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Show I The royal palace at Sofia, which would be s V an ideal spo for a honeymoon if King i X i " . v Boris could raise a few thousand dollars " K -: i io repair t' e leaky roof and put in bath 1 Young King Boris, who admires ' s 'V tiflfifefr 1 American girjs and is expected v - , -w to seek one for his bride , ' ' H "JTT TOULD vou nrefer to marrv i 1 i J 44 TOULD you prefer to marry 1 b Prey American girl rather than a practical one?" H Young King Boris of Bulgaria was the target of that direct and somewhat embarrassing question. He did not staro 1 coldly at the inquisitive person who dared quiz a monarch and call for the guard to relieve him of the questioner jl and the embarrassment. That is not the" H way of kings to-day. fl Instead he paused for a moment to re- I Tolve in his mind that matter of choice ,1 which many young American men of his H ago have presented to themselves. Ap- A parently King Boris had thought it over -M before, too, for his reply was soon ready, ifjj "Well," he answered, "all American A girls arc pretty, are they not?" J Gallantly said, King Boris, and as H neat a piece of diplomatic repartee as S1 tho courts of Europe havo heard for 9 many a day. But what would his majesty have re-H re-H plied if the question had been put to him H thus: H "Would you rather marry a rich H American girl or a poor one? ' Ah, then King Boris would have been B hard put to it for an answer that would H pass as diplomatic. And if he had ceased HT to be diplomatic and had been simply rflF truthful it sterns very certain that the govereign would have spoken royally and WW briefly: "Rich very rich." For a quepn who is pretty or practical, H or both, is not what is needed in mis erable, bankrupt Bulgaria. Littlo help j would be a queen who, like the royal lady I of the nursery rhyme, would spend her j time in the kitchen practically spreading j bread with honey. No, she must be able jl to take the place of the kmc in the count ing house, counting out the money her I monsy. And who is better equipped for ' that purpose, ask European royalty and H nobility, than a wealthy American girl? The royal and noble families of other I countries of Europe have gone and done j likewise in lesser measure. Quite re- eently there has been a splendid cxam-pie cxam-pie before his very eyes, when Mrs. W. H B. Leeds, widow of the multi-millionaire H tinplato magnate, became tho Princess H Anastasia of Greece, pouring much gold, H it is said, into the drained coffers of tho j Hellenes. A Yankee heiress may mean salvation to tho Bulgars and their monarchs. Small wonder, then, that it in strongly rumored that King Boris contemplates a Ik trip to America at no distant date. H The matter is urgent. A national ike mergency may be said to exist. Never WrapwH it more incumbent upon a 6cion of "v ?'7 alty to marry money. Milgaria choso the wrong side In tho Drawn in by tho tentacles of the Rhc fought, and now she is pay-i" pay-i" Liipcr. By the terms of the peace I treaty ye country is compelled to pay v . i ... rcV "ss Joan Wliitney, one o? the many charming American heiresses whom the King will view with interest the Allies a sum equivalent to $450,000,-000. $450,000,-000. And hundreds of other millions are owing in external and internal debts. Matters wore not helped when old King Ferdinand, father of Bun-, fled from his throne and his people and left ruin behind be-hind him, ruin due largely to his policies, With him he carried away millions, not a penny of which may bo expected to drift back from tho flinty old man so fond of his case and comfort to his unhappy un-happy eon. Since Ferdinand decamped with much of the royal treasury, leaving Boris only a throne, palace lawns ha-been ha-been turned into gardens and all manner of stringent economies praticed. So until Buch aid is forthcoming as a rich American wife could bring Boris may well tremble fnr hi life and reicn over the turbulent Bulpars. Only the other day Premier Stambou-lisky Stambou-lisky told the young Kinp in r.o minced or uncertain words of the sword -that hangs over his head by no more than a hair. "You shall reign, but you shall not govern," he taid to his sovereign. "The people will never become a party of tin-palace. tin-palace. We will not tolerate a king following fol-lowing the dangerous paths of former sovereigns. Sire, you shall reign so lone; as you havo the confidence and support of the majority of the people who caclJ elect you as president of the republic. Sire, wc do not treat you like the former for-mer sovereiens of old Bulgaria, but as the monarch of new Bulgaria, which knows only the national sovereignty. From this day there begins the govcrn- r Miss GeraldineTvine . ' J I who wouldn't bring Boris j much of a dowry, but would make him a beautiful queen and also give him a beautiful mother-in-law M' Murl : f.n ' ' 'i V anderbiH mcnt of the farmers, who have been obliged down to the present to wage a war to the death against enemies from within and without. Sofia is our worst enemy. It is the center of the merchants and the headquarters of the parties which have for us implacable hatred " That being tho state of affairs, it behooves be-hooves young King Boris to journey to the New World, whence have traveled Europeans since its discovery in quest of gold. Let us imagine, then, that King Bor.s of Bulgaria is met with a council of state convened in extraordinary session under the pressure of a national emergency. emer-gency. And let us sketch out just such a conversation as may have taken place in that august assemblage. "Your Majesty has failed in England," ' sternly reproves the old Premier. "The Princets Mary is married to another. Your royal suit failed also in our nei'!:-borlands nei'!:-borlands of Rumania and Greece. Your courtship vi3 equally fruitless when you wooed the Princess Yolanda of Italy. "But," breaks in the young King. "But," tha Premier resume?, "we aro not yet prepared to condemn. There is still America." "America," choruses the council hopefully. hope-fully. "Your Majesty's opportunity i9 to marry an American girl. I shall now call for a report on those eligible to become be-come Queen of Bulgaria," declares the Premier. There is an impressive pause as the old statesman turns his head toward a younsr man toward the foot of the table who has filled a post in the American Embassy of Bulgaria. The young man rises. "Miss Alice Do Lamar," he nominates. And, coming at once to tho mam point, he adds, "Heiress to large part of a fortune for-tune of $30,000,000." A murmur of approval runs through the council. "Pretty," the secretary continues, and King Boris smiles, though the council coun-cil frowns as at an entirely irrelevant remark. "The daughter of a man of mystery, Captain De Lamar. Dutch sailor, divef, trader, minor and financier and herself a girl of mystery," the secretary resumes. re-sumes. "A girl with a will of her on and a way of running things, among which might be" "Bulgaria," the Premier supplies "Proceed." "Mis Geraldine Graham," the secretary secre-tary nominates. "Money there, too, although al-though not -o much. But she was called by that expert on such matters, th Prince of Wales, 'the most beautiful girl in the United States. " The handsome face of King Boris lights up, but the council glowers darkly and one old grayheard rises to a point of order 1 "Muriel Vanderbilt, the daughter of the William K. Vanderbilts," the secretary secre-tary suggests. "In the United States 1 found that was a i.ame to conjure with. A Vainlorbilt as Queen of Bulgaria would make of our court a glittering rival of Pans. Miss Vanderbilt has much poise and balance" "In the bank you mean, I trust," Wie Premier interrupts. "Proceed." "Another promising heiress Ellin Mackay, daughter of Clarence Matkay Her mother is divorced anu remarr:ed Her elder sister is betrothed. There -hould bo no strings on the fortune of the jrirl. She, too, cuts quite a figure in society." "But in the bank vault"" quizzes the Premier. "She cuts coupons," the secretary supplies. sup-plies. "Then there is Joan Whitney, daughter daugh-ter of wealthy Mr and Mrs. Payne Whitney, Whit-ney, of great social prowess. "f might name a number of other promising young ladies," tho secretary continues, "but the foregoing should serve His Majesty for at least preliminary prelimi-nary consideration." With that may be adjourned the important im-portant council session which wc have imagined. If King Boris doe's make- his projected trip to America and seek to crown Miss Alice De Lamar, wealthy and charmuSf enough for e.iy kr,ig some wealthy Amen- j? -an girl ns Bulgaria's iueen he is going to it have his diffkul- 'W'-fi ties. He will I hav- be PT-u;,-.. J. mm deed, for thrones .1 ', JK; lack the lure they once had. I . vf? V She would find J! 'yflB ' ' Bulgaria a lonely ,v land, indeed, far I ' i from her friend, ft iWt jr O t ii e r friends JfjjpT-would JfjjpT-would be hard " '--'i for her to find among a strange and foreign folk. The delight of shopping, theaters and so forth would be limited for her strictly in a country which still is rather primitive in many respects. If Boris can outweigh these advantages with the crown he has to offer he many pick an American girl for a bride, but it will be she who does the deciding. v anderbilH who has aM the quafifl ties thaffl ould aB 'inncially J cmbar- 1 i rssed, j beauty-lcH n baMH v if Mackay jgpP looks as if he were (running away from Boris with all her millions j |