The Princess Passes

The Princess Passes, by Alice
Muriel

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Title: The Princess Passes
Author: Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson
Release Date: January 20, 2005 [eBook #14740]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE PRINCESS PASSES
A Romance of a Motor-Car
by
C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON
Authors of The Lightning Conductor
Illustrated
New York Henry Holt and Company
1905

[Illustration: "FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT
IT."]

TO
THE DEAR PRINCESS
WHO, EACH YEAR, MAKES THE RIVIERA SUNNIER FOR HER
PRESENCE

CONTENTS
CHAPTER

I.
WOMAN DISPOSES
II. MERCÉDÈS TO THE RESCUE
III. MY LESSON
IV. POTS, KETTLES, AND OTHER THINGS
V. IN SEARCH OF A MULE
VI. THE WINGS OF THE WIND
VII. AT LAST!
VIII. THE MAKING OF A MYSTERY
IX. THE BRAT
X. THE SCRAPING OF ACQUAINTANCE
XI. A SHADOW OF NIGHT
XII. THE PRINCESS
XIII. AFTERNOON CALLS
XIV. THE PATH OF THE MOON
XV. ENTER THE CONTESSA
XVI. A MAN FROM THE DARK
XVII. THE LITTLE GAME OF FLIRTATION
XVIII. RANK TYRANNY
XIX. THE LITTLE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE

XX. THE GREAT PAOLO
XXI. THE CHALLENGE
XXII. AN AMERICAN CUSTOM
XXIII. THERE IS NO SUCH GIRL
XXIV. THE REVENGE OF THE MOUNTAIN
XXV. THE AMERICANS
XXVI. THE VANISHING OF THE PRINCE
XXVII. THE STRANGE MUSHROOM
XXVIII. THE WORLD WITHOUT THE BOY
XXIX. THE FAIRY PRINCE'S RING
XXX. THE DAY OF SUSPENSE
XXXI. THE BOY'S SISTER

ILLUSTRATIONS
"FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT IT"
(Frontispiece)
"WE REALLY WANT YOU, SAID MOLLY"
"SOMETIMES JACK DROVE, WITH MOLLY BESIDE HIM"
"THE BLUE FLAME OF THE CHAFING-DISH"
"I WAS SUDDENLY CLAPPED UPON THE SHOULDER"
"TREADING THE ROAD BUILT BY NAPOLÉON"

"THERE WAS A PANG WHEN I TURNED MY BACK"
"THAT IS THE DÉJEUNER OF NAPOLÉON"
"DOWN, TURK!" "BE QUIET, JUPITER!"
"ON THE GROUND CROUCHED THE BOY"
"'DO YOU KNOW,' SAID I, 'YOU ARE A VERY QUEER BOY'"
"LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW I SAW HIM IN
CONVERSATION"
"SITTING WITH MY BACK TO THE HORSES"
"HERE WE WERE AT ANNECY"
"VOILÀ MONSIEUR!"
"THE ROCK OF MONACO"
CHAPTER I
Woman Disposes
"Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs,
To the silent wilderness." --PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
"To your happiness," I said, lifting my glass, and looking the girl in the
eyes. She had the grace to blush, which was the least that she could do,
for a moment ago she had jilted me.
The way of it was this.
I had met her and her mother the winter before at Davos, where I had
been sent after South Africa, and a spell of playing fast and loose with
my health--a possession usually treated as we treat the poor, whom we
expect to have always with us. Helen Blantock had been the success of
her season in London, had paid for her triumphs with a breakdown, and

we had stopped at the same hotel.
The girl's reputation as a beauty had marched before her, blowing
trumpets. She was the prettiest girl in Davos, as she had been the
prettiest in London; and I shared with other normal, self-respecting
men the amiable weakness of wishing to monopolise the woman most
wanted by others. During the process I fell in love, and Helen was kind.
Lady Blantock, a matron of comfortable rotundity of figure and a
placid way of folding plump, white hands, had, however, a
contradictorily cold and watchful eye, which I had feared at first; but it
had softened for me, and I accepted the omen. In the spring, when my
London tyrant had pronounced me "sound as a bell," I had proposed to
Helen. The girl said neither yes nor no, but she had eyes and a smile
which needed no translation, so I kissed her (it was in a conservatory at
a dance) and was happy--for a fortnight.
Then came this bidding to dinner. Lady Blantock wrote the invitation,
of course, but it was natural to suppose that she did it to please her
daughter. It happened to be my birthday, and I fancied that Helen had
kept the date in mind. Besides, the selection of the guests had
apparently