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"The surest test of man's character is not the personality with which he meets the world in his everyday associa tion with society, but his appraisal by those most intelli gent of all animals, the horse and the dog," declares Miss Long. ON(.'E upon a time there came a prince, of wondrous high estate, a-courting tin- hand and millions of Loula Long, hpiross to America's lumber king, R. A. Long, of Kansas City. The fame of the dashing American girl, ' whose father built palaces for her, and whose autos are studded with diamonds, had lured to her doorstep the proudest scion of an an cient family that had chummed with the roy alty of Europe, for lo! these many centuries. "My castles, my lands, my lineage, my past and mv devoted future all arc yours," said the noble prince with courtly obeisauce to the million-heiress. "And, loving me. will you love my dog and my horse?" asked the heiress to the greatest lumber lands in the new world. ^"That I will." the prince replied, for 'princes, so 'tis said, love wisely and we if when heiresses are at stake. '"I shall do scribe my virtue's to your father: I shall seek to persuade him I am the proper mate for his charming daughter." said the prince. " You *11 do nothing of the kind," said Miss Loula. "You'll just coine out with me to the stables and see what The King thinks of you. He's a better .judge of husbands than my father ever w. "The King?" exclaimed the princely suitor. "The King? And what King, I pray you. tarries in the stable?" "The b?-st King in the world." his fair one told him: "the winner-of more blue ribbons than you have decorations." True to her word the heiress led ihe prince to the stables?the famous Long stables, where half a score of thoroughbreds whin nied fro mi their sialls their welcome to their mistress. Tin* King was the newest favorite -?recent winin r of the highest award at the International Horse Show at London.. "Tat him on the nose," commanded the heiress. The amazed prince tried to obey; but The Hint: wouldn't let him. In impudent disre gard of the princely graciousness bestowed upon hiin. The King curled his trembling nostril* and angrily snipped the princely hand aside. "The Kill}; gives you your roller. I'll ho out every time you 'call." said the heiress to thf prince. The Long fortune, won from tin* woods by the shrewd lumberman, is esti mated at $".0,000,000. Vast empires in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico contribute to the chain of mills which reaches from Kansas City to the gulf. To all of this Miss Long is the sole heiress. When her fame went abroad as a horse woman. her worth in gold brought suitors hovering about her. First came the Prince Ledochowski, of Po land. who sousrht the heiress in her father's mansion. It. was he. so they say, whose suit was referred to "The. King." and who was given his mitten, not by the heir ess herself, but by the sleek skinned thoroughbred who had not. time for princes. Then, in quick succession, Miss Long's engagement was announced to Val Crane, the noted American horseman; to "William Thompson, the athletic son of the Chicago multi-millionaire restaura teur, and to other noted horsemen and society gal Jants. When tiic Grand Duke Michael Michaelo Ivitch, unele of the recently dethroned czar, 'visited America, Miss Long was presented at his New York reception, at the home of Mrs. John Jacob Astor. The London Tattler, which knows all things that have to do with romances in which the -scions of the elect have parts to play, published the rumor that, the Grand Duke had lost his heart to the blithe young American heiress. When Miss Long returned to her Kansas City home her 6chool girl friends, whom she still kept clua ?oml near her, told each other a pay secret, whirl), one,of them whispered, had to do with the Grand Duke, and how he looked, and what he said, and what he did when the Kansas City girl told him whatever it was she said to him. And every announcement of the forthcoming marriage of the heiress carried with it. its little romance. Val Crane leaped from his horse in the horse show arena at Chicago when "The Duke" became frightened, threw his mistress, and, in his panic, was about to trample her. While tho beauti ful women in the boxes gasped at his gallantry Val" plunged* himself at Tho Duko's head and swerved his pawing forofcet off his prostrate rider. "Thank you, Val." said Miss Long. "The Duko lost his head. But don't hold his bit so tight ly. He's all right now, and sorry." The next time it was young "Billy" Thompson, who rides like a eentaur and makes love like a Romnn. It was at the International at London, their romance becran. Bran Brummel was entered and Miss Loup was to ride him 011c ribbon winning night. Then she became ill. Gal lantly "Billy" Thompson gave bis own mount into the hands of a friend and volunteered to ride Beau B r u m m e 1. And Beau Brummol won the ribbon of his rlas ?. "Thank you," again said Miss Long, and an other romance was begun. It went the way of them all. For almost a year 'Billy' Pryot R. Combs Who Was Picked by Loula Long's Horsqs for Her Husband. , b^vu their aristocratic tails at his approach. So ciety accepted these marks of equine and canine approval as the sign of Miss Long's capitulation. Then "Billy" was absent when the thoroughbreds were gathered at the Den ver horse show. And that was the surest sign of all?that he had been weighed in some invisible balance and found wanting. Patiently Miss Long waited while lovers passed in review before her; rich lovers, noble lovers, sporty lovers -nd studious lovers; financiers and savants, some, great. was the pal of Beau Brummel, and The Duke, and The King, and the wolf hoiind Wflnrtynrl Miss Long Riding "The Duke" Second Judge of Her Suitors. some small, in the world'8 fame, but, all ardu ous and impetuous. "Oh, yes, I like the Mien," Miss Long explained; "there's lots of them as good as any horse that ever lived? but I haven't found one yet." Until, that is?until one day Miss Long espied a pair of ill fed horses struggling vainly to pull up hill a heavily loaded coal wagon. Underneath their feet the slippery city pavement was treacherous. On the wagon scat, was a brutal driver who lashed and swore and fumed impotently while his horses' feet floundered for a foothold 011 tho asphalt. The heiress hurried toward the scene, her ? little fists clenched and her eyes glitteriug. But around the corner came an automobile. nd Why a Minister s Son Will Marry Miss Loula Long and Her Millions When Princes, Dukes, Sportsmen and Millionaires All Failed to P ass tlie Test "A man may wear well with a woman ; he may appeal to her heart, her mind, her very soul?but he cannot wear with a dog or a horse if the heart of his is not as pure as gold. I have watched a man who thought he was alone with a favorite horse of mine, or a dog, and in the twitch of the dog's tail, or the flirt of the horse's head I have seen further behind the mask of the man than propinquity ever could reveal," also says Miss Long. Miss Long and "The King" Chief of the Judges of Suitors Whose Ap^ proval Fell at Last Upon the Minister's Son. driven by a man who saw the predicament of the coal wagon horses and the futile, brutal rr.ge of the coal driver. He swerved his ear alongside the wagon and raised his hand lor the driver to subside. Coolly, with quick, dexterous movements, he fastened the wagon tongue to the axle of .is car and lifted ihe eoal wagon to the top of the hill, sparing tho horses even so nnieh as a tug. When he had untied the rope from his axle he calmly stepped from the wheel huh into the space in front of the coal wagon seat and, without so much as howdoyoudo, knocked the astonished driver to the pavement below. Then he climbed into his car and would have driven away !.nd not Miss Long, who had stood a silent, spectator on the sidewalk, shouted "Hey, you ! What's your name?" He gave her his card. Pryor R. Combs, it read. Then ho talked a bit about how he couldn't stand to see a horse treated so brutally, and then lm drove away. "If he isn't already married, I'm going to marry that man." said Miss Long at the win ner table when she described the incident to the members of her father's family. And so she is. lie. proved to be the sort of a minister?the .Reverend George II. Combs. of the Christian Church. He was reputed to be 11 good son. just as his father was credited with being a good minister. But that was almost all the world could say of him. Miss Long added, however, "?and he loves a horse, and horse loves him. Why shouldn't I?" The wedding will be in (he Fall. "A man might steal, cheat or commit mur der. but if 1 were on the jury sitting in judg ment I'd not care a whit what, the evidence, nor how black the circumstances, if I could watch a horse pass judgment upon him. I'd vote not guilty every time if the horse re vealed a faith in the man. For the good in a ilian is sometimes buried so deeply that only intuition can discover it and resurrect it from the. wreckage of good intentions. And it is intuition that guides the dogs and horses, not circumstantial evidence. "1 think the maid whoso motto was 4lov? me, love my dog' was as great a philosopher as hypatia. I'm quite suiS> no man could ever pass muster with me unless he not only loved my dog and my horse, hut was love^ as well by them," says Miss Long, telling why the poor minister's son won her heart* 9i Copyright, 1917, by the Star Company. ureal Britain Bights Reserved.