PRINCESS LOVECHILD.
There was a touch of human nature; she had been selfish, and now as she thought she had made her son unhappy she blamed him.
“I see I am to blame,” he soliloquized when alone. “I should have consulted her; perhaps she would have married me now. I have enough to start with, for it doesn’t require as much in a colony like this, where you are sure of employment as long as you need it.”
He had invested a small sum in starting some exchanges and the dividends had been unusually large. “If I could only have had it before!” he said to himself; “I would have known just what to do. Now I suppose I have lost her.”
About this time Helen’s engagement had been announced to a young Prince and he saw the effect Scoris’ engagement had upon Paul Arling, for Paul had been unable to hide it. The four had been constant companions in the city and he believed that Scoris cared for Paul. One evening he called for him to take him automobiling and after they had left the Colony behind and were going slowly through a cool stretch of bush, where the trees almost touched their heads, the Prince said:
“Helen and I are going to be married in the fall.”
“And I suppose Scoris will be married also?” Paul questions.
“I don’t know,” the Prince answered. “You are referring to that announcement in the paper. She will be home in two weeks, and we will know then. I am disappointed, old fellow,” he continued, “for I used to think that your heart was in that direction.”
“It was, and is yet,” Paul answered softly. “I am dazed with the news. You know, Charley, I had nothing to offer her until now.”