler of Graustark (four-fifths of the guests asked
where in the world it was!) was the lion of the
day.
Mr. Blithers was annoyed because he did not
wear his crown, but was somewhat mollified by the
information that he had neglected to bring it alone;
with him in his travels. lie was also considerably
put out by the discovery that the Prince
had lett his white and gold iinuorm at
home and had to appear in an ordinan
dress suit, which, to be sure, tilted him per
fectly, but did not achieve distinction. He
did wear a black and silver ribbon across
his shirt front, however, and a tiny gold
button in the lapel of his coat; otherwise
he might have been mistaken for a "regu
lar guest," to borrow an expression from
Mi Blithers. The Prince's host mancu
vered until nearly one o'clock iu the morn
ing before he succeeded in getting a close
look at the little gold button, and then
found that the inscription thereon was in
some sort of hieroglyphics that afforded no
enlightenment whatsoever.
EXERT I SING a potentate's prerogative.
Prince Robin left the scene of fosthiH
somewhat earlier than was expected. As a
matter of fact, he departed shortly after
one. Being a prince, it did not occur to
him to offer any excuse for leaving so
early, hut gracefully thanked his host
and hostess and took himself off with
out the customary assertion that he had
had a splendid time. Strange to say, he
did not offer a single comment on the
iumptuousness of the affair that had been
given in his honor. Mr. Blithers couldn't
get over that. He couldn't help thinking
that the fellow had not been properly
brought up, or was it possible that he was
not accustomed to good society?
Except for one heart-rending incident,
the Blitherwood ball was the most satisfy
ing event in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liam W. Blithers. That incident, however,
happened to be the hosty and well-managed
flight of Maud Applegate Blithers at
an hour indefinitely placed somewhere be
tween four and seven o'clock on the morn
ing of the great day.
Miss Blithers was not at the ball. She
was in New York City serenely enjoying
one of the big summer shows, accompa
nied by young Scoville and her one-time
governess, a middle-aged gentlewoman who
had seen even better davs than those spent
in the employ of William W. Blithers. The
resolute young lady had done precisely
what she said she would do. and lor tne
gotten by the four walls of that room, if n". com
monly reported, they possess auricular attachments.
Any one who imagines that Mr. Blithers accepted
Maud's defection as a final disposition of the cause
he had set his heart upon is very much mistaken in
his man. Far from receding so much as an inch from
his position, he at once set about to strengthen it in
such a way that Maud would have to come to the con
clusion that it was useless to combat the inevitable,
and ultimately would heap praises upon his devoted
head for the great blessing he was determined to be
stow upon her in spite of herself.
The last of the special coaches was barely moving
on its jisrgly way to the main line, carrying the tag
end of the revelers, when he set forth in his ear for a
midday visit to Bed Hoof. Already the huge camp
of Slavs and Italians was beginning to jerk up the
burrowed rail and ties; the work trains were runi-
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first time in his life Mr. Blithers realized
that his daughter was a creation and not
n mere condition. He wilted like a fam
ished water-lily and went about the place
in a state of bewilderment so bleak that
even his wife felt sorry for him and re
frained from the "I told you so" that might have
been expected under the circumstances.
Maud's telegram, which camesat three o'clock in
the afternoon, was meant to be! reassuring, but it
failed of its purpose. It said: 'Have a good time
and don't lose any sleep over me. I shall sleep very
soundly myself at the Ritz tonight and hope you will
be doing the same when I return home tomorrow
afternoon, for I know you will be-dreadfully tired
after all the excitement. Convey my congratulations
to the guest of honor, and believe me to be your
devoted and obedient daughter."
The co-incidental absence of young Mr. Scoville
from the ball was a cause of considerable uneasi
ness on the part of the agitated Mr. Blithers, who
commented upon it quite expansively in the seclu
sion of his own bed-elmmber after the last guest
had sought repose. Some of the things that Mr.
Blithers said about Mr. Scoville will never be for-
AS LEANS THE TWIG
By ANTHONY EUWEK
MY DAD he lay! since first (lie earth he Hod upon Bill Bryan's been a paragon of ev'ry
' thing that kids should be, not even barnn' me When he was hardly any more than
lust past three and coin on four, he wore a toga cross the knees, rcsemblm great Demosthenes
Then to the corn he'd snout and spout, because they all had ears no doubt, and bobbed
their heads approvingly he spoke so wondrous movingly And when grape-pickm time
had came, he'd orate how 'twas such a shame to masecrate those grapes, by golly, to wine
that made folks slip their trolley
"But come," said they "this juice is sweet and harmless as hamburger meat " They
offered once, they offered twice he grinned benignly on the thrice "Nay, nay," said he,
"it cannot be" (p'raps he foresaw his destmy) ' I will not, will not compromise with this
here stuff in any wise. Though harmless now. 1 yet perceive all its dormant hunch for
future evil, and spy beneath its sparkling level, a coming harvest for the devil I Avaunt. ye
tempters I Back 1 1 say, ye cannot bunco Willum J "
Them very words, dad says.was flung'from master Willum's silvered tongue Of course
since then he's learnt to handle tuice unfermented without scandal: but nothin sttngin strong
can get across his lips, you can lust bet. Dad says he's tight, in which event it's more than
bein President and if less booze was used to fill em, thcre'd be more folks as fine asWillum.
bling and snorting iu the meadows above Blitherwood,
tottering about on the uncertain roadbed. lie gave a
few concise and- imperative orders to obsequious su
perintendents and foremen, who subsequently repeated
them with even greater freedom to the perspiring
foreigners, and left the scene of confusion without so
much as a glance behind. Wagons, carts, motor-trucks
and all manner of wheeled things were scuttling about
Blitherwood as he shot down the long, winding avenue
toward the lodge gates, but he paid no attention to
them. They were removing the remnants of n glory
that had passed at five in the morning. He was not
interested in the well-plucked skeleton. It was a nui
sance getting rid of it, that was all, and he wanted it
to be completely out of sight when he returned from
Red Roof. If a vestige of the ruins remained, some
one would hear from him! That was understood. And
when Maud came home on the five-fourteen she would
not find him asleep not by a long shot !
Half -way to Red Roof, he espied a man walking
briskly alonir the road ahead of him. To be per
fectly accurate, he was walking in the middle of the
road and his back was toward the swift-moving,
almost noiseless Picrce-Arrow.
"Blow the horn for the dam' fool." said Mr. Blith
ers to the chauffeur. A moment later the pedestrian
leaped nimbly aside and the car shot past, the dying
wail of the siren dwindling away in the whirr of the
wheels. "Look where you'ro going!" shouted Mr.
Blithers from the tonneau, as if the walker had come
near to running him down instead of the other win
around. "Whoa! Stop 'or, Jackson!" he called to
the driver. He had recognized the pedestrian.
The oar came to a stop with grinding brakes, and
at the same time the pedestrian halted a hundred
yards away.
"Back up," commanded Mr. Blithers in some
haste, for the Prince seemed to be on the
point of deserting the highway for the
wood that lined it. "Morning, Prince!" he
shouted, waving his hat vigorously. "Want
a lift?"
The oar shot backward with almost the
same speed that it had gone forward, and
the Prince exercised prudence when he
stepped quickly up the sloping bank at
the roadside.
"Were you addressing me?" he demanded
curtly, as the car eamo to a stop.
"Yes, your highness. Get in. I'm going
your way," said Mr. Blithers beamingly.
"I moan a moment ago, when you
shouted 'Look where you are going,' " said
Robin, an angry gleam in his eye.
Mr. Blithers looked positively dumb
founded. "Good Heavens, no!" he cried.
"I was speaking to the chauffeur." (Jack
son's back seemed to stiffen a little.) "I've
told him a thousand times to bo careful
about running up on people like that. Now
this is the lnsl time I'll warn you, Jackson.
The next time you go. I'lidoi-stand? Just
because you happen to ho driving for mo
doesn't signify that you can run over
people who -"
"It's nil right, Mr. Blithers," inter
rupted Robin, with his fine smile. "No
harm done. I'll walk if you don't mind.
Out for a bit of exercise, you know. Thank
you just the same."
"Where are von bound for 7" asked Mr
Blithers.
"I don't know. I ramble where my fancy
leads me."
"I guess I'll get out and stroll along with
you. God knows I need more exercise than
1 get. Is it agreeable?" He was on the
ground by this time. Without wniting for
an answer ho directed Jackson to run on
to Red Roof and wait for him.
"I shall he charmed," said Robin, a
twinkle in the tail of his eye. "An eight
or ten mile jaunt will do you n world of
good, I'm sure. Shnll wo explore this little
road up the mountain and then drop down
to Red Roof? I don't believe it can bo
more than five or six miles."
"Capital," said Mr. Blithers with en
thusiasm. He happened to know that it
was a "short out" to Red Roof and less
than n mile as the crow Hies. True there
was something of an ascent ahead of them,
but there wns hlso a corresponding do
scent nt the other end. Besides, ho was
confident he could keep up with the long
legged youngster by the paradoxical pro
cess of holding back. The Prince, having suggested
the route, couldn't very well ho arbitrary iu travers
ing it. Mr. Blithers regarded the suggestion as
an invitation.
They struck off into the narrow woodland road,
not precisely side by side, hut somewhat after the
fashion of a horseback rider and his groom, or,
more strictly speaking, as a knight and his vassal.
Robin started off so briskly that Mr. Blithers foil
behind a few paces and had to exert himself eon
sidernbly to keep from losing more ground as they
took the first steep rise. The road was full of ruts
and cross ruts and littered with boulders that had
ambled down the mountain-side iu the spring mov
ing. To save his life, Mr. Blithers couldn't keep
to a straight course. He went from rut to rut and
from rock to rock with the fidelity of n magnetized
atom, seldom putting his foot where he meant to
put it, and never by any (Continued on Xert Page)