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The |
Princess
Elopes
By HAROLD McGRATH
Author o_f
"Th© Man on the Box," I
"Hearts and Masks," Etc.
tCopyritfbt. lUOS. Bobbb-Mcrriil t'u.)
SYNOPSIS.
Arthur Warrington. American consul
to Barscheit, tells how reigning Grand
Duke attempts to force his mice. Prin
ce.«£s Hlldcgarde, to marry Prince Dopple
fcinn, an old widower. While riding
horseback in the country night overtakes
him and he seeks accommodations in a
dilapidated castle. Here he tinds Prin
cess Hildegarde and a friend, Hon. Betty
Moore, of Kngland. They detain him to
witness a mock marriage between the
princess and a dis.traced army officer,
Steinbock, done for the purpose of foiling
the grand duke. Steinbock attempts to
kiss the princess and she is rescued by
"Warrington. Steinbock disappears for
good. Max Scharfenstein. an old Ameri
can friend of Warrington's reaches Bar
scheit. Warrington tells him of the prin
cess. Scharfenstein shows Warrington
a. locket with a picture of a woman in
side. It was on his neck when lie, as a
boy. was picked up and adopted by his
foster father, whose name he was given.
He believes it to he a picture of his
mother. The grand duke announces to
the princess that she is to marry Dopple
kinn the following week. During a morn
ing's ride she plans to escape. She meets
Scharfenstein. He finds a purse she has
dropped but does not discover her iden-
Ity.' Warrington entertains at a public
restaurant for a number of American
medical students. Max arrives late and
relates an interesting bit of gossip to the
«(Tect that the princess has run away
from Barscheit. lie unwittingly offends
a native officer and subjects himself to
certain arrest. Max is persuaded to take
one of the American student's passports
And escape. The grand duke discovers
"be escape of the princess. She leaves a
otn saying she has eloped. Efforts are
vta.de to stop the princess at the frontier,
tetty Moore nsks for her passport. She
•ks Warrington for assistance in leav
itg Barscheit, and invites him to call on
erin London. Max ilnds the princess in
lie railway carriage. She accuses him
_f following her. He returns to her the
■purse lie had found. It contained a thou
sand pounds in bank notes.
CHAPTER IX.—Continued.
"Trust me to keep silent, then." He
■continued: "I have lived a part of my
life on the great plains; have ridden
horses for days and days at a time.
As a deputy sheriff I have arrested
desperados, have shot and been shot
at. Then I went east and entered a
Srent college; went in for athletics,
d wore my first dress suit. Then
• y foster parent died, leaving me his
iVtune. And as I am frugal, possibly
because of my German origin, I have
♦ore money than I know what to do
with." He ceased.
"Goon," she urged.
"When the Spanish war broke out I
•entered a cavalry regiment as a troop
er. I won rank, but surrendered it
after the battle of Santiago. And now
there are but two things in the world
I desire to complete my happiness. I
want to know who I am."
"And the other thing?"
"The other thing? I can't tell you
that.!"—hurriedly.
"Ah, Ijbelieve I know. You have left
some sweetheart back in America."
AH her interest in his narrative took a
strange and unaccountable slump.
"No; 1 have often admired women;
but 1 have left no sweetheart back in
America. If I had I should now feel
very uncomfortable."
Somehow she couldn't meet his eyes.
She recognized, with vague anger, that
she was glad that he had no sweet
heart. Ah, well, nobody could rob her
of her right to dream, and this was a
very pleasant dream.
"The train is slowing down," he said
suddenly.
"We are approaching the frontier."
She shaded her eyes and searched the
speeding blackness outside.
"How far is it to the capital?" he
asked.
"It lies two miles beyond the fron
tier."
Silence fell upon them, and at length
the train stopped with a jerk. In what
seemed to them an incredibly short
time a guard unlocked the door. He
peered in.
"Here they are, sure enough, your
.excellency!" addressing some one in
„tae dark beyond.
An officer from the military house
hold of the Prince of Doppelkinn was
instantly framed in the doorway. The
girl tried to lower her veil; too late.
"I am sorry to annoy your highness,"
he began, "but the grand duke's orders
are that you shall follow me to the
o.astle. Lieutenant., bring two men to
tie this' fellow's hands," —nodding to
ward Scharfenstein.
Max stared dumbly at the girl. All
the world seemed to have slipped from
under his feet.
"Forgive me!" she said, low but im
pulsively.
"What, does it mean?" His heart
was very heavy.
"I am the Princess Ilildegarde of
Barscheit, and your entering this car
riage lias proved the greatest possible
imsfortune to you."
He stared helplessly— And every
thing had been going along so nicely—
the dinner he had planned in Dresden,
and all that!
"And they believe," the girl went on,
"that I have eloped with you to avoid
marrying the prince." She turned to
the officer in the doorway. "Colonel,
pa the word of a princess, this gentle-
man is in no wise concerned. Iran
away alone."
Max breathed easier.
"I should be most happy to believo
your highness, but you will honor my
strict observance of orders." lie
passed a tek gram to her.
"Search train for Doppelkinn. Prin
cess has eloped. Arrest and hold pa:r
lill I arrive on special engine.
"BARSCHEIT."
The telegraph is the true arm of the
police. The princess sighed pathetical
ly. It was all over.
"Your passports," said the colonel to
Max.
Max surrendered his papers. "You
need not tie my hands," he said calm
ly. "I will come peaceably."
The colonel looked inquiringly at the
princess.
"He will do as he says."
"Very good. I should regret to shoot
him upon so short an acquaintance."
The colonel beckoned for them to step
forth. "Everything is prepared. There
is a carriage for the convenience of
your highness; Ilerr Ellis shall ride
horseback with (ho troop."
Max often wondered why he did not
make a dash for it, or a running fight.
What he had gone through that night
was worth a good fight.
"Good-by," said the princess, hold
ing out her hand.
Scharfenstein gravely bent his head
and kissed it.
"Good-by, Prince Charming!" she
whispered, so softly that Max scarcely
heard her.
Then she entered the closed carriage
and was driven up the dark, tree-en
shrouded road that led to the Castle of
Doppelkinn.
"What are you going to do with
me?" Max asked, as he gathered up the
reins of his mount.
"That we shall discuss later. Like
as not something very unpleasant.
For one thing, you are passing under a
forged passport. You are not an Amer
ican, no matter how well you may
"Good-by, Prince Charming!"
speak that language. You are a Ger
man."
"There are Germans in the United
States, born and bred there, who speak
German tolerably well," replied Max
easily. He was wondering if it would
not be a good scheme to tell a straight
forward story and ask to be returned
to Harsclieit. Hut that would probably
appeal to the officer that he was a cow
ard and was trying to lay thb blame on
the princess.
"I do not say that I can prove It,"
went on the colonel; "I simply affirm
that you are a German, even to the
marrow."
"You have the advantage of the dis
cussion." No; he would confess noth
ing. If he did he might never see the
princess again. . . . The princess!
As far away as yonder stars! It was
truly a very disappointing world to
live in.
"Now, then, forward!" cried the
colonel to his men, and they set off at
a sharp trot.
From time to time, as a sudden twist
in the road broke the straight line,
Max could see the careening lights of
the princess' carriage. A princess!
And he was a man without a country
or a name!
CHAPTER X.
The castle of the Prince of Doppel
kinn rested in the very heart of the
celebrated vineyards. Like all Ger
man castles I ever saw or heard of, it
was a relic of the Middle Ages, with
many a crumbling, useless tower and
battlement. It stood on the south side
of a rugged hill which was gashed by
a narrow but turbulent stream, in
which lurked the rainbow trout that
lured the lazy man from his labors
afield. (And who among us shall cast
a stone at the lazy man? Not I!) If
you are fortunate enough to run about
Europe next year, as like as not you
will bo mailing home the "Doppelklnn"
post-card.
More than once I have wandered
about the castle's interior, cavernous
and musty, strolled through its gal
leries of ancient armor, searched its
dungeon-keep, or loitered to solil
oquize in the gloomy judgment cham
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1908.
ber. How time wars upon custom! In
olden times they created pain; now
they strive to subdue it.
I might go into a detailed histo-» of
the Doppelkinns, only it would be ab
surd and unnecessary, since it would
l>e inappreciable under the name of
Doppelkinn, which happens to be, as
doubtless you have already surmised,
a name of mine own invention. I
could likewise tell you how the ancient
dukes of Barscheit fought off the in
sidious flattery of Napoleon, only it is
j far interest, and Barscheit is sim
ply a characteristic, not a name. Some
day 1 may again seek a diplomatic mis
sion. and what government would have
for its representative a teller of tales
cut of school?
!t was, then, to continue the fortunes
and misfortunes of Max Scharfenstelu,
close to midnight when the cavalcade
crossed the old moat-bridge, which
hadn't moved on its hinges within a
hundred years. They were not enter
ing by the formal way, which was a
flower-bedded, terraced road. It was
the rear entrance. The iron doors
swung outward with a plaintive moan
ing, like that of a man roused out of
his sleep, and Max found himself In
an ancient guard-room, now used as a
kind of secondary stable. The men
dismounted.
"This way, Herr Ellis," said the
colonel, with a mocking bow. He
pointed toward a broad stone staircase.
"All I ask," said Max, "is a fair
chance to explain my presence here."
"All indue time. Forward! The
prince is waiting and his temper may
not be as smooth as usual."
With two troopers in front of him
and two behind. Max climbed the steps
readily enough. They wouldn't dare
kill him, whatever they did. He tried
to imagine himself the hero of some
Scott or Dumas tale, with a grim car
dinal somewhere above, and oubliettes
and torture chambers besetting his
path. But the absurdity of his imag
ination, so thoroughly Americanized,
evoked a ringing laughter. The troop
ers eyed him curiously. He might
laugh later, but it was scarcely prob
able. A tramp through a dark corridor
and they came to the west wing of the
castle. It was here that the old prince
lived, comfortably and luxuriously
enough, you may take my word for it.
A door opened, flooding the corridor
with light. Max felt himself gently
pushed over the threshold. He stood
in the great living-room of the modern
Doppelkinns. The first person he saw
was the princess. She sat on an orien
tal divan. Her hands were folded; she
sat very erect; her chin was tilted
ominously; there was so little expres
sion on her pale face that she might
have been an incompleted statue. Hut
Max was almost certain that there
was just the faintest flicker of a sftiile
in her eyas as she saw him enter.
Glorious eyes! (It is a bad sign wfien
a man begins to use the superlative
adjectives!)
The other occupant of the room was
an old man, fat and bald, with a nose
like a russet pear. He was stalking—
if it is possible for a short man to
stalk—up and down the length of the
room, and, judging from Uie sonorous,
rumbling sound, was communing lialf
aloud. Between whiles he was rubbing
his tender nose, carefully and lovingly.
When a man's nose resembles a russet
pear it generally is tender. Whoever
lie was. Max saw that he was vastly
agitated about something.
This old gentleman was (or sup
posed he was) the last of his line, the
Prince of Doppelkinn, famous for his
wines and his love of them. There
was, so his subjects said, but one ten
der spot in the heart of this old man,
and that was tlio memory of the wife
of his youth. (How the years, the good
and bad, crowd behind us, pressing us
on and on!) However, there was al
ways surcease in the cellars—that is,
the Doppelkinn cellars.
"Ha!" ho roared as he saw the
blinking Max. "So this is the fellow!"
He made an eloquent gesture. "Yeur
highness must be complimented upon
your good taste. The fellow isn't bad
looking."
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
OLD METHODS PASS
SYSTEMS OF LONG AGO WILL
NOT WORK NOW.
CONDITIONS MUST EE MET
One Reason for Growth of Mail Order
System Is That the Average Busi
ness Man Has Not Been
Progressive,
Business methods are changing
week after week and year after year.
The systems that our forefathers
swore by, and which are often
preached to us as examples that
should be followed to-day, could never
be made to work now any more than
the people would be satisfied with the
old ox team and heavy cart as a means
of transportation. The old style con
veyances were the best known in their
time, and great discoveries have been
made by means of the old sailing ves
sels. In fact, the pioneers were the
ones who used these slow methods,
but who will say that we can well dis
pense with the fast-flying steam cars
and electric lines or the ocean flyers
of the present?
Business methods are different and
growing more different day by day.
and we must adjust ourselves to condi
tions as they change. The spread of
the catalogue house system has been
tremendous, if that word can aptly
be used to express it. There are ele
ments In the system that are good,
and some elements that are bad. It Is
according to the way they are ap
plied. There is reason why the cata
logue house exists. They will keep in
evidence until there are better meth
ods and more equitable systems ar
ranged to supply the wants of the peo
ple, and until the people realize that
while the system as a distribution
agency may be all right, there is much
more to the question that needs more
careful consideration. Soon as the
masses realize that trade in each local
section is important to it, that any
system that takes fram a community
the employment that Its people should
have, and that the profits in trade are
essential to the best welfare of the
people of a community, the sooner will
the mail order houses find their proper
sphere and the sooner will the mer
chants of the smaller cities and towns
come to a realization that they must
adapt their business methods to the
requirements of the times.
The catalogue house system should
he looked upon as an educational one.
The large catalogues that are sent
throughout the land are great books
from which lessons can be learned
and will be learned. The masses have
not had knowledge of values placed
well in their hands. Their economic
education has been neglected. The
farmer knows a good cow, a good
horse, a good hog, and it is hard to
fool him. His education has been such
that he is "up to snuff." He is quite
willing to pay the owner of a horse just
what that horse is worth, and willing
that the seller should have the profit
In the transaction. Were he as well
posted in the values of the things
that he must buy for daily use he
would be the same with the local mer
chant as he Is with the man from
whom he may purchase a horse or a
blooded cow or other animal. The big
four-pound books are catechisms of
commercial values. The farmers and
the children of the family study them,
and learn more about things in the
commercial world. A few orders sent
to the far-off dealers, and a few disap
pointments, are sufficient to convince
the intelligent man that he can do
better at home.
Communities that a few years ago
were the greatest buyers of goods by
mail are to-day the best home traders.
The people have become educated.
They soon discovered that goods of a
certain quality always had a certain
value, the same as a good horse or a
cow or some farm animal. They also
realized that the policy of taking em
ployment away from the home people
was wrong. Perhaps the merchants
of the place "brushed" up a little.
They, too, began to understand that
If they had all the stocks and kinds of
goods that the people wanted, and
made the prices right, and in addition
kept the peoplo rightly informed of
these facts, that they could have the
trade of the people of the community.
Both forces working together—the
farmer that he was doing wrong in
Bending away his money and that he
could get just as good goods at home
and the merchant that he had to adopt
up-to-date methods —did that which
was desirable: viz., kept in the town
the business that, should be kept there,
solved the problem.
Cooperative Systems Weak.
Advocates of cooperative enter
prises point to the great success of a
few English societies. Glowing re
ports of how great are the savings to
the peoplo oy these cooperative or
ganizations are given. But here the
law of compensation plays a part.
While the cooperative methods are ex
tolled, few who are active in coopera
tive work show the other side of the
question. If some cooperative enthusi
ast would dissect the report of the
London board of trade, recently made,
it would be found that since these co
operative societies have gained such a
foothold more than half a million
workers in various lines have been af
fected adversely; that those thrown
out of employment by cooperative ef
forts are objects of charity and are a
burden to the different trade guilds.
The substitution of one store for a
hundred may mean economy, but 'when
thousands are thrown out of employ
ment by tlio system what other field
affords) them a living?
CAN NOT BE ELIMINATED.
Position of the Middlemen Secure In
the World's Commerce.
Much is printed in the trade papers
about the cutting out of the middle
men, the jobbers and retailers. Busi
ness revolutionists have taken 11 p the
theme, and have aired themselves.
Socialistic economists have advocated
the annihilation of the middlemen aa
a class of non-producers. The farm
ers of the country are trying to devise
means of doing away with "sharks
that produce nothing, and make a liv
ing off the labor of others." But the
ones who are so desirous to see tha
middlemen done away with will have
to wait for a few thousand years.
The jobber and the little storekeeper
are necessary in the distribution of
products. They are most important
parts of the machinery of commerce.
To illustrate: A large manufacturing
company is located in an eastern city.
Its products are sold by more than
200,000 stores. These stores are lo
cated in all parts of the United States.
Perhaps it costs the concern ten per
cent, to have its products distributed
by the jobbers. If the concern at
tempted to sell its products direct to
the retailers it would be neecssary to
carry 200,000 accounts.
There would be required a shipping
force of several hundred men. The
freight on the small amounts of good 3
that would be called for would be enor
mous over the cost jf shipping in
trainload or carload lots. The delay
in the transportation of goods a long
distance would be costly. Should the
company not send goods direct from
the factory, distributing stations
would have to be established. These
would have to be maintained at a cost
greater than the ten per cent, paid to
the jobber for the warehouse charges
and the carrying of the accounts, and
the employment of travelers. Be
sides, the manufacturer would be com
pelled to employ an army of traveling
men, or institute a system of trade
getting that would be more expensive.
The jobber sends out a traveler and
he sells a few hundred kinds of goods,
the makes of a few hundred different
factories. Here we have cooperation
that is sane and profitable, and it is
doubtful whether the time will ever
come when the jobber and the traveler
will be out of business. The present
system is the development of eighteen
hundred years or more of experience.
It is doubtful whether the inventive
brain of man can devise any other
system of distribution that will be an
improvement. Don't worry about the
middleman being driven out of the
field just yet.
ARE KILLERS OF TRADE.
Surething Grain and Live Stock Buy
ers Injure Business of Town 3.
Mr. Enterprising Citizen, did you
ever consider what an inliuence there
is in having your town recognized as
a good grain market, a place where
the farmers can dispose of their hogs
and all their products at as high prices
as paid elsewhere? Were you ever
unfortunate enough to live in a town
where the grain buyer or the hog
buyer was a skinflint, and not liked
by the farmers?
There is a county seat in a western
state, well located in a rich district,
and well supplied with railroads. A
few years ago there were good stores
in the town, and it was a prosperous
place. Farmers came from many
miles about to sell their stock and do
their trading. There was a change in
the elevator and in the hog-buying
business. The newcomers were built
on the wrong plan. They were out
after the money, and didn't care much
how they got it. The elevator man re
fused to pay what grain was worth.
He could find more fault with a load
of wheat or of corn than any man
ought to. He skimped on quality,
every kind, no matter how good, wa9
a low grade, and the farmers soon
found that he was not the kind of man
that they wanted to deal with. The
new stack buyer was of the same
stripe. He would beat the farmer
down to the last cent, and it was said
that the way he would weigh was a
caution, and the fellows who had stock
to sell would steer clear of the town.
Farmers would drive a few miles fur
ther to another town, where they
would purchase the supplies that they
needed. It got so that whenever a
farmer was seen in the town it was
for the purpose of paying taxes or
looking after some business at the
courthouse. To-day the town is a
dead one. Both the grain buyer and
the liig buyer are out of the town, but
the farmers got in the habit of trad
ing elsewhere, and have not forgotten
that the business men of the place,
judged of course by the grain buyer
and the hog buyer, were skinners. If
you are unfortunate in having such
men in your town, devise some means
of getting them to move to some other
place. They can do more harm than
a dozen merchants can offset by
square dealing.
An Organization Era.
This is an age of "organization."
The farmers combine to regulate the
markets for their products, the grain
dealers and the stock buyers combine
to keep prices clown, the flour manu
facturers and the moat packers com
bine to keep prices up, and the job
bers combine to hold the combined
manufacturers in check, and the re
tailers combine to carry on their busi
ness in a way to gain a living and
make light the exactions demanded by
the manufacturers and the Jobbers.
Tlio working man combines to protect
himself in his work and against the
cutting of wages, and so it goes. The
struggles of life are many, but can
not they be lessened by having fewer
combinations? Will not the practice
of home trade principles act in a pre.
ventative way against combinations?
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oenejieial ejects (jny
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CALIFORNIA
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SOLD BY LEADING D3UCGISTS-50* p. - BOTTLE.
THE DIPLOMAT.
Governess—Who was the wisest
man?
Tommy—Solomon.
Governess —And who was the wisest
woman?
Tommy—Well—er—it's either you
or ma, I can't make up my mind
which.
SUFFERED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
With Eczema—Her Limb Peeled and
Foot Was Raw—Thought Amputa
tion Was Necessary—Believes
Life Saved by Cuticura.
"I have been treated by doctors for
twenty-five years for a bad case of
eczema on my leg. They did their best,
but failed to cure it. My doctor had
advised me to have my leg cut off. At
this time my leg was peeled from the
knee, my foot was like a piece of raw
flesh, and I had to walk on crutches.
I bought a set of Cuticura Remedies.
After the first two treatments the
swelling went down, and in two
months my leg was cured and the new
skin came on. The doctor was sur
prised and said that he would use
Cuticura for his own patients. I have
now been cured over seven years, and
but for the Cuticura Remedies I
might have lost my life. Mrs. J. B.
Renaud, 277 Mentana St., Montreal,
Que., Feb. 20, 1907."
NOT QUITE THE SAME THING.
"Simpleton seems to have a fortune
in his mine."
"Er —no! The fortune's only in his
mind."
The Quality of Mercy.
A notorious mountain moonshiner,
familiarly known as "Wild Bill," was
recently tried before a federal court
in Georgia and was adjudged guilty.
Before pronouncing sentence the judge
lectured the prisoner on his long crim
inal record, and at last informing him
that the court entertained no feeling
of anger toward him, but felt only un
mixed pity, sentenced him to spend
six years in the federal prison at At
lanta.
Bill stolidly shifted the quid of to
bacco in his mouth and turned to leave
the courtroom with the marshal. Once
outside, the only thing he said was
this:
"Well, I suah am glad he wa'n't mad
at me!"— Youth's Companion.
A Railroad Man's Knock.
"That famous railroad man, the late
Samuel Sloan," said a New York bank
er, "loved fast trains and hated slow
ones. They tell a story about a trick
he once played ou a railroad whose
service was notoriously slow.
"Having, several times, to use this
railroad's afternoon accommodation,
he caused a sign to be painted, which
he took from his pocket and hung in
the front of one of the cars when no
body was looking. The sign said:
'Passengers are requested not to pluck
ilowers while the train is in mo
tion.' "
None so little enjoy life, and are
such burdens to themselves, as those
who have nothing to do. —Jordan.
PILES CIIHED IN « TO 11 I»AYS.
PA'/A) OISTMBNT I* (runmnlwU to cure any enso
o! lirlibin. Ullnrt, Hk'oilliitf <ir I'rotrudlng I'llca ia
6 to U days or mom'/ refuiiUoU. tile.
The man who attends strictly to bis
own business has a good steady joa.