The Elbert County tribune. [volume], October 11, 1918, Image 2

About The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920

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Long Live the King
Copyright, 1917, by tha Ridgway Company
COUNTESS LOSCHEK, STARTING ON WAY ACROSS
BORDER, WARNED TO KEEP COMMITTEE’S
PLANS SECRET.
Synopsis.—Prince Ferdinand William Otto, heir to the throne of
Livonia, Is unaware of plots of the terrorists to form a republic. Ills
grandfather, the king, In order to preserve tin* kingdom, arranges for
the marriage of Princess Iledwlg, Otto’s cousin, to King Karl of
Kurnia. Hedwig rebels because of an attachment she has formed for
Captuln Nlkky Larlsch. Prince Otto’s personal attendant. Countess
Losehek. attached to the menage of Archduchess Annunclatu, is In
love with the king of Kurlilu, for whom she ucts as spy. She Is
threatened by the committee of ten, leaders of the terrorists, unless
she bows to the committee’s will and helps to secrete the crown prince
when the king, who Is very ill, dies. Nlkky Is torn between love and
a sense of duty and loyulty to bis king. Without Karl’s support the
king's death would bring the terrorists Into control. Illness of Prince
Ferdinand William Otto’s grundfather is discussed.
CHAPTER Xlll—Continued.
—-12
The candle was at lust lighted. It
burned fitfully. Illuminating only u tiny
stone In the darkness.
“I need a lantern,” Hobby observed.
•There’s a druft 1* re. It comes from
the other grating. Some time, when
you have time, I’d like to see what’s
beyond it. I wus kind of nervous
about going alone.”
It was the old passage, then, of
course. Old Adelbert stared as Hobby
took the candle and held It toward a
second gruted door, like the first, but
tuller.
A close examination revealed to old
Adelbert two things: First, that a
brick-lined pussuge, apparently in good
repair, led beyond the grating. Sec
ond. that it had been recently put In
order. No unused passage this, but
one kept in order and repair. For
what?
That evening Adelbert called to see
his friend, the locksmith In the uni
versity place. He possessed, he said,
u pudlock of which he had lost the
key, and which, being fastened to a
chest, he wus unuble to bring with him.
A large und heavy pudlock, perhaps
the size of Ills palm.
When he left, he carried with him
a bundle of keys, tied in a Prown
paper.
Hut he did not back to his chest,
lie went instead to the thicket around
the old gute, which was still termed
the “Gate of the Moon,” and there,
urtned with a lantern, pursued his In
vestigations during a portion of the
night.
When he had finished, old Adelbert.
veteran of many wars, one-time patriot
and new’ly turned traitor, held in his
shaking hands the fate of the king
dom.
• ••••••
The Countess Losehek was on her
way across the border. The arrange
ments were not of her making. Her
plan, which had been to go afoot
ucross the inountuln to the town of
Ar-on-Ar, and there to hire a motor,
bud been altered by the arrival at the
castle, shortly after the permission
was given, of a machine.
•‘The mutter of passports' for the
border la arranged, mudarae,” Black
Humbert told her.
“I have my own passports,” she said
proudly.
“They will not be necessary.”
“I will have this Interview at my
destination ulone, or not at all.”
He drew himself to Ills great height
and regarded her with cold eyes. "As
you wish,” he said. "But It is prob
ably not necessary to remind madame
thut, whatever is discussed at this
meeting, no word must be mentioned of
the committee, or its plans.”
Although he mude no threat, she had
shivered. No, there must be no word
of the committee, or of the terror thnt
drove her to Karl. For, If the worst
huppened, if he failed her, and she
must do the thing they had set her to
do, Karl must never know. That card
she must play alone.
Everything hung on the result of her
visit. If Karl persisted, if he would
marry Uedwlg In spite of the trouble
It would precipltute, then indeed she
wus lost. If, on the other hand, he
wus Inclined to peuce, if her story of
u tottering throne held his hund, she
would defy the committee of ten. Karl
himself would help her to escape,
might indeed hide her. It would not
be for long. Without Kurl’s support
the king’s death would bring the ter
rorists into control. They would have
other to do thuu to hunt her
out Their end would be gained with
out her. Let them steul the crown
prince, then. Let Hedwig fight for her
throne und lose It. Let the streets
run deep with blood and all the pande
monium of hell break loose.
But if Karl fulled her. She clinched
her teeth.
The countess did not sleep. She
was, with every fiber of her keen bruin,
summoning her arguments. She would
need them, for she knew —none better
—how great a handicap was hers.
She loved Karl, and he knew it. What
hud been her strength had become her
weakness.
Yet she was composed enough when,
before the sun was well up, the ipa
chlne drew up in the village before
By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
the Inn where Mcttlich had speat his
uneasy hours.
She had expected to go to tlie lodge,
but ut nine o’clock that night Kan
came to her. knocking at the door of
her room and entering without writing
for permission.
The room wus small and cozy with
firelight. Her scarlet cloak, tlung over
a chair, made a clash of brilliant color.
Two lighted candles on a high c: rved
chest, and between them a plaster fig
ure of the Mother und Child, u built-in
bed with white curtains—that wus the
room.
Before the open fire Olga Losehek
sat in "her low chair. She wore still
her dark dress; and u veil, ready to be
donned at the summons of a message
from Karl, trailed ucross her knee. In
the firelight she looked very young—
young und weary. Karl, who had
come hardened to a scene, found her
appealing, i.lmost pathetic.
She rose at Ids entrance and. after
a moment of surprise, smiled faintly.
Hut she said nothing, nor did Karl,
until he liud lifted one of her cold
bunds, and brushed it with Ids lips.
“Well!” he suld. “And again,
Olga !”
“Once again.”
Sho looked up at him. Yes. he was
changed. The old Karl woulU have
taken her In his arms. This new Kurl
was urbane, smiling, uneasy.
“There Is nothing wrong, is there?”
he said. "Your note alurmed me. Not
the note, but your coming here.”
“I was unxious. And there were
things I felt you should know."
“Whut things?”
“The truth about the king's condi
tion, for one. He is dying. The bulle
tins lie. He Is no better.”
"So!” said Karl uneasily. "But the
chancellor assured me—” He stopped.
It was not yet time to speuk of the
chancellor's visit.
“The chancellor! He lies, of course.
How bud things are you may Judge
when I tell you that a hidden passage
from the pulace has been opened and
cleared, ready for instant flight."
It wus Karl’s turn to be startled.
He rose, and stood staring down ut her.
“Are you certulu of thut?”
“Certain!” She luughed bitterly.
"The terrorists—revolutionists, they
call themselves —are everywhere. They
know everything. see everything.
Mettllch’s agents nre disappearing one
Karl Left Her There at Last.
by one. No one knows where, but all
suspect. Student meetings are pro
hibited. The yearly procession of
veteruns Is forbidden, for they trust
none, even their old soldiers. The
council meets day after day in secret
session."
“But the army—”
“They do not trust the army.”
Karl’s face was grave. Something
of the trouble In Livonia he had
known. But this argued un Immediate
crisis.
“On the king's death,” the countess
All Rights Reserved
said, “a republic will be declared.
The republic of Livonia ! The crown
prince will never reign.”
“So you came today to tell me this?”
She glanced up. and cutchlng his
eyes, colored faintly. “These are
things you should know.”
He knew her very well. A Jealous
womnn would go far. He knew now
that she was Jealous. When he spoke
It wus with calculating brutality. “You
mean, In view of my Impending raur
rluge?”
So It was arranged! Finally ar
ranged. Well, she hud done her best.
He knew the truth. She had told It
fairly. If, knowing It, he persisted,
It would be because her power over
him was dead ut last.
“Yes. I do not know how far your
arrangements have gone. You huve
at least been warned.”
Hut she saw, by the very way he
drew himself up and smiled, that he
understood. More thun that, he
doubted her. He questioned whut she
bad said. The very fuct that she had
told him only the truth added to her
resentment.
"You will see," she said sullenly.
Because he thought be already saw,
and because she hud given him a bud
moment, Karl chose to be deliberately
cruel. "Perhaps!" he said. "But you
leave out of this discussion the one
element that I consider linportunt,
Hedwig herself. If the Princess Hed
wig were tomorrow to be without a
country, I should still hope to murry
her.”
She had done well up to now, had
kept her courage and her temper, had
taken her cue from him and been quiet
and poised. But more than his words.
Ills cruel voice, silky with friendship,
drove her to the breaking point.
Bitterly, and with reckless passion,
she flung ut him Ilodwig’s Infatuation
for young Larlsch. and prophesied his
dishonor as u result of it.
In the end she grew quiet and sat
looking Into the tire with eyes full of
stony despair. She had tried aud
failed. There was one wuy left, only
one, and even thut would not bring
him back to her. Let Hedwig escape
and marry Nlkky Larlsch —still where
was sho? Let the terrorists strike
fhelr blow and stenl the crown prince.
Again—where was she?
Tier emotions were deadened, all
save one, and that was her hatred of
Hedwig. The humiliation of tliut mo
ment was due to her. Somehow, some
day, she would be even with Hedwig.
Karl left her there at last huddled In
her ehnlr, left full of resentment, the
ashes of his old love cold and gray.
There was little reminder of the girl
of the mountains In the stony-eyed
woman he had left sagged low by the
fire.
Once out In the open air, the king
of Kurnia drew a long breath. The
affair was over. It had been unpleas
ant. It was always unpleasant to
break with a woman. But it was time.
He neither loved her nor needed her.
Friendly relations between the two
countries were established, and soon,
very soon, would be ratified by his
marriage.
It was not of Olga Losehek, but of
Hedwig thut he thought, as his car
climbed swiftly to the lodge.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Crown Prince's Pilgrimage.
The day when Olga Losehek should
huve returned to the city found her
too ill to travel. No feigned sickness
this, but real enough, u matter of fever
aud burning eyes, and of mutterings
in troubled sleep.
Minnu was alarmed. She was fond
of her mistress, In spite of her oc
casional cruelties, and lately the
countess had been strangely gentle.
Sho required little attention, wished
to be alone, and Jay in her great bed,
looking out steadily at the bleak moun
tain tops, to which spring never
climbed.
“She eats nothing,” Minna said
’ despairingly to the curetnker. “And
j her eyes frighten me. They are al
ways open, even In the night, but they
seem to see nothing.”
On the day when she should have
returned, the countess roused herself
enough to send for Black Humbert,
fretting In the kitchen below. He hud
believed t it she was malingering un
til he saw her, but her flushed and
hollow cheeks showed her condition.
“You must return und explain,” she
said. “I shall need more time, after
all.”
When he hesitated, she added:
“There are plenty to watch that I do
not escape. I could not. If I would.
I have not the strength.”
“If miidame wishes, I can take a let
ter.”
She pondered over that. Interlacing
her fingers nervously ns she reflected.
“I will send no letter,” she decided,
“but I will give you a message, which
you can deliver.”
“Yes, madame.”
“Say to the committee that I have
reflected and thnt I will do what they
ask. As far,” she added, “as lies In
my power. I can only try.”
“That is all the committee expects.”
he said civilly, and with a relief that
was not lost on her. “With raadame’3
intelligence, to try is to succeed.”.
ELBERT COUNTY TRIBUNE
Copyright, 1917, by Mary Roberta Rinehart
Nevertheless, he left her well
guarded. Even Minna, slipping off for
an evening hour with a village sweet
heart, wus stealthily shudowed. Be
fore this, fine ladies had changed gar
ments with their maids and escaped
from divers unpleasantnesses.
At the end of two days the countess
was able to be up. She moved
languidly about her room, still too
weak to plan.
And on the fourth day came the
crown prince of Llvoniu on a pil
grimage.
The manner of his coming was this:
There are more ways than one of
reaching the hearts of an uuensy peo
ple. Reinissiou of taxes Is a bud one.
It argues a mistake In the past. In ex
acting such tithes. Governments may
muke errors, but must not acknowl
edge them. There Is the freeing of
political prisoners, but that, too, Is
dangerous, when such prisoners
breathe sedition to the very prison
walls.
And there is the nppeal to sentiment.
The government, pinning all Its hopes
to one smnll boy, would further endear
him to the people. Wily statesman
that he was. the chuncellor had hit
on this to offset the rumors of Hed
wlg’s marriage.
"A pilgrlmuge!” said the king, when
the matter was broached to him. “For
what? My recovery? Cannot you let
your servant depart In peace?"
“Pilgrimages,” observed the chancel
lor, “huve had murvelous results, sire.
I do not Insist that they perform
miracles, as some believe,” —be smiled
faintly—“but as a matter of public
feeling und u remedy for discord, they
are sometimes efficacious.”
“I see,” said the king. And luy still,
looking at the ceiling.
“Can it be done safely?” he asked
at lust.
“The maddest traitor would not
threaten the crown prince on u pil
grimage. The people would tear him
limb from limb.”
“Nevertheless, I should take all pre
cuutious,” said the king. “A inudinun
might not reeoguize tth e
uature of the uffair."
The same day the chancellor visited
Prince Ferdluund William Otto, und
found him returned from his drive and
busy over Hedwig’s photograph frume.
“It Is almost done,” he said. “I
slipped over in one or two places, but
It Is not very noticeable, Is It?”
The chuncellor observed it Judicially,
and decided that the slipping over wus
not nuticeuble ut ull.
“Otto," suld the chancellor gravely,
“I want to tulk to you very serioUßy
übout something I would like you to
do. For your grandfuther.”
“I'll do unythlng for him, sir.”
“We know that. This is the point.
He bus been ill for a long time. Very
ill”
The boy watched him with a trou
bled face. “He looks very thin,” he
said. "I get quite worried when I see
him.”
"Exactly. You have heard of Etzel?"
Prince Ferdinand William Otto’s
religious Instruction was of the best.
He hud, indeed, heard of Etzel. He
knew the famous pilgrimages in order,
and could say them rapidly, beginning,
the year of Our Lord 915 —the Emperor
Otto and Adelheid. his spouse; the
year of Our Lord 1100, Ulrich, Count
of Ituburg; and so on.
“When people are ill,” he said sage
ly, “they go to Etzel to be cured.”
“Precisely. But when they cannot go
they send some one else, to pray for
them. Aud sometimes. If they huve
faith enough, the holy mirati*. happens
aud they ure cured.”
The chancellor was deeply religious,
aud ultiiough he hud planned the pll
grimuge for political reasons, for the
moment, he lost sight of them. What
if, after ull, this clear-eyed, cleun
hearted child could bring this miracle
of the king’s recovery? It was a
famous shrine, und strunger things had
been brought about by less worthy
ugencles.
"I thought,” he said, “that if you
would go to Etzel, Otto, and there pray
for your grundfuther’s recovery, it—
it would be a good thing.”
Tlie meaning of such a pilgrimage
dawned suddenly on the Boy. His eyes
filled, und because he considered it un
manly to weep, he slid from his chair
and went to the window.
"I’m afraid he’s going to die,” he
said. In a smothered voice.
The chuncellor followed him to the
window, and put an arm uroun/5 His
shoulders. “Even that would not be
si* terrible. Otto,” he said. “Death,
to the old. Is not terrible. It is an
open door. fhroK„h which they go glad
ly. because—because those who have
gone uheud are waiting just beyond
It.”
“Are my mother and father wait
ing?"
“Yes, Otto.”
He considered. “And my grand
mother?”
“Yes.”
"He’ll be very glad to see them all
again.”
“Very happy. Indeed. But we need
him here. too. for a while. You need !
him and —I. So we will go and pray
to have him wait a little longer be- ,
fors he goes away. How about It?” |
“I’ll try. I’m not very good. I do a
good many things, you know.”
Here, strangely enough. It wus the
chancellor who fumbled for his hand
kerchief. A vision had come to him of
the two of them kneeling side by side
ut Etzel, the little lad who was “not
very good,” und he himself with his
long yeurs behind him of such things
us till a man’s life. And because the
open door was not so far ahead for
him either, und because he believed im
plicitly in the great record withiu the
gate, he shook his shuggy heud.
So the pilgrimuge was arranged.
With due publicity, of course, and due
precaution for safety. By train to the
foot of the mountains, and then on
foot for the ten miles to Etzel.
The crown prince went through his
preparation in a sort of rapt soleinn
ity. So must the boy crusaders have
looked as, starting on their jour
ney, they fuced south and eust, toward
the far dlstunt Sepulcher of Our Lord.
The king’s council went, the chnncellor,
the mayor of the city, wearing the
great gold chain of his fllce around his
neck, and a hundful of soldiers—a
simple pilgrimage and the more affect
ing. There were no streaming banners,
no magnificent vestments. The arch
bishop accompanied them, and a flag
bearer.
They went on foot to the railway
station through lines of kneeling peo
ple, the boy still rapt, and looking
straight ahead, the chancellor seem
ingly ulso absorbed, but keenly alive
to the crowds. As he went on. his face
relaxed. It was ns If the miracle had
already happened. Not the miracle
“Death, to the Old, Is Not Terrible.”
for which the boy would pruy, but a
greater one. Surely these kneeling
people, gazing with moist and kfhdly
eyes at the crown prince, could not,
at the hot words of demagogues, turn
Into the mob he feared. But It had
happened before. The people who had,
one moment, adored the Dauphin of
France on his balcony at Versailles,
had lived to scream for his life.
The countess, standing on her bal
cony and staring down into the valley,
beheld the pilgrimage and had thus
her first knowledge of it. She was
Incredulous at first, and stood gazing,
gripping the stone railing with tense
hands. She watched, horror stricken.
The crown prince, himself, come to
Etzel to pray! For his grandfather,
of course. Then. Indeed, must things
be bad with the king, as bad as they
could be.
The church doors closed behind
them.
Olga Losehek fell on her knees. She
was shaking from head to foot. And
because the religious training of her
♦•arly life near the shrine had given
her faith in miracles, she pruyed for
one. Ilather, she made a burguin with
God:
If any word came to her from Karl,
any, no matter to whut it pertained,
she would take It for a sign, and at
tempt flight. If she was captured, she
would kill herself.
But, if nc word came from Karl by
the hour of her departure the next
morning, then she would do the thing
she had set out to do, and let him be
ware ! The king dead, there would be
no king. Only over the dead bodies
of the Livoniuns would they let him
marry Hedwig and the throne. It
would be war.
Curiously, while she was still on her
knees, her bargain made, the plan
came to her by which, when the time
came, the terrorists were to rouse the
people to even greater fury. Still
kneeling, she turned it over in her
mind. It was possible. More, it could
be made plausible, with her assistance.
And at the vision It evoked—Mettllch’s
horror and rage, Hedwig’s puling
tears, her own triumph—she took u
deep breath. Revenge with a ven
geance, retaliation for old hurts and
fresh Injuries, these were what she
found on her knees, while the bell in
the valley commenced the muss, and
a small boy, very rupt aud very earn
est, prayed for his grandfather’s life.
Yef the bargain came very close to
being made the other way that day.
und by Karl himself.
On the day of ‘ pilgrimage Karl
found himself stiungely restless and
uneasy. Olga Losehek haunted him,
her face whtfn he bad told her about
the letter, her sagging figure when he
had left her.
Something like remorse stirred on
him. She had taken great risks for
him. Of all the women he had known,
she had most truly and unselfishly
loved him.
Very nearly did he swing the scale
In which Olga Losehek had hung her
burguin with God—so nearly that In
the Intervals of affixing his sprawling
signature to various documents, he
drew a sheet of note paper towurd him.
Then, with a shrug, he pushed It awuy.
So Olga Losehek lost her bargain.
At duwu the next morning the
countess, still pale with illness and
burning with fever, went back to the
city.
*••••••
“Thus.” said the concierge, frying
onions over his stove —“thus have
they always done. But you have been
blind. Rather, s’<»u would not see.”
Old Adelbert stirred uneasily. “So
long us I accept my pension—”
“Why should you not accept your
pension? A trifle in exchange for what
you gave. For them, who now ill use
you, you have gone through life but
half a man. But one use they have
for us, you und me, my friend —to tax
us.”
“The taxes are not heavy,” quoth
old Adelbert.
“There are some who find them so.”
The concierge heaped his guest’s plute
with onions.
Old Adelbert played with his steel
fork “I was a good patriot,” he ob
served nervously, "until they made me
otherwise.”
“I will moke you a better. A patriot
Is one who is zealous for his country
and Its welfare. That means much.
It means that when the established
order Is bud for a country, it must
be changed. Not that you and I may
benefit. God knows, we may not live
to benefit. But that Livonia may free
her neck from the foot of the oppres
sion and raise her head among ca
tions.”
I From which it may be seen that old
I Adelbert hud at lust joined the revo
lutionary party, an uneasy und un
happy recruit, It Is true, but—a recruit.
“If only some half measure would suf
fice,” he said, giving up all pretense
of eating. “This talk of rousing the
mob, of rioting and violence, I do not
like them.”
“Then has age turned the blood In
your veins to water!” said the con
cierge contemptuously. “Huif meas
ures! Since when has a half measure
been useful? Did half meusures win
in your boasted battles? And what
! half measures would you propose?”
Old Adelbert sat silent. Now and
then, because his mouth was dry, he
took a sip of beer from bis tanknrd.
The concierge ate, taking huge mouth
fuls of onions and bread, and survey
ing Ids feeble-hearted recruit with ap
praising eyes. To win hlin would
mean honor, for old Adelbert, decorated
for many braveries, was a power
among the. veterans. Where he led,
others would follow.
“Make no mistake,” snld Black
Humbert cunningly. “We aim at no
bloodshed. A peaceful revolution, if
possible. The king, being dead, will
suffer not even humiliation. Lot the
royal family scatter where It will. We
have no designs on women. The
chancellor, however, must die.”
“I make no plea for him,” said old
Adelbert bitterly. “I wrote to him also,
when I lost my position, und received
no reply. We passed through the same
campaigns, as I reminded him. but he
did nothing.”
“As for the crown prince,” observed
the concierge, eyeing the old man over
the edge of his tankard, “you know
our plan for him. He will be cared
for as my own child, until we get him
beyond the boundaries. Then he will
be sufely delivered to those who know
nothing of his birth. A private fund
of the republic will support and edu
cate hi in.”
Old Adelbert’s hands twitched. “He
is but a child,” he said, “but already
he knows his rank.”
“It will be wise for him to forget
It.” His tone was ominous. Adelbert
glnnced up quickly, but the terrorist
had seen his error, and masked It with
a grin. "Children forget easily,*'’ he
said, “and by this secret knowledge of
yours, old comrade, all carl be peace
fully done. Until you brought It to
me, we were, I confers, fearful that
force would be necessary. To admit
the rabble to the paluce would be
dangerous. Mobs go mad at such mo
ments. But now It may be effected
with all decency and order 1"
“And the plan?"
“I may tell you this.” The con
cierge shoved his plate away und bent
over the table. “We have set the day
as that of the carnival. On that day
all the people ure on the streets. Pro
cessions are forbidden, but the usunl
costuming with their corps colors ns
pompons Is allowed. Here aud there
will be one of us clad In red, a devil,
wearing the colors of Ills Satanic ma
jesty. Those will be of our forces,
leaders and speech rankers. When we
secure the crown prince, he will be
put Into costume until he can be con
eealed. They will seek, if there be
time, the Prince Ferdinand William
Otto. Who will suspect a child, wear
ing some fantastic garb of the car
nivul?"
“Hut the king?” Inquired old Adel
bert lu a shaking voice. “How can
you set u day, when the king may
rally? I thought all hung on the king's
death.”
* r ~'" ' ' *
King Karl becomes acquaint
ed with the troubled state of
the country in the next install
ment.
»'
(TO BE CONTINUED )
Japanese are planning to link two
of their Islands with n railroad tun
nel, 4.000 feet o£ which will bo under
the sea.