The Heart of Princess Osra

The Project BookishMall.com EBook of The Heart of Princess Osra, by Anthony Hope

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project BookishMall.com License included
with this eBook or online at www.BookishMall.com


Title: The Heart of Princess Osra

Author: Anthony Hope

Illustrator: H. C. Edwards

Release Date: November 22, 2012 [EBook #41438]

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT BookishMall.com EBOOK THE HEART OF PRINCESS OSRA ***




Produced by Suzanne Shell, Ernest Schaal, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

THE HEART OF PRINCESS OSRA

By ANTHONY HOPE
Author of "The Prisoner of Zenda"

In Preparation

"PHROSO"

By the Author of this Volume

"'kill him for me, then; kill him for me.'"—Page 239.

Copyright, 1895, 1896

By A. H. Hawkins

Copyright, 1896

By Frederick A. Stokes Company

Copyright, 1895, 1896

By S. S. McClure, Limited

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE.

I. The Happiness of Stephen the Smith 1

II. The Wager of the Marquis de Mérosailles 51

III. The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse 79

IV. The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman 100

V. The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein 131

VI. The Device of Giraldo the Painter 175

VII. The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau 201

VIII. The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg 226

IX. The Victory of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim 258

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

  PAGE.

"'Kill him for me, then; kill him for me'" Frontispiece

"'Take her and be happy'" 11

"Stephen stood on the threshold with his staff in his hand" 37

The physician receives Princess Osra 56

"'Madame, if you will, you can do me a great service'" 101

"With either hand he drew a silver-mounted pistol" 114

"She asked the officer why a throng of people hastened
to the city" 118

"'My lord, where is the Princess?'" 160

"He drove his sword into his body, and the Count gave
back before it" 165

"He walked with his head down and his eyes on the ground" 171

"He took it and drained it" 204

"On either side of it sat the priest of the village and the
Miller of Hofbau" 215

"'Forgive me, forgive me!'" 252

"A young man sprang up, and, with a low bow, drew
aside to let her pass" 259

"'You are the beauty of the world,' he answered smiling" 263

The Heart of Princess Osra.

CHAPTER I.

The Happiness of Stephen the Smith.

"Stephen! Stephen! Stephen!"

The impatient cry was heard through all the narrow gloomy street, where the old richly-carved house-fronts bowed to meet one another and left for the eye's comfort only a bare glimpse of blue. It was, men said, the oldest street in Strelsau, even as the sign of the "Silver Ship" was the oldest sign known to exist in the city. For when Aaron Lazarus the Jew came there, seventy years before, he had been the tenth man in unbroken line that took up the business; and now Stephen Nados, his apprentice and successor, was the eleventh. Old Lazarus had made a great business of it, and had spent his savings in buying up the better part of the street; but since Jews then might hold no property in Strelsau, he had taken all the deeds in the name of Stephen Nados; and when he came to die, being unable to carry his houses or his money with him, having no kindred, and caring not a straw for any man or woman alive save Stephen, he bade Stephen let the deeds be, and, with a last curse against the Christians (of whom Stephen was one, and a devout one), he kissed the young man, and turned his face to the wall and died. Therefore Stephen was a rich man, and had no need to carry on the business, though it never entered his mind to do anything else; for half the people who raised their heads at the sound of the cry were Stephen's tenants, and paid him rent when he asked for it; a thing he did when he chanced to remember, and could tear himself away from chasing a goblet or fashioning a little silver saint; for Stephen loved his craft more than his rents; therefore, again, he was well liked in the quarter.

"Stephen! Stephen!" cried Prince Henry, impatiently hammering on the closed door with his whip.