Princess Zara

The steamship Trave of the North German Lloyd docked at its Hoboken

pier at eight o'clock one morning in December. Among the passengers who

presently departed from the vessel was a woman who attracted unusual

attention for the reason that she was accompanied by a considerable

suite of retainers and servants who were for a time as busy as flies

around a honey pot, caring for their mistress' baggage, and otherwise

attending to the details of her arrival. Nor was it alone for this

reason that all eyes were from time to time turned in her direction.

There was about her a certain air of distinction, wealth, power and

repose, which impressed itself upon the observers. Many there were who

sought eagerly an opportunity to scan the features of this young

woman's face, for that she was young, was immediately apparent, and the

fact added not a little to the interest that was manifested in her.

The young woman, whoever she was, maintained an air of reserve which

raised a barrier beyond which none of the curious might penetrate; and

as if insolently disdainful of the attention she attracted, her face

remained veiled; not too thickly, but effectively enough to set at

naught these efforts of the curious throng.

A view of her face was, however, not required to determine in the minds

of the beholders that she possessed more than ordinarily, the

attractive feminine qualities. Her very presence told that; the air

with which she moved about among her servitors; the simple gestures she

made in giving her directions, and the quiet but resourceful and

effective methods she used in administering her affairs, indicated that

not only was she a person of great wealth, but that she was also high

in place and in authority, and one who was accustomed to being obeyed.

Her costume was hidden entirely beneath the magnificent furs which

enveloped her, and even the maid who attended upon her immediate wants

was more elaborately gowned and wrapped than the average feminine

personage of the western world is wont to be.

The immediate party of this distinguished passenger soon took its

departure from the pier, leaving behind only those whose various duties

consisted in caring for the seventy-odd pieces of baggage soon to be

taken from the hold of the vessel; and this immediate party departed

from the pier in carriages, for the hotel where accommodations had

already been secured. The young woman and her maid occupied a

conveyance by themselves; other maids followed in a second one, and a

third contained two footmen, a courier and her official messenger.

At the hotel, where notice of her arrival in the city had been

received, she was assigned to a suite of rooms which occupied the

greater part of one entire floor and which included every convenience

which the most illustrious personage travelling in the United States

could have required, or would have found it possible to obtain.