Oroville Union High School - Nugget Yearbook (Oroville, CA)

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and cry. and all crowned with a mass of golden hair and he enfolded her in his arms and she pillowed that wonderful head in the cavity of his shoulder. Slowly and silently the sun passed by. leaving them to the shadow within, and as softly and as silently, I. too. crept away. PART TWO. 1 had been back in my own home for quite a while and had as mv guest. Sir Richard Martin, the Egypt 1-ogist. who had come over to consult with me as to the authenticity of certain papyri which had recently come into the possession of the British Museum. As is the custom of those Englishmen, he had his English papers sent him wherever he went and one morning at the breakfast, while looking over his “Illustrated London News” he suddenly burst into a gust of passion, striking his fist on the table and declaring that it was a shame that such things could come to pass. Upon my asking him what the matter was. he passed over to me his paper, saying that the most beautiful and best woman in Europe was, for reasons of state, being forced to marry the worst blackguard of all the kingly community of crowned heads. What was my surprise, on receiving the paper, to see there a likeness of my Princess, whom I thought was by this time safely married to that big mountain boy in whose arms I had left her. and secure in his mountain home. On the opposite page was a likeness of the man she was to marry; an insignificant little wretch, with eyes set closely together and a pointed little mustache, a reptilian little beast, most disgusting to look at. In a reverie 1 listened to my friend discourse at large upon the system which permitted affairs of state to triumph over those of the heart, and I listened, vaguely, wondering what had become of the big boy that he should allow this thing. I conceived the notion that I might be able to straighten out this tangle, so straightway then I became very ill and insisted that nothing but a trip to Europe would restore my health. Behold me then, some few days later, on my way to that little kingdom, whose troubles in the past few years had won for it. and its beautiful ruler, the sympathy of the world. Arriving there late one night. I engaged a room at a little hotel and. being very weary, repaired to it at once and went to sleep. Next morning I was awakened by much laughter and shouting beneath my window, and peeping out. saw that the shutters were closed and that the city seemed to be en fete. I encountered my landlord, of whom I enquired the reason of this seemingly joyous occasion. What! did not the gentleman know, our Princess was to be married to-day and that the King of -------- which marriage—and here lie burst out into a rambling statement of the affairs of the nation at that time which would be settled by this step hcreat. my appetite for breakfast being spoiled and not wishing to hear the political reasons for this marriage. I hurried out. Not knowing the city or the language. I wandered aimlessly for several hours until at last, being no longer quite young and feeling a little faint from not having breakfasted. 1 sat me down in a little park to rest awhile. Naturally, I fell into a little doze, to awaken some time later to a great sense of stillness. Heavens.” thought I, ‘mv Princess must be getting 7

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encc of an old man. even though they knew it. Through the gap in the roof I saw them enter and. except that he was tall, so tall that he had to stoop to clear the doorway, and she just tall enough to pass beneath the lintel. I could not see plainly what they were like, for the sunlight, striking from behind me through the tear in the roof, threw a little patch of light in the center of the summer house, leaving the doorway and side in shadow. In front of him. and against his left breast he carried his right hand and in it lay hers, and in this wise, bending over and talking very earnestly, they entered. As they did so. he released her and stepped to the center of the house, to stand right in the patch of sunlight, thus leaving her again in the shadow. Here he waited for his answer. What a man he was. tall, as I have said, and broad of shoulder; dark, with black wavy hair and black eyes and a well modeled head; the lines of his chin and mouth bespeaking firmness and decision. He was a man to fill the eye of any maid; moreover, he was a man’s man, one whom men would follow; one would know that nature meant him for a leader. Presently she spoke, and it became evident, as she did so. that he had been urging his suit, for in a voice soft, low, and yet wonderously clear, she told him that she could not choose for herself, that she was bound to her people, that should she abdicate to become his bride, leaving her cousin, a weakling, to fill her place, the nation would be torn by civil war. and left open to acts of aggression by her stronger neighbors—that even now, her people torn and wearied by the conflicts of preceding years, looked for her to cement by marriage, an alliance with the house of Romanoff which would insure peace within her borders and a cessation of the attacks of her neighbors. Silently and sadly he listened as she spoke and as she stopped he lifted up his head, and throwing out his arms, he burst into a plea for her happiness and his. If she left her people, he would give her his. and had she not as much right to her own happiness as any one of her subjects? Forty thousand wild mountain blades he could give her and were they not enough against her enemies on the plains below? lie would take her to his mountain fastnesses where no Romanoff. nor two or three of them, would ever dare to come. Queen of himself and of his people she should he. of a nation old as the hill? themselves, who called no man master, but who would be privileged, indeed, to call her mistress. Swiftly he spoke, reminding her that when as a little lad he had come down out of the hills with his father in the old King’s time, they had played together in the Palace (harden and she had laughingly promised to marry him when they grew up and how they had gone to his father and the old King and told them, and how they smiled, one to the other, and said. “It may be?” True, that was before she became the reigning Princess, but had he not. while yet a lad. been at the bedside of the dying King, and did not the old man put his hand on his head and say. “Re good to Del-pliia. boy”. All his life he had waited for her and now lie claimed her. they were man and woman now and they owed to themselves something more than they owed to their people—throwing wide his arms, he called her to him. once, twice, and swiftly, as he called, she came, and as she passed into the patch of sunlight 1 caught a vision of wondrous beauty, blue eyes, well lashed, outrivaling the Mediterranean in their depth and color, a perfect mouth, half open, with a tiny dimple at one corner struggling in its desire to both laugh 16

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married now, and I, who were to prevent it. am sleeping.” Immediately I started out and luckily in the right direction, for presently I came out into a great square, crowded with people, all facing the opposite side, where stood a very beautiful cathedral, raised many feet above the ground, by great stone blocks and having in front a stone terrace from which, to cither side and in front, fell away, shallow steps, also of stone and reaching to the ground. I. an old man and small, through courtesy of the people, was enabled to make my way almost to the front of the crowd to a place where I could sec the door of the church and the terrace very plainly. As I made my way to the front, I recognized the strains of the wedding march within, and knew that the ceremony was over. In a moment there appeared at the door of the church, a group of officers and nobles and foremost among them, clad in a splendid white uniform and towering above his comrades, appeared my big boy of the mountains. Swiftly they formed an aisle and, as the Princess and her bridegroom appeared at the door, their swords clashed together, forming an arch of steel, under which the bridal party walked to the edge of the terrace. Out in front of them and down a step or two, sprang the boy and. waving his great sabre aloft in one hand and his helmet in the other, led the people in a great burst of cheering which almost deafened me—as I looked at my Princess, something seemed to drop within me. Could that marble mask and those calm cold eyes belong to that transcendantly glorious being, who but a short while since. I had seen fling herself into the arms of the boy who now stood before her? Eagerly, but vainly, I looked for a trace of that tire, which emanating from within, had so lit up those won- dcrful eyes and that beautiful face, so that one could see through them as it were, the soul of a woman, naked, joyous, and unashamed, pouring forth to meet its mate. And the spark which had ignited that noble flame now stood before it, calling for plaudits for its happiness. Mockery, oh. mockery! Suddenly as I looked, his face grew pale and swiftly he sprang again, this time upward to the edge of the terrace, his bulk covering both the Princess and her consort, and as he sprang, from somewhere in the crowd, a shot rang out; and slowly, first at the knees, then at the hips, the big boy crumpled and fell. But even as lie touched the ground, the Princess was down beside him and had his head pillowed upon her knees. Quickly they brought a cushion, but as they brought it. the boy smiled happily up at his Princess, snuggled into her arms like a tired child into those of his mother and went to sleep. Tenderly and gently the Princess placed his head upon the cushion and bending, in the full sight of all. kissed him. Rising, she refused the King’s arm and. looking neither to the right or left, but rather at nothing, came slowly down the steps and entered her carriage. PART THREE. Feeling very tired and worn, from this great shock. I betook me to my little cottage in Italy to rest for a time, ere returning home. On the hill back of my little house was a cemetery and it came my custom to walk there daily—and to think of the time not far distant when I should rest there myself. One day, while on the road thitherward, a carriage passed me. bearing two women, both dressed in black 18