Evening Star Newspaper, November 7, 1896, Page 21

EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1896—-TWENTY-FO UR PAGES. QA the nature How of that fox who, having through some mis- Vike > was fortune t his tail, tried to suade all his brother foxes to the same ment! The reason of my making this philusophic reflection will appear a: is developed. Th ta study of character, an analy- sis of motives, an autopsy of fdeas. It !s simply a narrative, a stringing together of incidents, of rapid changes happenings, in the order in which they oc- curred. Furthermore, every word, every iota of what I have here set down, is the truth, the bare and naked truth. Some of the incidents may appear, to the prosaic und humdrum reader, as somewhat sta’ as being improbable inclining towa rnatural. Startling and fantastic be, improbabie they may seem, that they are in every sense sible, and that they follow in every particular the im- the present s is and mutable laws of nature. It came about in this manner: I was trav- €ling in Germany two or three and, in an evil hour, it came into my head to go a hundred miles or th out ef my way to make a call on an oid rolleze friend of mine, whom I had not several years. That man was Jack Je kins. In some romantic way he had je- come acquainted with and married « Ger- man girl of noble birth, a ceriain Fraulein Hilda von Waldeck. It was this 2 id f renewing an old friendship, and cular idea always is insane, wh! me in the sea of troubles from L barely escaped with life and honor. 1s Was the United States consul at orf, the residence town of the pe-ty lity of Andel Schwartzburg. It jorf that Jack met and mar- ne wedding the fair ned to leave the friend secured his appointme ed down in this sle: made py eld German city Well, [I arrived at Oldendorf after a roundabout and tedious journey, and Jacic, who expected me, was at the station and gave me what seemed a hearty welcome. For a few minutes I thought him the same frank, rough-and-ready, jovial chap whom I had always known; but I soon be- gan to notice something of a change in him. There seemed, at times, to be a sort of restraint in his manner; there was, it struck me, often a false note in his dis- course. He was more subdued and he seemed to have grown ten years older than h ould have grown in the space of time since I had sen him last. His talk, like the letters he had written me, was all of Hilda. It was Hilda th’s and Hilda that; there was never a crea like her, and I must go straightway with him and see her. Now, I was not particularly interested in Hilda, excepting as I naturally would be in something which belonged to a friend of mine. My benedick acquaintances have often bored me by detailing the per- feet of their wives, and i suppose I have shown that I was bored and have been considered very unsympathetic and brutish; but what is a fellow io do, when he knows that these dotards, ' a cient mariner, speak from compulsion, end that seven-eighths of what they tay is falsehood or only imaginary? I came there to see him, to talk with him about the old times ten years before, when we benked together, and I did not care a fig bout Hilda; but, of course, I couldn't tell him so, and therefore he had his way and dragged me off at once to his house to meet his wife. I shali say very little of Frau Hilda von Waldeck Jenkins, for the reason that she figures quite slightly in my tale. She was tall and not half bad looking, and I could easily see how a man of my friend’s yield- ing and enthusiastic nature might azine her to be an angel. I say imagine because, of course, you know, she vasn’t; none of them are, and some of them are quite the reverse. Se much for her appearance. As to her character, well, I will only say that searce petticoat rule. He gave no o no ertion without meanw iz toward her for signs of her approval. The pon saw, that the man it So. mediately after the first words after the first ordi and remarks and q my n was assaulted by my and in e ably led by wife. He would have it must marry at once, and ke cited n and irr: id » could h: Not content v from me to the matter 0! tails and prod: German bed be a pre whole a: le argument. W » seen the irony of th extracting a prom effect that I would think they descended to the de- ed from their recollections ies, ary one of whom would er incumbrance for me. The ment, properly arranged and labeled, was to be shown me upon the fol- lowing afternoon. “Not if a train leaves Oldendorf tomor- row morning,” said I to myseif. After tea I gladiy accepted Jack's invi- tation to go down to the market place and see a balloon ascension. ny ou will not be long, love?” said Frau ng tene, but with a pe- in her eyes. hour, deare ed Jen- th that we w mg the hor ed to man- I would be mfort with him. We of narrow, ancient and at length emerged ace, which was almost upon the m filled with the people of the town, anxious, like to See the balloon go up. tt at 7 o'clock of an August evening. » air was balmy and dus was begi © settle vn. I thougit it strange that any one should make an asce this hour, but it wa vonist wa tizs, cit, or si ome k sht be fo s of the pire. ed they had abo ed inflati on, which was swaying back above the heads of the pe center of tne sauare. We shed our way throush the crowd until we ¢: Isawt of bearing delay of fi me quite near to it, it was r: r small and < loft but one Aller a naut a red and signified to make th. censi but he did vot go up. balloon went up without waiting for him. 's a laughable accident, but I did not it. I must rather have been it had not happened. Tt had umber of pags of sand in the wick- piled a er car of the ballocn to keep it down while they were lating it, and, this, they had tethered it to a neighboring post with 2 rather small-sized rove or thick cord. These precautions they suppos be perfectly adequate, and they per would have been under ordinary circ: but when the balloon was fully nd the aeronaut had removed sev- 1, the great »ed suddenly to one side, the rope which tethered the car broke like a piece of string and the machine was out of reach before any one had presance of mind enough to seize it. For some reason cr other, vrobabiy be- cause it was weighted too heavi it rose to an elevation of about a hundred fect; then it floated away over the acads of th populace, first this way and then that w as different puffs of wind took it; crowd scurried along in its wake, their chins in the air and their 160: THE SIX DUMB-BELLS -- OF CASTLE SCHRECKENSTROLM, BY DAVID SKAATS FOSTER. Author of “A Crisis in Oldendorf.” ( (Copyright, 1896, by the Bacheller Syndicate.) | ; ting of the door. vi open, and a great many <an up Into the buildings and got out on the roois, with the foolish idea that they might saptare it. Then it grew darker, and it was !m:cs- sible any longer to distingaish th» balloon from the clouds, and Jack and I, ~ho had followed the rabble hither <nd tiither in their eri hase, gave the thing up and turned our sieps homeward. Now, fer the first time, we thought of looking at our watches, and Jenkins tound to his dismay that it was nalf-past 9 o'clock. For two hours he had been parted from his angel, as he persisted in ca'ling her; whereas he had promised to return in an hour. I gave the matter naturally no concern, but with my companion it was different. He fairly led me on a run to his house. On the way he seemed to be dis- trait and preoccupied, he answered my re- marks at random, and it was very evident that there was a weight of goodly dimen- sions upon his mind. “Why,” thought I, “will a man, who is born to the nobility of freedom, voluntarily, yes, longingly, make a slave of himself to a creature in petticoats, so that he trembles at the an- ticipation of her displeasure?” When we arrived at the house, Jenkins received us calmly and w! piciously gentle tone. With me s coldly, but studiously, polite, and J, no- ticing that her manner had still further de- pressed my unhappy friend, took leave of the couple with ail haste possible, and, retiring to my chamber, threw off mv clothes and crawled into bed, for I had had a trying day of it, and proposed to get a good night's rest. It was tot to be, for just then the Jen- kinses commenced to talk. That is to say, the engel talked and the victim, once in three or four minutes, gave out a faint and submissive monosyllable. ‘Their chamber was evidently next to mine; the partitions were not ever and above thick, and I eculd very well distinguish the tones, the manner and the lection, without the words themselves reaching me. Her voice was low, it was plaintive, but at the same me insistent, and it was morotcnous; and, ever and aren, came that one protesting, defensive and melancholy word from John Jenkins. At 10 o'clock I turned over toward the wall, and stuffed the sheet into my ears, and still I heard it. Their door was opened and closed, and in that moment I heard the words: “Six months ago you would not have forgotten. If I could have believed mother—" the rest of the sentence being lost by the shut- I arose and paced the ficor in vexation, for the dull and wearing murmur of the voice gave no signs of ubat- ing. More than aught else I fear a talking woman, and in my misery, I yet gave thanks that I was not tethered to one. At 11 I flung myself upon the bed, and | fell asleep and dozed awhile, and then the voices stopped, and I suddenly awoke, as one does on a steamship when the screw stops revolving. I felt a sense of blessed comfort, but it was only for a moment. She was apparently but. resting. Once mcre that stream of words commenced to flow. She was off again. I noticed now that there came no response from the cul- prit. That meek and deprecating punctua- tion had ceased entirely. Was he dead? The supposition was most plausible. At 12 there was no change, and I arose and dressed myself completely and opened the French window and looked out into the vor eosess I Stuffed the Sheet Into My Ears, night. In Oldendorf, some of the best and most aristocratic people lived in apart- ments over the shops, and my friend's | apartments Were so situated. My room was in the third story, and the French window, which I had opened. led out upon a flat roof, which was inclosed on three sides by brick walls, and the fourth side of which faced upon a street. I had noticed this roof and this area when I was in my cham- ber before tea. They seemed different to me now. There was something there which I had not seen them. The area now was al- | most filled with something vast and globu- lar and vague and vascillating. I stepped out upon the roof and advanced toward this monster, which, as I approached, took the appearance of a great yellow rubber ball, twelve feet and more in diameter: and it suddenly flashed upon me that I had found the runaway balloon. 1 did not wonder at it, nor was I sur- prised. It was the most natural thing in the world. The roof was guarded on the street side by an iron fence or railing curiously wrought with leaves and spikes, and the balloon drifting that way, the cordage of the lower part had become en- tangled in this iron work, so that the aerial hip was safely housed and concealed be- tween these three walls. My first feeling was one of proprietor- ship. It was clearly mine by all the laws regarding salvage and treasure trove. It struck me. somehow, that the first thing to do was to untangle the rigging where it had caught and to get the thing ship shape. When it was wrecked, so to speak, upon the railing, several of the man cords which held the car had become unfastened or unhocked from the ring or hoop above, and the car had tilted over, and had Gumped {ts contents—eight bags of sand— upon the roof. I righted the wicker car and disentangled several of the cords by which it should have hung, and refastened them to the hoop at the bottom of the bal- loon; then, as it was a warm night, and I was somewhat heated by the exertion, I took oft my coat, and because it was the handiest place, threw it into the car. Very soon there remained but two of the cords jisengay from the ironwork. The straining of the balloon made it so difficult i threw one leg over the edge of the rand bore my weight upon it, so as to slacken the cords. Even then I could not get them off. So I took out my knife and reached down and cui them both with one stroke. The balloon was now free. I knew it, because in cne second, it lifted me about fifty feet above the top of the building. Part 1. ‘This was not what I wished or intended. It was also not what I expected: but I did not wonder at it, nor was I at all surprised. I should have known that if the balloon could carry eight twenty-five-pound bags of sand. or 200 pounds altogether, that there would be no difficulty about its get- ting away with me, who weighed some- thing less than a hundred and seventy-five. ‘The only trouble was that I did not think of this fact until I had cut those last two cords, and all at once found myself float- ing over the house tops, with one arm and one leg thrown over the edge of the car and with both hands tightly gripping the rim of it. It cnly arose to an elevation of seventy- five or eighty feet from the ground; from which fact, I argued, that some of the gas had escaped; otherwise, the weight being less, it would have been more buoyant and gone higher. The wind had now changed, and the bal- loon jogged along at a pretty lively rate, in a direction which would soon bring it over the market place, from which it had originally started. I now thought I should be more comfortable if I could get into the car, and I made the effort to do so, but it was a ticklish operation, as I had to squeeze in between the cords which held it. Besides this, the car itself tilted over so abominably every time I tried to get into ft that I soon gave up the idea and decided to ride it out as I was. | Being resigned to this situation, I now began to feel more at my ease, and really to find some pleasure in this, to me, novel mode of traveling. There was a full moon that night, but there were many clouds floating across the heavens, so that some- times the streets below me were lighted up, and at other times were shrouded in daikness. I halooed at two or three be- lated pedestrians who were passing beneath me, and, noticing their astonishment and dismay at being thus hailed from the clouds above their heads, I took pains to accost others in the same manner. Two old ladies who were plodding homeward by the light of a lantern which one of them carried were so startled by this diabolical summons from the upper air that they dropped the light and took to their heels as if they were competing in the Olympian races. in about five minutes I had passed be- yend the town in a southerly direction, and in four or five minutes more I began to ficat above a dense black forest, which seemed limitless in extent. I had heard of a great forest thercabout, containing many square miles, a forest which was the do- main of a strange and fierce old German noble, the Graf von Schreckenstrohm. This Ww Ss undoubtedly it. It had descended to him directly from an ancestor, who lived in the thirteenth century; a feudal baron, who bore the sobriquet of “the wild boar of Schreckenstrohm.”” It was also said that the present Graf von Schreckenstrohm had inherited not only the forest and the great feudal castle which stood upon an island in the midst of the Schreckenstrohm, but also the peculiarities which gave to his ancestor that playful nickname. 1 was thinking about these matters as I sailed along, at the rate of about twelve miles an hour, over the tops of the fir trees and pines. J was also thinking about Jack and his wife, and wondering what they would suppose of my sudden and uncere- tronlous departure. I also wondered wheth- er Mrs. Jenkins was still talking, and the thought of that made me quite contented with the peculiar situation in which 1 found myself, though I was getting tired and felt very lame from sticking to the same position, and having to hold on so tightly; and would willingly have got off at some way station and rested until the next balloon came along. After I had passed over the tops of the forest for a mile or so, I became conscious of the sound of a roaring river, which in- creased in volume as I proceeded. Then I Reached Down and Cut Them Both. there seemed to be a break in the woods, and I saw beneath me the glittering white foam of a mad and mighty torrent. At the same time there rose before me, from a recky island in the midst of the flood, a great, half-ruined, mediaeval castle, with round towers and turrets, with keep and barbacans and parapets galore. Gray and stern and specterlike it loomed up before me, and it seemed as though I was about directly over it. The direction which I was now taking would bring me immediately above a wide embrasured parapet, which stretched be- tween two towers. At its present altitude, the balloon would clear it by but a few feet. I at once decided that this was the way station I was looking for, and ihat I vould alight there. When I was within fifty feet of it I beheld a man in his shirt sleeves, standing behind this parapet and watching me approach. Some _ persons might have been astonished at this, but I did not wonder at it in the least. There was no reason why he should not be stand- ing on the roof of this castle at midnight in warm weather, if he wished. ‘As the balloon came up to him, he sprang up and caught hold of the car. At the same moment I dropped like a cat, upon all fours, upon the roof. When I arose and turned to accost him, I beheld him coolly sitting in the car of the balloon, which was already passing over the battlements at the further side of the castle. I ran across the stone platform to the edge, and called out to him that he had my coat, and that he must come back. He waved his hand to me with exaggerated politeness. Then I shook my fist at him, and he laughed im- moderately and shouted back just as he was disappearing that I might use his. I was not surprised that the man had gone off {n the balloon. There was nothing to wonder at, for he might have had his own peculiar and sufficient reasons for do- ing so. At the same time, however, I did not go to the length of supposing that he bad climbed up on the top of the castle with the express purpose of watching for balloons, and with the idea of taking the first one that came along. I now noticed a doorway opening upon the platform, from one of the great round tow- ers before mentioned. The door was ajar, and I thought that it was probably by this means that the man had come out upon the roof. I went to this doorway and loox- ed in. At first it was as dark as Erebus, but my eyes becoming accustomed to it, I perceived that there was a faint light com- I Beheld Him Caimly Car of t tting in the Balloon. ing vp from somewhere below. I could also rrake out the outlines of a spiral stair- cese leading to these lower regions. Not being of the mind to remain where I was all night, I groped my way down these stairs, the light growing brighter as I pro- ceeded, until, after descending, as it struck me, about 30 feet, I came to another open doorway, threugh which I entered a great square bed chamber, furnished and deco- rated in the style of some age long passed away. The bed was a large four-posted, canopied affair, draped with heavy silken curtains, The tiled chimney place was big enough to roast an ox, and the walls were ccvered with stamped leather and with dingy tapestries, which flapped and undu- lated in a ghostly manner, with the current of air that came down the stairway. Upon a massive table of black oak, in the center of the room, stood a silver candelabrum, with four wax candles, three of which were burning. A half vrpacked portmanteau lay open upon a chair; several masculine gar- ments Were scattered about the apartment. and these, together with a strong odor of tebacco, showed that the chamber had been lately occupied. From this to the conclusion that its tenant had been the man who had gone off in my balloon was a logical step. A brown velvet cuat was among the garments already spoken of. This was undoubtedly the coat he had bade me use in place of mine. I tried it on, and fcund tlat it fitted me very well, which was not surprising, as the man appeared to be about my size. I should mention the fact also that I gathered from the short acquaintance I had with him that he was about my age. There was only one thing that I now wanted, and that was sleep. I wanted {t badly, and I wanted a great deal of it. So without more ado I flung myself upon the feathers of the great four-poster, and al- most immediately fell into a sound and dreamless slumber. When I awoke the sun was shining brightly through a narrow, deeply embrasured window, high up on the wall ‘opposite me. I looked at my watch, and found that it lacked but a few minutes of 10 o'clock. I arose and dressed hastily. I could hear the surging of the Schreck- enstrohm, as it swept past the castle, but ro sounds of life from the building smote upon my ear. This struck me as rather singular, and made me hore anxious to reconnoiter the premises. ‘With the well- appointed paraphernalia of my predecessor, I made a careful toilet; for the reason that I had become a guest of the castle under what might be conside somewhat pe- culiar circumstances, and # wished to cre- ate as favorable an impression as possible upon my first appearance. When I had finished, I summoned to my I Looked Down a Long Passageway. aid what small stock of effrontery I was possessed of, and entering the staircase of the tower and descending to the story be- neath, I passed into an apartment directly under the one I had occupied. This room was light and airy, and from the view which I got from the windows, I now judged that I was upon the ground floor. This chamber seemed to be devoted to im- plements and trophies of the chase. Several pairs of antlers, some of them of enormous size, were posted about the doorways; the head of a wild boar, with glistening tusks, was mounted above a cabinet in the fur- ther corner, and upon one of the walls was displayed an assortment of muskets, bell- mouthed pistols and blunderbusses and hunting pikes and blades, so ancient and curious that it would make a collector burst with envy to look at it. Without lingering to inspect them, I a door opposite to the one I had entered and found myself in what appeared to be a refectory of the castle. The walls were covered with landscape paintings, as it seemed to me from a cursory glan best German artists of the seventeentin century; but that which most pleased my fancy Was a breakfast table In the center of the room, spread with linen of snowy whiteness, set with a profusion of silver, and best of all, furnished with a collation, smoking hot, and evidently prepared for one person. As I entered here, I was certain that I saw a door close at the farther end of the room. I stepped quickly to this door and opened it, and looked down a long passage- way without seeing any one. Then I went along this passage and entered several pantries and offices, still without coming upon a living thing, and I began to be per- plexed, for all this time I had not heard a sound, save the dashing of the torrent against the rocks outside, and I was not accustomed to being waited apon by ghosts. I now concluded that the closing of the op- posite door, as I enteréd the room, was done by the pressure of’air. As I pushed one door open the other one closed. That was all there was of it, and it was a most simple thing. aaa I was not surprised when I found the meal already prepared and waiting for me. There was nothing to wonder at. It had, without doubt, been gotten ready for the man. When they heard’ me'moving about in my chamber, they supposed he was com- ing down and had placed.4t upon the table. I had his coat upon my baek, and it seemed to me eminently logical that his breakfast should adorn my stomach, With this philo- sophical reflection, I. sat down and made short work of the fruit and coffee and rolls. And though set before me in such a fan- tastie and ghostly way, wery tangible and satisfying and delicious # found them. After 1 had finished I Ughted a cigar and lounged about the room for ten min- utes or so, thinking surety‘ that some serv- ant would come whom I might interrogate. But none appeared; neither did I hear the least sound indicative of life in that part of the building near me. I then went up in my own apartment, as I had begun to think it, and examined the belongings of its late occupant. On looking at the port- manteau I found that it bore upon the out- side the initials: “A. von D., Munich.” At about this moment also I discovered in one of the pockets of the coat which I wore a letter, the envelope of which was post- marked Oldendorf and addressed to Herr August von Dunkelheim at Munich. I had now discovered without doubt the name of the man who had stolen my balloon, and by reading the letter I felt morally certain that I could find out a great many things about the castle and its inmates, always providing that it had any. I, however, re- strained myself from taking the letter from its envelope, reserving the right to do so at some future time should occasion war- rant it. Part In. Coming out of my chamber, I noticed a door on the opposite side of the landing. I opened it and found myself in a large apartment with stone floors and stone- vaulted roof. Passing through this I came into a long ccrridor, similarly finished, in which there were a number of casements or loopholes. Thrusting my head through one of these apertures, I saw ahead of-me a great hexagonal tower, thirty or forty feet in diameter; then passing through a doorway at the end of the passage I entered a hallway of hexagonal shape, and from that I knew that I was now in the six- sided tower which I had seen from the window. This hallway was lighted by a shaft from above, and in its center was a winding stairway leading to the lower story. In its six sides there were six door- ways leading into as many bed rooms. I examined each of these chambers in turn and found them all notably alike. The same richly stained mullion windows were in all of them; the same delicately fres- coed walls and ceilings, the same luxurious rvgs and Louis Quinze movables. In each room there was a quaint and narrow bed with the whitest of counterpanes, the soft- est of mattresses and the downiest of pil- lows. I tried one of them, like little Silver Hair in the house of the three bears; then seeing how I had disarranged it I felt ex- ceedingly guilty, and with haste and as silently as possible I withdrew to my own part of the chateau. Again descending the tower staircase to the hottom and turning to the left, instead of to the right, I passed through a spa- cious, vaulted passages, and coming to a great pair of oaken doors, I opened one of them without much trouble, and found my- self upon a carved stone porch, which led down into a courtyard. In this open space I walked about and surveyed at my ease the castle and its surroundings. It would be a difficult matter to deseribe the build- ing, or collection of buildings, as more preperly it might be call¢d..Jt was a con- glomeration of feudal Gothis’ afd Moorish architecture; towers roynd and square, The Sight of Six Young Damscls. great battlemented walls, turrets and don- jon keeps, and all that sort of thing. And what made it seem more incongruous was that a considerable portion of it had been remodeled and made habitable in a com- paratively modern way. A great part of it, crumbling and discolored with time and almost covered with ivy, looked as though it were a thousand years old, while other parts seemed new and comfortable and showed the marks of present occupancy. Outside the castle and the court there Tose a stone wall about eight feet in height, continuous save opposite the castle porch, where there was a break or gap, some fif- teen feet in width, or wider. This gap had originally been filled by two huge gates of wrought and twisted iron, which, now Tusted from their hinges, lay back on either side against the wall. Through this open space I could see the black swirling flood of the Schreckenstrohm go sweeping by; and beyond the water a wagon road that wound up the hill through the forest. Advancing to this aperture in the ma- sonry, I found some stone steps leading down into the water, and looking up the stream I noticed something else, which struck me as remarkably odd, namely, a rope of iron wire, which, coming from the highest casement in a tall tower, which Tose some fifty feet from where I stood, stretched across the river and disappeared in the tree tops on the opposite side. I climbed to the top of the outer wall with- out much trouble, and walking upon it for several hundred feet, I passed around the upper end of the castle and of the island, and now was able to get a much better idea of both, and of the plunging river or torrent which swept down, about sixty feet in width, on either side. I now looked in vain for any means of communi- cation between the tle and the main land. The flood was so deep and the cur- rent so furious, as it pounded against the rocky banks, that crossing in a boat was utterly impossible, and the question of how I was to get away became more and more of an enigma. The island seemed to be about two hundred feet in width and some five or six hundred in length. It was com- pletely encircled at its outer edge by the wall upon which I walked, excepting for the open space 1 have mentioned. The castle stood at the lower end of the in- closure. By lower end I mean, of course, the part down stream. And the whole of the remaining ground, for five hundred feet perhaps above the buildings, was cov- ered with trees and shrubbery, very dense in some places, and at one point through the leaves and branches I caught sight of a flower garden and what seemed to be the white spray of a fountain. I leaped down from the wa!l and threaded my way through a labryinth of foliage that I might satisfy myself about the mat- ter, and suddenly coming inio an open I Read as Folio: know who you are,” space a most secluded sy!van xpot, there burst upon my gaze a sight which would have surprised me and if such a thing were possil namely, of six young dams Is, all of them handsome, and two or three of them ing anything I nad seen, both in face and figure, in that quality which ts beauty. They were sitting upon Seats or reclining upon the turf. Two of them were reading. The others, in va- rious dolce far niente attitudes, were day dreaming or gazing at the sky or other- wise killing time. They were of different ages, the oldest not over twenty and the youngest not less than fifteen. ‘Though each had some trait of feature color or ex- sion, which distinguished her from the . there was in their general appear- which led me to believe that the sisters. They were alike and yet unlike. And that which pleased me in- finitely mere than all the rest was the fact that they were not saying anything. They had not-noticed my approach, but presently one of them looked’ up and saw me. She immediately sprang to her feet. This drew the attention of the others to me. A second one followed the example of the first, and these two, hurriedly pick- ing up something from the ground, darted away into the shrubbery. As they fled I perceived the twinkling of bare white feet, and one of them let fall a tiny shoe upon the grass. ‘Their forms were so sin- uows, so perfectly molded, and their mo- tions so quick and grageful, that they seemed more like wood Nymphs than like human beings. The remaining four raised themsclves frcm their recumbent positions and gazed at me curiously and without a particle of alarm. I advanced toward them, hat in hand, and thus accosted them: “You will please pardon me, young la- dies, for intruding upon you, but you are the first persons I have seen upon the island. I arrived here last night, and I wish to pay my respecis to tue master of the house. Will you kindly tell me where I can find him?” The four girls simply looked at each other and smiled. Then they gazed at me again, without ut- tering a syllable in rep) ance were I thought their esadact somewhat pe- culiar, but I made though I did not notice it, and sa “You are the dau are you not? All four nodded emphatically, then looked at each other and smiled again. s of the proprietor, I Lay at Length Upon the Green Tarf. “The other two who fl hed, are they your sisters? Once more they nodded simultaneous! “I have heard that the castle of Schre enstrohm stands hereabouts. me if this be it? - They gave the same affirmative sign. Then the one to whom I particularly ad- dressed my questions, she seoming to be the oldest, turned to her sisters and raised her eyebrows in a sarcastic manner. “The Hert Graf von Schreckenstrohm is then your happy father. Will you conde- scend to tell me whether he is at home? This time they all shook their heads, and they were so decided about it that I thought they would never get through shaking them. Here was a very odd kind of a reception, I had never had such an experience before. The expression upon the faces of these young women was more than ordinarily intelligent and lively, and they could answer my questions with no:h- ing but nods and shakings of the head. ed as I approa k- Can you tell Perhaps they were trying to have some amusement out of me. I would be facetious in my turn. “Are all the people on the island dumb’ I asked. oe For answer they nodded slowly. They no longer smiled, and their countenances took on a tinge of sadness. When IL asked the question I did not suspect that such was the reality. Their manner now made me think seriously that I had hit upon the truth. But I could not wholly believe it yet. ‘My dear young ladies, do you mean to affirm, really and truly, that you are all mute? That none of you can articulate a word?” They nodded still more sorrowfully than before; and the oldest one, for whom I had begun to have something of a liking, cast her eyes down, and they seemed to be filled with moisture. I had now come to the experinece which prompted me to write this story. These were “the six dumb belles of Castle Schreckenstrohm.” In the ttle I did not, it is true, use exactly this form of spelling, but it was intentional; for how otherwise could I sum up and picture the chief episode of the narrative without letting the reader into the secret before it was time to do so? The two youfiger maidens who had dis- appeared at my first approach now return- | | scmething about ed, properly stockinged and shod, and the whole six—representing every possible charm and beauty which the human fe- male, from the age.of fifteen to twenty, possessed—standing and sitting, were _ around me in a radiant semicircie. gazed at them one after the other, in ecstatic rapture. Here are six girls, thought I, each one of them in her way as lovely as a dream, rot one of whom can speak a word. I remembered the aainty breakfast which I had eaten that morning, and at once the old adage came to me that the perfect woman is she who can cook but who cannot talk. Here was not one perfect woman only, but half a dozen of them. The gardinen Predigt of Frau Hilda von Waldeck Jenkins was still fresh in my memory, and I declare that if such a thing had been possible J would immediately and incontinently have fallen in love with the whole six. I was now upon the point cr asking whether they had been born mute or had become so after birth, because I was anxi- ous to ascertain the locality where, and the means by which, such families or races of femaies were produced—with the idea of giv! the informaticn to my friends for their good and the general benetit of humanity. I, however, refrained from in- terrogating them upon the subject, as it a delicate one and might put them to unnecessary pain. “Young ladies,” said 1, “I am very glad to have you y so. No, I do not mean that, of ccurse 1 am sorry—that is to say, 1 am glad that you can, at least, hear so distincuy. It wil! now give me pleasur to tell you who I am, and to describe the odd way in which I came here.” The oldest maiden, whom I by this time fancied exceedingly, a tall brunette, with a slender but perfect figure, large, dark, melancholy eyes, a creamy complexion and wealth of dark, glossy brown locks, at this produced from behind her a writing pad with pencil attached. After tearing off a page which had been scribbed upon, she wrote upon the pad and gave it to me. The handwriting was full of char- acter and was charmingly feminine. 1 read as fcllows: “We know who you are and how you came, and the errand upon which you came.” Before handing it to me she had shown it to the girls nearest her. They now watched my face, and glanced at each other with looks of mischievous amuse- ment. I was somewhat nonplussed. They were either bent on mystifying me, or they took me for some one else. “Then,” said I, “you have been told by Frau Jenkins, and you saw the balloon last night when it passed over the castie. The Schreckenstrohm ladies looked won- deringly at each other, and my particu- lar favorite sratched the pad and wrote as_follow: We have heard nothing from Frau Jen- ns, though we are acquainted with a lady of that name in the city. Neither do we know what you mean by that ronser about the balloon. We Know that yo: are Herr von Durkeike:m of Munich, and that pap brought you here last night after we were aul in bed. “Mesdemoiselles Schreckenstrohm,” 1 cried. “You we never re mistaken in your life. I am not Herr von Dunkelheim. My name is Julius Waterbury. Von Dun- kelheim has left the island, and 1 did not come with your father and have not seem him.” Her eyes had a strangé light in them as she seized the pad and again wrote upon i ‘Then how did you get here?” 2 Impressively, and with exact detail, 1 narrated the manner of my arrival at the castle and of Von Dunkelheim’s departure from it. I have never seen incredulity so fully and unmistakably depicted on the hu- n cuntenance as it was upon the pretty faces of the six countesses. One of them. an ethereal blonde creature of about seven- teen, thrust a little hand into a retic which hung suspended from her belt, pro- diced a letter, unfolded it and handed it to me—at the same time, with triumphant air. pointing to the opening paragraph with a taper index fin I took the letter and read aloud the following words: “Dearest Ysolde: I learned today thet my brother-in-law’s brother, August yon Dun- kelheim, is to visit you and the rest of my ccusins at the castle. As you have never seen him, yo: will doubtless wish to know him. In the first place, you must not believe a word he says, for I pres | | She Looked at Me With a ance, that he is the greatest re krow it to be a fac’ Kar in all Europe.” Part fv I looked up at this point, and caught the maidens smiling at each other and giving that peculiar downward and upward t of the head which s‘gnifies— you may depend upon it.” I now turne: the last part of the letter, which read as follows: “Give my best lote to Brunhilda, Wanda, Gutrune, Undine and Lorelei, and believe me your affectionate cousin, Er- mengarde.”” 1 then looked at the date, and found that the ey had been written only the day béfore. Here was a pleasant situation to placed in. My narrative and the reput tion of the expected guest fitted togeth too perfectly. In their minds, I was the prevaricator, Von Dunkeiheim, and I felt that I should remain so, unless some for- tuitous circumstance should ar.se to lish my identity. away with my balloon and my c t he had also stolen my character. When and how did this letter come asked I, as I handed the sylph-like and golden-haired Ysolde her missive. She took the pad from her dar ter and wrote: “This morning Je The villain had not only at, by the trolley car. she supposed to be my own coin. at her nonsense, another question: “You said that your papa, Count Schreckensthrom, came here last after you had ail retired. How cross the iver to the castle?” “By the stone bridge, of cours should know, as you were with him, ‘olde. 2ut I have been all around the island. and have seen no bridge.” 1 smi! and then I asked he von night, did he These words of mine seemed to produce a great deal of merriment. Some of t damsels plainly snickered, and one, the youngest of the six, whom I afterward found was Lerelei, ‘a blue-eyed, taxen- haired little witch of fifteen, actually wink- ed at her sisier: “Oh, you can’t sec it now, you know were ‘the words which Ysolde now Wrote upon the pad. “Oh, I see,” said T. “The stone bridge is like the t Now you see it and now you : b a bridge as that is not solid eneuch for me. Give me a balloon every iim “Ye wrote the girl, “but your loon is nousense, and the car and e bridge are true. You can see the car yourself, wh: it comes tomorrow morn- ing, and you papa arri “And when ts your papa, the Herr Graf, coming, most fair and charming Gratin “In a week from yesterday, unless thing hapvens. which is not at all 41 was her answer. I now degan to get along famou. the six heiresses of Schreckenstrohm. They were a joily set, take them ail to- gether, though { do ot mean by that that they w all of them of a mirthful and waggish position, like the flaxeu. and childish Lorelei, or the bion. nymph-like Ysolde. Brunhilda, the of them all, the maid who ple: most, was of a serious and contem)’ character, her smile was the swe: the looks from her unfathomable were the tenderest, and ber nature, all, like the beauty of her face was more perfect and mature. in age, whom I afierward found Wanda, was of a languishing mental cast. Then came ¢ black-haired, gray- n also see the bridge when oH and between Ysvide and: Lorelei w ene | She evidently meant to pay me in what | | threes, prody ier 21 dine, as elf-like, immaterial and changeful as the creation of Baron Pouque. was @ romance, a strangeness, a wildness about the whole 2ffair which fas- cinated and enthralled me. The weird and almost miraculous way in which I had alighted upon the spot, the feudal castle, the roaring torrent and the six Leautiful countesses were like the ‘mages of a fairy tale. There was, besides, the charm of that still and shady glade, and a charm in the unfathomab'e mystery which en- veloped the island, the castle and its occu- pants. And, above all, there was the charm of solitude, which the pres- ence of these speechiess giris made greater than if I had been alone. I was like an Adam in arden ‘a six voice- less Eves, and I would have been imme urabiy content had they not still persis in believing me to be the recreant Von Dunkelheim. They wandered with me througi: the island and with childish pleasure showed me all their favorite nooks and corners T lay at leagth upon the green turf, by the hour, and thelr graceful forms and lovely faces, as they strolled past me, or as they sat near by upon a mossy bank. They plucked for me rare exotic flowers froma the garden, and into the fountain, w side we gazed as I now lea to the cor n Of the culprits, Lorelc Undine were ade bar 5 then astie through ted Into the bot : we clambered over the battlements; we climbed tower, and we pe turret, 30 that strange aud venerat! tops of the highe up into © with which I was not familiar. After the abominable injuries whicn I had suf- fered at the hands of Ven Duakelheim I naturally felt no longer any compunctions of conscience about reading his letter. fore the afternoon had ~d, watching my chance to open it erved, I had made myself master of and the nature of w eries made me glad that I had done so. The letter was from Graf von Schreckenstrohm. It was dated at Oldendorf, three days before, and ran as follows: “My Dear August: Once more I have had to imprison my six daughters in the Castle of Schreskenstrolim, and there they shall siay until they come to their senses. You know, of course, abodt their peculiar in- firmity. 11 has grown upon them since their mother's death, until I cannot bear them lorger in the louse with me. 1 am determi them off, come what will, an 1 have your choice from the halt It is for this that 1 have summeone 1 shall meet you at the luke you ii you shall stay one of them, I care hot which, consents to become your v certain claims upon you, as shall expe you at six on fay night. “SCHREKENSTROUM.” letter with emotions ef min- and This inhuman mon- ter, 50 aptly named the wild boar. im- prisoned his inoffensive and lovely chil- dren in this melancholy castle; 1 them like maletactors, and for what ly, forsouth, because their sad their of speech, annoyed him. him for it from my immest heart, and I hated him for the coarse and cruel way in which he had set tnis von Dunkelheim upon them. It was like opening the cates and turning the wolf into sture after the lambs. The only thing that perplexed me was the question: Why had von Dun- ete the day had almost gone we dined togeiher, the same chamber where I kad ca mysterious breakfast. This wa: also strange experience; three lia on either side of me at table, and 1 all the talking. Here tt was that I red that there was still another ‘rson upon ihe island. Dame Geiskopf, a dumb old woman, half servant, npanion or ness, Who in some remoir i part of t castle conc evolved dishes worthy of the vis Treres provenceaux.” Here was a flaw in my theories; the six count- esses had not cooked my breakfast, after all. I, bowever, comforted myscif with ibe reflectio: hat undoub’ might have Gene so had they Shertly afier we paired to a large nishe] salou adjoint of the six be rooms, and there I p most pleasant evening. It is true that the old duensa, Frau Geishopf, stole into the room a minutes after we had possession of it, seating her one end of the Chember, bolt epi immovatie, gazed upon us with the un- winking glarc of the msilick. But ii mat- tered little for she Was as deaf as e dumb, and befor: the most flattering S$ to them all; at the ler speech time, howeve singling out as the object of my tost fervid and affectionate atten- tions that dark-eyed, statuesque a thoughtful beauty, the peerless Brunhi with whom I must confess 1 was, even that wacly stage of the proceedings, most desperaieiy in lev The salon contained, besides luxurious oriental furniture and exquisite paintings, a number of musical instraments—zithers, lutes and mandolins—from which at times the six maidens, singly or by twos and ved for my entertainment the 1 harmonies. “What a « nt I, “to the mod > hears only the shrill-voiced women. eniig, refreshments—truus oght in and serve . as I sat t » divan of mos’ upen a by ministered to by s—while two or thers band clustered ime in & & proximity thers strock ither and ma mest heave ains of S and umat Avou assan in where he finds hinis 1? F ed into the Caliph | is ed upon tw iove chan : or | as Un- | sia | was welight” and * rest of them, isely the chaperd motion x da ensirekin Anz A prepared ihered round me i took my hand mdding me gox follow door at one Brunhiida was the the doorway and ing glance. 1 ki 2 thought she did ine s she shut the door so | ertain of Part Vv. On the morning of the next day 1 betime and made a hasty toilet. 1 bu down arch of my hosts the courtyard of t q ‘a to notice that ther greet 4s amiable aS was their night before. While 1 was iong Urem, saying to them ail compli) and agres id think of, some great, bl body or object or mass daried pS of the Torest Opposite us, winazing and rattling over our h disappeared over the castle before I “ what it wa the transit of ner did I w my mind io ex; had already hap- owever, taken of my the suddesness of it, and i cried i is chat?” six els seemed very much art which 1 gave and at upon her pad, which I told you. the troiie about it you will tvillow us up into the signal tower We wili now sow it to you.” pomted out the tower in quesiion. it was the Trom the window of wi > the wire rope which ex river into the forest. The sh W at once the truth of the mati r about which they spoke ran along upon this rope and into the ment of the signal to There was y nothing to wonder about in ths m really a thing, an ordinary mechanical coatriy . and that was all. I now conjectured whether the invisible bridge might not de- velop into some equally everyday a(fair. These lust reflections came to me while I following, as best I could, the six sylph-like forms of the countesses, who bad started upon a wild chase or race into the tower and up the staircase, as though each one was trying to get to the top first. When I at lasi arrived, very much wiad v ry Sathered around a large wicker-work car or basket about two and a half feet in h and width and four feet in lenath, med to be filled with all sorts of mer- se—among which I noticed eatables y kinds, in quantity enough to have a il grocer’s shop, books and smale clothing and finery. It