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Show King Tommy , Lystrla. For the sake of England'! greatness he was ready to sacrifice Norheys. If sacrifice had been neces- By George A. Birmingham Coprrilb7Bobbe. Merrill Co.-W. N.U. Service certainly white. The daughter wasn't born at that time, hut her mother waa an Knglishwoman and a cousin of your own. It'a most unlikely that the girl Jg black." "Even o," said Norheys, "she'll he more or less aavage, and I don't care for savages. It'a not thut I'm particularly par-ticularly keen on civilization. What I always say about that Is that a lot of It Is rather rot. Mill, that's different dif-ferent thing from marrying a savage. A girt ought to wear corsets, yon know, and go to a decent dress maker." "You're wrong nhout that," I said. "The Central European aristocracy and that's the class she helongs tiv are quite civilized. She prohahly speaks half a dozen languages and awta her frocks from Paris or used to. She can't now, poor thing, for her fikther Is stony broke. That's the reason she's had to take to dancing. danc-ing. And I'm told that she's quite a good looking girl." "She may he," said Norheys, "but my point Is that Is to suy, what I really feel Is- sary. There was also another consideration considera-tion which weighed with Troyte. He came to It when be had finished with the oil. "The Germans," he said, "are scheming to put up a king of their own In Lyitrla. The man they have In mind Is the Prinx von Stelnveldt." "I used to know him," I said. "He was In the foreign office In Berlin. He must be bit too old for the princess. prin-cess. Do you think she'd marry him?" "The princess," said Troyte, "will marry the man she's told to." I waa not so sure about that. The spirit of revolt against thnt doctrine of a girl's duty laid firm hold upon the middle classes years ago. Since then It has been spreading upward, "I'M ENGAGED SYNOPSIS. In London ths teller of the story of the adventure adven-ture of "Kins Tommy," and known hereafter as "Unci Bill," Is Informed by Lord Norheye. son of an old frtand, that Lord Troyte. head of the British for-slsn for-slsn office, Norheye' uncle, has a echeme to make him (Norhrs) king of Lyatrla, In central Europe, Eu-rope, through marriage to Calypso, Ca-lypso, daughter of Kins W ladle-laws, ladle-laws, deposed monarch of that country. A nnancter, Proooplua Cable, knows there la oil In profusion pro-fusion In Lystrla, and with an English king on the throne the output eould be secured for England. Eng-land. Norheys, In love with a stage dancer, Viola Temple, Is not enthusiastic over the proposition. propo-sition. Th patriarch, Menelaua, highest ecoleelaetlval dignitary In Ljretrla, Is heartily In favor of I the reatoratlon of the monarchy, and Cable has generously financed th sentiment. Calypso Is making mak-ing a living dancing In th "Mas-ootte," "Mas-ootte," Berlin cabaret. Norheys refuses to antertaln th Idea of giving up Viola Temple, to whom he la secretly engaged. CHAPTER II Continued There he topied. "If she Isn't black," I said, "and Isn't tHttooed, and has ordinary manners, man-ners, and wears corsets, which I'm perfectly certain he does, I don't see what your objection Is." "The fact Is," said Norheys. "that I'm engaged to be married to Miss Temple." "Ild you tell your uncle thntr" I asked. "No, I didn't. I didn't want to ruffle ruf-fle the old boy, and that would haw ruffled him. My Idea Is that you might break It to him, gently, don't you know, go as not to give him a shock. What I always say is this If there's a Jnrrlng kind of thing which has to he said, it's better for a fellow to get some one else to suy It." and, I dare say, downward. It would not surprise me to hear tthat rebellion rebel-lion Is now openly advocated In the schoolrooms of palaces. Besides, Calypso Ca-lypso appeared to be an emancipated woman. If ahe dances In a cabaret In Berlin she must have shed most of the garments of conventionality In which most princesses are wrapped. "By the way," I said, "where's King Wladislaws now? As the girl's father fath-er he may want to have a say about her marriage." "Wladislaws has gone under utterly," utter-ly," said Troyte. "I don't know where he la or what he's doing. We need not consider him." CHAPTER HI "You realize of course," I said, "that If you refuse to marry Princess Calypso you can't be king of Lyatrla." "I'd be sorry for that. I don't mind saying that I'd rather like to be king of that country. If Viola and I could go there together" "Viola r "That's Miss Temple. If she and I could set up there as king ana queen, we could have a high old time and really wuke things hum. Viola would make a splendid queen, absolutely abso-lutely top hole." "You may put that Idea out of your head at once," I said. "Uncle Ned and that stockbroker friend of his could have all the oil. We shouldn't want a drop for ourselves, our-selves, and I'd muke the good old Lystrlnns dig like the devil. You Two or three days Inter Norheys came to me In the club where I was lunching. "Look here, Uncle BUI," he said, "you remember my telling you the other day about my going In for being be-ing a king and that sort of thing." "Yes." "Well, Uncle Ned's been at me again and he's rather surprised me. Now, I'm a fellow who Isn't at all easy to surprise; for what I always say Is: Whatever happens even If the Jolly old sun doesn't turn up in the morning at the proper hour take it calmly. And that's what I do, make a regular rule of It; but I'm bound to say Uncle Ned made me Jump this time." "If there's anything more surprising than being asked suddenly to be a Having got all that settled. Cable approached Lord Edmund Troyte with a proposal that the marquis of Norheys, Nor-heys, my godson, should be king of Lystrla. lie would have to marry the princess, of course. The Lystrlans, being strong legitimists, Insisted on that. But the princess, so Cable said, was a beautiful girl, with charming manners and far more respectable than her father had ever been. "As S matter of fact," said Troyte, "she's a dancer In Berlin. Wladislaws Wladis-laws did not succeed In carrying off a penny from Lystrla, so both he and the girl have to work for their living. liv-ing. But that Is not tin Insuperable objection to her." "Have you," I said, "laid that part of the schene before Norheys, asked him whether be was willing to murry the princess?" "Not yet." "1 would," I said. "If I were you I'd mention that to Norheys before going any further. Indt d, It might be as well to mid out what the princess prin-cess thinks about It, too." "She'll be all right," said Troyte. "Her name Is Culypso." Calypso Is a pretty name, but I did not see that It gave us uny guarantee guar-antee that the girl would murry Norheys. Nor-heys. "Girls are dreadfully Independent nowadays," I said "You' can't be sure." "She's dancing In a cabaret in Berlin. Ber-lin. So Cable says." "She ought to prefer being married, to thut," I said. "Still if I were you I'd consult her. I should certainly consult Norheys." Troyte took my advice about consulting con-sulting Norheys; but he did not give me the satisfaction of telling me he meant to. He went on to discuss another an-other side of the affair. "The main thing," he said, "Is that Kngland should obtain control of the Lystrlan oil. The civilization of the Twentieth century rests on oil precisely pre-cisely as that of the Nineteenth century cen-tury rested on coal." "Is that fellow Cable an Englishman English-man T" "He's a British subject," said Troyte, Troy-te, "naturalized before the war." After that I bad to listen to an account ac-count of the uses of oil in peace and war which bored me; to a deserlp- might try to get Uncle Ned to look at It from that point of view." "It won't do," I said. "It really won't." "I don't see why not. I mean to say I think It might be worked If we went the right wuy nhout It. I'm not much of a whale on court etiquette and eccleslasticul law hut I've always had a notion that there's some sort of recognized dodge by which you can be married on the double If you're a king, both marriages being perfectly perfect-ly O. K." "There are morganatic marriages," I said. "It's a left handed and unsatisfactory unsat-isfactory arrangement. I don't think you ought to ask Miss Temple to agree to it." "I wasn't thinking of asking her. The very last thing I want to do Is to put Viola Into an awkward position. posi-tion. In fact, I wouldn't do it, not even to please Uncle Ned. My Idea Is to marry her In St. George's, Hun-over Hun-over square, with a bishop and bridesmaids brides-maids and all complete. The other one, ,thls Calypso girl, that Uncle Ned Is so keen on, could he the morgan what-do-you-call-lt? I don't suppose sup-pose ahe'd mind." "My deur Norheys," I said, "she's a princess, the daughter of a man who was a European sovereign until a few years ago." "I don't believe a black princess j would he as particular as all that. Look here, Uncle Hill, you've always been Jolly good to me and all thnt. Just you put the morganatic scheme up to Uncle Ned. He as persuasive as you can. I expect he'll see his way to work It somehow. But you must make It quite dour that there's to he no hunky-panky about Viola's position. She may or may not he queen of Lystrla, hut she's Jolly well going to be marchioness of Norheys." "I'll speak to your uncle nhout It." I I said, "but It won't he the slightest 1 use. The thing's Impossible.' ! "I don't see why. Lots of these i sultans and pashas and people have j whole harems full of .wives. I don't i want to go as far as that. At the j same time, If they can do it, why can't I?" I "Nobody's proposing to set you up I on the throne of a Moslem state," I I said. "Lystrla is u Christian country." coun-try." "Oh, come now. Christian. You can't call those countries Christian. Hang It all, L'nele i.ill, it was only "My Dear Norhsys," I Said, "She's a Princess, ths Daughter of a Man tlon of the distribution of the present pres-ent oil supply of the world and the small quantity of It controlled by England. Who Was a European Sovereign Until a Few Years Ago." king," I said, "It must be something which would muke an ancient ltomnn stole Jump." "You'd never think," said Norheys, "that Uncle Ned would turn out to be a giddy matchmaker." I knew what he was at then. Troyte must have taken my advice and mentioned the proposed marriage. "He wants me to marry a black princess," said Norheys. "Now I'm not a prejudiced sort of fellow at all. Any girl may be a lady, don't you know? and a fellow ought to marry There, I think, lay the real motive of Troyte.'s action, the explanation of his consent to the plan of setting Norheys on the throne of Lystrla. No doubt It pleased him Troyte bus a great deal of family pride to think of his nephew being a king. And the Troytes had some Blight connection with Uie Lyatrian royal family. No doubt he thought that marriage to the Princess Calypso would save Norheys Nor-heys from an undesirable entanglement entangle-ment with Viola Temple. Troyte hated the Idea of having to welcome thnt young lady as the next marchioness marchion-ess of Norheys. No doubt also Ca- her, supposing lie wants to, like the king that the poem's about who went round pretending to be a landscape painter and then married a beggar. I always say he was quite right there. If he really fancied the girl. But-well, But-well, hang It all, Uncle Bill, however unprejudiced a fellow Is, he must draw the line somewhere, and I do think it's a bit thick asking me to marry a black princess." "But," I said, "the Princess Culypso Isn't black. What makes you think she Is?" t ble's remarkable personality had some Influence with him. Procoplus Cable Is accustomed to getting his own way with all sorts of people, and has persuaded per-suaded several clever men to do foolish things. Troyte likes and admires ad-mires men of the Cable kind. He has a theory thut the British empire has been built up by buccaneers; In the Elizabethan days by buccaneers who went forth In ships and looted, flying the British flag for their own protection, leaving It still fluttering in the places which they sacked after they sailed away. In the Eighteenth century the emplre-bulldlng buccaneers bucca-neers called themselves merchants, or merchant adventurers, but they acted exactly as their predecessors did, looting, and then leaving the care of the conquered provinces to embarrassed embar-rassed statesmen at home. At the end of the Nineteenth century the buccaneers became financiers. But their methods and the results of them were the same as before. Procoplus Cable was the latest and ablest of these filibustering empire-builders. That was Troyte's theory about him. And It Influenced him In favor of any scheme suggested by Cable. But the main thing was England's seed of oil, and the possibility of obtaining ob-taining an enormous supply of It la last week I gave a fellow a subscription subscrip-tion to a missionary society especially especial-ly to convert the heathen. He wouldn't want to convert them If they were Christians already, would lief "There's an archbishop there," I said. "A patriarch, which is a superior supe-rior kind of archbishop. Ills name Is Menelaus." "Sounds to me like Greek grammar," gram-mar," said Norheys, "for the matter of that, so does Calypso, and I've always al-ways barred learning Greek grammar." gram-mar." Norhsys evidently Is not strong on geography but his heart seems to be all right What's ths next development? 1 Ij (TO aa GONTINUSD.) "Sure to lie. All those desert tslandy places are governed by black princesses. I dare say she's good looking enough In her way. Uncle Ned seemed to think so. But I don't like them black. And well, hang it all, no fellow can possibly be expected to be pleased when he finds his wife is tattooed all over; and they all are. Quite right of her, of course. If It's the thing to do In her own country. I'm not blaming her In the least. Only Just I don't like It." "My dear boy," I said, "I'm not advising ad-vising you to be a king, or to marry the lady. But I think I ought to tell you that Lystrla Isn't an Island. It's miles, perhaps hundreds of miles, from the sea, and I don't think that the Princess Calypso can possibly be black. I met ber father once. He's |
