Those who have followed that history must know, of course, that the

reigning princess, Yetive, was married to a young American at the very

tag-end of the nineteenth century. This admirable couple met in quite

romantic fashion while the young sovereign was traveling incognito

through the United States of America. The American, a splendid fellow

named Lorry, was so persistent in the subsequent attack upon her heart,

that all ancestral prejudices were swept away and she became his bride

with the full consent of her entranced subjects. The manner in which he

wooed and won this young and adorable ruler forms a very attractive

chapter in romance, although unmentioned in history. This being the tale

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of another day, it is not timely to dwell upon the interesting events

which led up to the marriage of the Princess Yetive to Grenfall

Lorry. Suffice it to say that Lorry won his bride against all wishes and

odds and at the same time won an endless love and esteem from the people

of the little kingdom among the eastern hills Two years have passed

since that notable wedding in Edelweiss.

Lorry and his wife, the princess, made their home in Washington, but

spent a few months of each year in Edelweiss. During the periods spent

in Washington and in travel, her affairs in Graustark were in the hands

of a capable, austere old diplomat--her uncle, Count Caspar

Halfont. Princess Volga reigned as regent over the principality of

Axphain. To the south lay the principality of Dawsbergen, ruled by young

Prince Dantan, whose half brother, the deposed Prince Gabriel, had been

for two years a prisoner in Graustark, the convicted assassin of Prince

Lorenz, of Axphain, one time suitor for the hand of Yetive.

It was after the second visit of the Lorrys to Edelweiss that a serious

turn of affairs presented itself. Gabriel had succeeded in escaping from

his dungeon. His friends in Dawsbergen stirred up a revolution and

Dantan was driven from the throne at Serros. On the arrival of Gabriel

at the capital, the army of Dawsbergen espoused the cause of the Prince

it had spurned and, three days after his escape, he was on his throne,

defying Yetive and offering a price for the head of the unfortunate

Dantan, now a fugitive in the hills along the Graustark frontier.




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