The Scheme Of The Princess Moll

It was not very (leep l.ilil, and It lld not in tlie end prove altogether suceegsfi], hut being a sclieme, and devised by the Princesa Molí, lier brotlier has chosen to record It. She carne to us rather late n our lives, and found, if not exactly ft welcomc, at least a peramhulator In our halls and a bib at our table. There ere four of us in or just out of colli'pp when, at the beginning of a long vMcation. we werp ealled upon to rejolce at her arrival. " Quite a little princesa." motlier remarked, whon for the flrst time we stood in a row before hor, and preaented our compliment, or wlint inother was plcased to term as such. to the rollof nmslin and lace in a bnsslnet; and aoinehow from that honr our sister was known as " the Princesa Molí." Tom was in uniform, and I In cap and gown, and for thls reason wo believed the princeps selpeted us her favoritos from the firft. " Gad ! " said Torn, witli a mixture of horror and iftonishinent, "look at her make eyes at me. Do they do that upnallv at her age?" w Hut" Tom is Inordinately vain, mid the "eyes" of which he spoke were the more languid roll of a pair of blue opties that might quite as wcll have chanced upon me as him Wcll, Moll had come to stay, we discovered, but with the exeeption of an occasional cry from the nursery or the roll of the prenmbulator under our windmvs, we heard and saw little of her. Tom went back to West Point. and Winthrop ioined the sophomores of Cornell. To Mnlcolm and rae, who were ensaged in choosing a profession, remained the privilege of becomintr better acqualnted with the Princess Moll. She had reached the sge of ei?hteen months when I was flrst called upon to rescue her from a posltion of peril. C.radnind, the maid- my mother is Engllsn, and calis her American servants by their inrnamei! to their own mystificatlon and resentment- had " stepped off a piece, ' and let the preambulater oscilliiting on a ledee of rock at Newport. It was a charminfr day, and the princesa was 1 observed, as I gathered her from the and into which the perambulator had eventually plunged, arrayed in her best. She wore a little coat of a ailky cloth.atid a white plush cap that reared up in the crowu in an ultogether fetchln? manner. Happliy no one but Gradgrind, who was instantlv threatencd with dismiasal, recelved an injiiry from this mishap; bul it was the beginning of a curious allianco on my part wilh the Princess Moll. Iu the extremity of my wrath I banlsh ed Graüriiid froin the spot. She carne back, however, or rather she did,not actiiully i.'", and besought me, witli wrlnging of hundí, net to report bercarelcssness to my mother. In vain. I was adamant - un til slie bogan to cry, wkeii I told her tliHt the thing must never be repcated.and tnyself adjusted Moll in the coach. The prlnce8s seemed iustinctively to peiceive tliat Gradgrind, wliomshe never appeiired to love, bad in some mysterioug way come offconqurror in tliis alfa ir, and pouted her disapproval at both me and the maid. VVhen I stepped back to allow the coach to precede me, she made frantic gestures with her hands whlch were encased in smiill white mittens, and fairly drove Gradgrlnd from hor post. She theo bent her cyes upon me in au imperious manner, which oaused me to eringe. "Ali, but dear princess," I inentally pxpostulated, "we are on the avenue, and it is the liour for Miss Reardon's ride. You couldn't - you wouldnl have your brutlier turn nursery-maid hereP" But the mittens contiimed to beat the air, until, limitering to Gradgrind, ''Keep close beside me," I took my place at the helm. and miserably trundled the Coacb. Moll gurj;led triumphantly, as well she might, for it was the successful preface to her scheme. Daily after thut ehe contrived to attach me to her train, until ojie morning Malcolm, encounterinjr the interustiuíí trio at the gate, demanded: 1I say, is it Gradgrind or Moll ?" Now Gradgrind, who had a f;.ce of the heavy, manly type, and a figure Üke an encycloptcdin, was not the soit of person to cali foith that kind of remark, and 1 could alïord to laugh good-humoredly. '¦' Don't you see the iix Fin in- the kind of prUoner of Cliülon I've ot to be ?" It's sclieme of Moll's to enslave me aud tbere'g no more escape from her tban from Norn. Sbe bad me at the Casino and on the avenues Uil I'm the figure of the day. She stops at the bazaar, and calis my attentiou to the rugs; and she even went eo far as to demand a Per-ian lamp, which - heaven help me ! - I boiight for her, and permitted her to carry borne." Malcolm grinnud. "As if she didn't try her little game on me, and if I'd allow myself to be gulled that wuy ! Gtradgriifd to the Princess Moll, and the Princess Moll lo Gradgrind? I'm the slavu to no nfant." So I was a slave, and to an infant. Well, I hadsuspected it. But why should Matcolm stand thore tappin; a racket on hU arm, and griuning Üke a garjfoyle? I suppose the fellows of my club looked that way wheu I passed - and Miss Reardon. I had disivwered tlit' intention of the princess to thwart all posslbility of a match betweeu me and the latter, for which sbe bad taken the popular metbod of makiug me appear rldiculous in the eyes of tlie one woman before whom I desired to shine. Only that very morniiiir we bad passed her, the princesa lmbibinj; the juice of an orange throiigh a column of striped candy, wbile I wiped Kis escaping nectar from the front of her coat with my bandkerchief. Gradgrind contrived to look provokingly detached Trom ui at that moment too. Miss Reardon, sweetgirl, never so much ¦is smiled, but bowed gravely, and with a llngiring expression which would, under other circuniPtance?, have filled me with liappiness. The princess frowned, withdrew the striped column from her lips, and said, "Go 'way!' in unmistakable accents to the lady wbo proposed to do lier the honor of stopping to look at her. "Pray don't notice her Ill-humor," I urged, terribly abashed for a Ph.D. and a club-mi n " She basn't learned to make distinctions yet. She regards all young ladies as her nuturnl enemies. Would you bel leve me, Miss Reardon, she Is [Vlglitfully jealom of me?'1 5liss Reardon sniiled. " Of yuu ? How slngu'ar ! '' "Yes. And sbe absolutely will have me gadding about witb her. You can't fancv the kind of machine I am reduced to. I've beard - I've read about the tyrin n v of woman, but I shouldn't have believed tbat it commenced at the age of eighteen months." I turned to the maid. Here, Gradzrind, take my sister over to the Violet Patcb, and teil my aunt - " " N-o-o ! n-o-o !'' glirieked the Princess. "-That my mother looks for her at lunch to-day, and - " But the coach waa lurcblng violently back and forth, fiwayed by Moll's angry objections. " N-o-o ! n-o-o ! " " You have- got- to go," I Paid Intensely, catching her hands and holding theni In ttie "firmgrasp"' of which I have read. " Gradjjrind is goinsr to take you to Aunt Mellicent's, and I'm going to walk witb Miss Reardon." At thia sbe redoubled her screams, and heaped snch termsof infant obloquy upon Miss Reardon that I b!uhed for my family. "She doesn't alwavs behave so," I explained weakly. " It 18 an absurd tancy she bas that my time is exclusively hers. The sooner she is broken of it the better;" and so sayinsr, I tbrew the tiny hands back into íier lap and walked resolutely away with Miss Reardon. But I did not enjoy one moment of that walk. The tones of my companion's voice echoed in ears as baby lamen tations. The iuiiiluring angui9b of Moll's oyes pursued me over every inch of the way. Whether justly ornot, I suffered the remorse of a criminal. " It is very pretty," Miss Reardon remarkeil, witb a touch of irony one day, 'your (levotion to that child." "Pretty ! " I reiterated bitterly. "Yes. I ?uppose it is your choice of a fad. Some run to moose-skin saiters and gome to terra cotta Derbys. Yours took tl-, is fortn." "Good heavens!" I protettea, "you don't for a moment fancy that it is a matter of cboice with me, my dangling after the Princess Moll ?" "Oh, they all inake a virtue of their folly. I euppose it is martyrdom to wear salmón colored gloves or a bangle for dear Marbro's sake." I fairly groaned. " Oh, that you should so misinterpet mo. I swear to you on my honor that I have sull'ered more froni tlie importunity of that child than tongue can teil. She froze to me from the minute I flrst committed the fatal mistake of noticing her at all, and to thls day she has never once let up on it. What is a fellow to do? She has blue cyes; she bas the 8weetcst moutli in the world; she frowns; she smlles; ehe wheedles me like a woman of thirty. If sho were not my sister I shoulu give her poison or bury hor under the doorstep?, or- But I can't." "You might get married," suggested my companion. " She'll never speuk to you again. Tbey never do. "Soyou really suppose it would work that way ? " I inquired skeptlcally. 'Tin afraid ehe would murder me Instead. The princess is dreadtully afraid of ray getting married- 1 have discovered that. SUe thinks she is deep, but she isn't. No, I can see througl her. She has the strangcst antiputhy to the brklal parties that she sees going into St. Paui's. Slie comtnands Gradgriud and me to get past tliein isquickly as pos9ble. She turns tliat plush cap of liers square away from the bride. Yes, I huve ditcovered that she would seriously object to niy getting married." " So yon propose to be tied to her capstriugs all your lifaf" demanded my corapanion. ''If I were you, I should break away from tliis bondage before the cord becouics a cable." "It was never a cord; t bas always been a c;ible," I Htid, hopelessly. " 15esides, I am not sure tbat I could get raarried, even if Moll were wil li na." "No. You should coosider that. Miss Reardon was cbarinin; in a Redfern jjown - one of tbose pastorallv simidelooking things whicli coat the fortune of a sultan. " To be able to marry iuvolves two things - love and money.'' " I should not have said that; but since you liave, wliy didn't you say money mul love f" " Hecause love has a tendency to miike money - for it& object; whereas I have never observed tliat love of the genuine sort was ever evolved out of meremoney. " Oh, if you put it that way ! Then jou mean - for I prefer plalu arithmetic to algebraic syiubols-tliat if a man w Ulied to marry lie would oontrive to earn the moiH'y tO do it." " That 3 what I mean. He mlj[ht have to ;ive op tlie moose-skin _'aitcr-. He probably would. Very few mmried men belonji to ' the leisure elass'; merely to love s au occupation. Uut, then, my hypothesis was, ' If a man wishes to marry." "Jove!" I exclaimed, "You know I haven't the gaiters to give up. Do you thlnk we ïnight venture?1' Miss Beardon lookcd comical. " Yu mean to ask whether I would advine you to marry without the Princess Moll'a consent?" "Obi hang Moll" Do you consent?'' At which she burst loto B merry laagkt " What would plu: do to me? Should I date to drink coffee any more? or open littli! packages? or go out after dnrk?'1 " Yuudarling! You don't deny it! You do love me ! '' As I uttered tliese woids the rumble of a preumhulator crossed the pavement, and 1 glanced around instinetively. Wllal I 8aw win the erown of a wblte plush bonnet, turued at i iili t Bltglei with the body of the weaier, aud the back of n silk coat. "She saw us! " gasped SIi?s Reardon. "And she will never Rpejk ta me acrain!" I crTéd. In eznltation. " Vive la