The Princess Passes

"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." A wealthy American heiress nicknamed the Manitou Princess flees to Europe after discovering that her fiancé is only marrying her for her money. She sets out on a tour of the Alps and declares she hates all men. Yet that statement is soon put to trial when she meets Monty Lane, an equally heart-broken English lord. Charles Norris Williamson (1859-1920) and Alice Muriel Williamson (1858-1933) were a married couple of writer. Charles was originally from Exeter in the United Kingdom and Alice was from Cleveland, Ohio. Alice moved to the Britain in 1892, working as a correspondant for the Boston Evening. There she met Charles, who was then a renowned magazine editor, and the pair married in 1894. She convinced him to appear as the co-author of many of her novels, although she later said she was their sole author.

"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.