A A A A A a A SAA bid wa a] © B il Rights Reserved B Vrs rereteey ye WHICH STARTS A CHAI N OF CIRCUMSTANCES. Synopsis.—The crown prince o ten years old, taken to the opera b slips away to the park, where he Thorpe, a little American boy. The same night t made for him. gests that to preserve the kingdom riage to King Karl of that country. to Princess Annunciata, Hedwig’ plots to prevent his marri: ky Laris Otto's aid de camp, ct ] age I's chauffeur and rI's chauffeur f Livonia, Ferdinand Willlam Otto, y his aunt, tires of the singing and makes the acquaintance of Bobby calls to consult the The chancellor sug- , the friendship of the neighboring riving the Princess Hedwig In mar- Countess L« ly-in-waiting mother, in love with King Karl Hedwig. Hedwig, who loves is dismayed when told of the plans k sends a secret message to King rorists and a he substitu- The within he chancellor wehek, Is is » to Nd ter captain the to red, with aptain enved pe discov sound over water, was Hedwi depre that morning fn the royal chaps had been there, ar wheeled in, high in the opened fron Looking gray old face set an had worn black, «1 in crepe. she » household ing had been box, his of which Je So now she sat very quiet, and won- dered about fam Otto sat rail and watched the green flying by. When no one was he wroke ver from the 1 flung it But e t 12h Nikky to his mind, “It's very +3 0 The & had sought however Hed emed more intent tant line of ¢ border th y . 1 She stood fire, geemed erested, 1 8 on the ( th n on any- thing on a rampart ard Even the stared out at It, looking very sad when at a word all the great und peeped over the edge and then ped backed again as If they had even this falled to rouse drill guns rose at the valley below, drog seen enough- her. “] sh said the cr wish you would listen, Hedwig.” | wn prince, almost fretfully. “It's resting, The enemy's sol- diers would come up the river la boats, | and a that road on foot, And then we Ww raise the guns and shoot at them. And the guns would drop back in, before the enemy had time tol * at them.” 80 int long 1 i ibe wie 80 evi the professed Hedwig's interest y assumed that he turned to 08% The countess smiling terror, little way | buck fr the Ig on. jut Prince Ferdinand Willlam Otto at last | coaxed her to the top of the emplace- | ment, “There's a ine view up there” he urged. “And the guns won't hurt you. | There's in them.” To get tp It was secessary to elimb | ladder, He@iwig was already | About a dosen young officers | had helped ap, and ruined as man? g of white gloves, although | Hevwig gould climb like a eat, aud | and stood n guns, lookin " nothing an iron thet. ner vivslm eid what was saw which His he it enme only twice a year, and was sent, intact, to take care of an invalid daughter In the country. That was not his. He never used a penny of it. And he had saved a trifle, by liv- Ing on alr, as the concierge declared, But misfortunes come in threes, like fires and other calamities, The after- noon of that very day brought a let- ter, saying that the daughter was worse and must have an operation, Old Adelbert went to church and there the bank to send by from to He hours, That evenl a reckless thing. He wrote a letter to the king. He spent hours over it, first composing it in pencil and then copy- Ing it with Ink borrowed beg: was bankrupt in twenty-four o Rg ith from onclerge, It in “Sire, id went majesty, first, of the i! Incident, which, having been for- 118. thight have Then cs his wooden ition, a return, he lis d there died in old t's soul his flaming love for h mm and his bellef In hin ok on a hard and haunt k. ght he the palace He was CHAPTER IX. Old Adelbert. i { f his idl room where the i 1k of the of the ner, the maker ™ 1 MG were gathered, and lis to such talk ns him once to white without uid have roused nger. But the iron naa not yet gone very '», and one thing he would not per- It was atnen, in the conversation, pe of them attacked the king. Then indeed he was roused to fury. Once upon a time a student named Haeckel had occasionally bucked him up in his defense of the royal family. protest tee resis came no more, and old Adelbert missed him. He nsked one day. “I have not seen him ately.” No one had replied. But a sort of settled over the little room. Old Adelbert, however, was not discerning. But, that first day of idleness, when ad left the cobbler's, he resolved not return, They had not been unfriendly, but he had seen at once there was a difference. He was no longer old Adelbert of the opera. He silence to He spent hours that first free after noon repairing his frayed linen and his shabby uniform, with his wooden leg stretched out before him and his pipe <¢lutched firmly in his teeth. Then, freshly shaved and brushed, he started on a painful search after work. With no result. And, indeed, he was hopeiess before he began. There was little that he had even the courage to apply for. “I Am Seeking a Student Named Haeckel” He was very nervous when he made this final effort. Corps houses were curious places, he had heard, and full of secrets. Even the great professors from the university might not enter without invitation. And his experience had been that students pald small re- spect to uniforms or to age. In truth, he passed the bullding twice before he could summon courage to touch the great brass knocker. And the arro- gance of {13 crore, when at last he rapped, startled him again. But here at least he need not have feared. The student who was keeper eyed him kindly. rade?” he sald. “I am eeeking a student named Haeckel, of this corps,” sald old Adel- bert stoutly. “Haeckel 7" repeated the doorkeeper. “I think- in, comrade, 1 will inquire.” For the name of Haeckel was, just then, one curiously significant, He disappeared, and old Adelbert walted. When the doorkeeper re- turned, It was to tell him to follow him, and to lead the way downstairs, Two or three students « at “You are one of them asked, “I am, I knew him, but not well, Lately, however, I have thought- here?” The stu “He is n ulso door- “Well, com- Come ame seeking once, exchan glances “Where ged said, one frequently to a ROOD, or them, cheered him saber, the inten listened with which The the boy old he politeness Ness ich he These Americans downstairs were not all bad, then, They were too rich, course. No one should have melt three times a day, as the meat seller reported they did. And they were pay- ing double rent for the apartment be- low. But that, of course, they could not avoid, not knowing the real charge. The boy was frankly delighted. And of a sausage and, boiling it i { of bread, an odd friendship begun that was to have unfore- They had broken was Seen Consequences, bread together, Gradually, over and the the meal, policy of substituting fresh blood for gtnle, the government had made many enemies among them, The old man’s bitterness had been increased by two things. First, al though he had been dismissed without notice, in the middle of the week, he hnd been paid only up to the hour of leaving, That was a grievance. Sec ond, being slow on his feet, one of the royal motor cars had almost run him down, and the police had cursed him roundly for being In the way. At last he determined to find Haeckel, the student. He did not know his Christinn name, nor where he lodged. But he knew the corps he belonged to, by his small gray cap with a red bam, unburdened his heart. He told of his very old pow. I was In a hospital once, after a battle. And he came in, He put his hand on my shoulder, like this"—he illustrated it on the child's small one—"and sald-" Consider- ing that old Adelbert no longer loved his king, it is strange to record that his volce broke, “Will he die soon?” Bobby put in. He found klugs as much of a novelty as to Prince Ferdinand William Otto they were the usual thing. “Who knows? But when he dies, the city will learn at once. The great bell of the cathedral, which never rings save at such times, will toll. They say It Is n sound never to be forgotten, I, of course, have never heard it, When it tolls, all in the city will fall on their knees and pray. It is the custom.” Jobby, reared to strict Preshyterlan- and to kneeling but once a day, and that at night beside his bed, In the strict privacy of bis own apartment, looked rather startled, “What will they pray for?” he said. And old Adelbert, with a new bitter replied that the isn accustomed ness, BONS imes they were hard “And then the crow ¢ 1 ' and did crus be years at the opera, where he had kept | his glasses clean and listened to the | music until he knew by heart even the most difficult passages. He told of the | crown prince, who always wished opera glasses, not because he needed them, but because he liked to turn them wrong end before, and thus make the audience appear at a great dis- | tance, And then he told of the loss | of his position. ! The American lad listened politely, but his mind was on the crown prince, | “Does he wear a crown? he de manded. “1 saw him once in a car ringe, but I think he had a hat. When | will he be a king? “When the odd kjug dies, He is ing.” Bobby reflected, * | A Bn a) “If | Were a King I'd Stand Around™ f nic railway Except that they ai ry, with an extra month | Christ , she would not be tl “He mq said Bobby's me fn SC ere, | » old soldier upstairs,” ther softly. She a gentle person. Her eyes were wide hild and it was a sort of re ligion of the family to keep them full | of happiness, This also the governess could not understand. “So the old soldier is out of work™ Head, thought the governess! When they wound him about their fingerg! She liked men of sterner stuff. In her mountain country the men did as they wished, and sometimes beat their wives by way of showing their author. and « HRe, ” mused the head of the family, Late that evening, old Adelbert's problem having been solved, Pepy the maid and Bobby had a long talk. Pepy gat in a low chalr by the tiled stove in the kitchen, and knitted a stocking with a very large foot, “What I want to know is this” said Bobby, swinging his legs on the table : “What are the terrorists?” Pepy dropped her knitting, and stared with open mouth, “What know you of such things?’ she demanded. “Well, terrorists killed the crown prince's father, and" Quite suddenly Pepy leaped from her chair, and covered Bobby's mouth with her hand, “Hush !" said, and stared about her with frightened eyes, Then, in a whisper: “Thee are every- where. No one knows who they are, nor where they mest, I myself,” she went on impressively, “erossing the place one night late, after spending the evening with a friend, saw a line of cats moving in the shadows. One them stopped and looked herself. “It | he Fraulein in there” Jobby stared with The “Maybe 1 ¢ reflected she crossed interes the like then doorway. ROVEIrTies cat. he ' fa Baecs 3 loud. “Oh, for God's sake, hush! to knitting Pepy, and fell id Bobby elicit rom her. But that n Crow! cit any {ok g WwW a and «¢ ry CHAPTER X. Committee of Ten, The were in the ba La curely held, were It was a cunningly « Two bags, exactly arried dally, » The other but a knob as wha appeared be. contained a cat accurate, with a fine of the 1eTa, lens, was the shutter snapped. The pictures when enlarged had proved themselves per- fect. leading fatigue, she dismissed her maid and locked the doors. Then she opened the sliding panel, and unfas- The roll of film was in her hand, ready to be deposited un- der the false bottom of her jewel case, Within the security of her room, She even tiny When fastening wife, He was a weakling. The weakling smiled across the | table at the wife with the soft eyes, | “How about it, mother?" he asked. “Shall the firm of “Bobby and I' offer | him a job?" “I would like it very much, » said the | hide the pride In them, “Suppose,” sald the weakling, “that | you run up after dinner, Bob, and bring him down. Now sit still, young man, and finish, There's no such hurry as that,” And in this fashion did old Adelbert become ticket chopper of the American | Scenic Railway. And in this fashion, too, commenced that odd friendship bhtween him and the American lad that was to have so vital an effect on the very life it- William Otto of Livonia, Still singing, she carried the jewel case to her table, and sat down be- fore it. Then she put a hand to her throat. The lock had been foreed. LT Countess Loschek is summoned to appear before the Committee of Ten, leaders of the terrorists, where she is confronted with a terrifying demand. The next instaliment tells of this startling development, (TO BE CONTINUED) Mrx, Despard, a sister of General French, 1s sald to have refused more than BOC applications for newspaper interviews after her return from visit- ing her brother at the front
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