S.N., retired, and begged permission to pay his addresses to the
Captain's daughter Katherine. Dorothy looked up from the document, and
her friend said calmly:
"You see, they need another Katherine in Russia."
"I hope she won't be like a former one, if all I've read of her is
true. This letter was sent to your father, then?"
"It was, and he seems to regard it as a huge joke. Said he was going
to cable his consent, and as the 'Consternation' has sailed away, he
would try to pick her up by wireless telegraphy, and secure the young
man that way: suggests that I shall have a lot of new photographs
taken, so that he can hand them out to the reporters when they call
for particulars. Sees in his mind's eye, he says, a huge
black-lettered heading in the evening papers: 'A Russian Prince
captures one of our fairest daughters,' and then insultingly hinted
that perhaps, after all, it was better not to use my picture, as it
might not bear out the 'fair daughter' fiction of the heading."
"Yes, Kate, I can see that such treatment of a vital subject must have
been very provoking."
"Provoking? I should say it was! He pretended he was going to tack
this letter up on the notice-board in the hall of the hotel, so that
every one might know what guests of distinction the Matterhorn House
held. But the most exasperating feature of the situation is that this
letter has been lying for days and days at our cottage in Bar Harbor.
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