Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-08-18

true, : replied Roundell, rather glOOmlly.
She didn't care about him, SUPP oSe2
| asked.
No. How could she? lie was brut,
and the marriage was mere political ar
rangement."
i suppose these royal or semi-rOya
marriages always are" ;"
tie didn't answer directly. But he sen
~ another pillar of smoke, and murmured
dead 80 young and so beautiful
.. fOu talk qulIe sentimental about tn
Grand DucheSs Did you ever know her?
] = 1 never saw her, as you have said, fo
twenty years"
'rhen why are you so greatly concerned
abOut her DEATH"
Wen, you see, her memory belongs tC
the old time, when We were young, and
can see her face before me, sad and beauti.
full. ] know that she was very unhappy,
| RENT m -er hearing stOry-I don't know
whether it's worth telling, though"
by all means. 90 ahead. | shall be
delighted to hear it"
said this because Roundell spoke in
that half-eager and half-apologetic tone
which shows that man wishes to tell
you something, but is afraid you will not
care to listen to it,
1T isn't much. There was fellow
knew at the time we were in LiebeSheim-
an English fellow. | don't think yOa knew
him. He was studying something or other
there, and he liked to read in the mornings.
He used to get up with the lark and stroll
out into the park. You remember the park
pretty, wasn't it? And he found out
quiet place where hardly any people ever
went even in the day, and he used TO read
i there. 1 remember the spOt-every stone
/ - bo ocbO 2 70,
used to lounge around there sometimes
after he had gone. 1t was a little bit OF
| clearing in the thick part of the wood, and
there was a little stream there. l used to
spout G9the's poem o the Bachlein there.
"You used to spout, or the fellow you
are telling me about?"
"Oh, used to-when he had gone, you
know. Perhaps he used to spout it too; it
doesn't matter. There were couple of
statues there, nymph and faun-aA
grown over with moss. Well, sir, one
| lovely summer morning, when this fellow
was reading there, declaiming out loud
he had great fashion of doing that"
so had you, remember"
Had / really? Oh, no, think not;
any how, he had. Well, ne was declaim-
ing from Schiller, when suddenly he heard
an unmistakabIe laugh-a very pleasant,
musical ladgh-and looking up he saw"
' A girl, of course.
g Wrong for once. He saw two girls. "
"All the same. / knew we should get
to some girl or girls before long" ~.
''Niee girls, too, and very beautiful;
quietly dressed; citizens daughters-that
sort of thing. Got into talk with this
fellow. Were as friendly and sweet and
modest as dear little German gifls can be,
or used to be in those days The fellow
talked great deal, too. They were inter-
ested in England, and his studies, and so
on. One of them had lovely eyes. Went
away, of course. Fellow went there next
morning" --
"They came again.
Wrong. sir. They didn't. He was
sorry But they came the morning follow
ing.
!'Oh, confound It'll that all comes to the
same thing. They came, anyhow"
"They did. Acquaintance grew and
grew. They would sit on the grass and
talk for an hour at time-they three. y
"Always three?"
90 Always-at first"
Thought So"
Like good fellow let me go on my
own way. Or you tell me the story, if you
know all about it"
"Well, l almost think / could. The
regular sort of a thing, suppose-the fel-
low you knew fell in love with the girl that
had the eyes, and, for some reason or other
she couldn't marry him, and they were
miserable, or she did marry him and they
were happy. Can't be anything efses-Idd
marry, or didn't marry, there's the only
difference"
Rounded laughed rather gloomy sort
of laugh. sin this case it was she didn't
marry" he said; s'b but we may as well go
regularly through with the story, as We
have begun it. It's not quite so common
place as you suppose. Well, these girls
came very regularly in the mornings, and
sometimes they even arranged to meet the
fellow of evenings-very rarely though. |
Once there was sort of a saturnalian mas
querade in the open air in the gardens of |
the old Sehloss, and the girls gave the |
fellow hint that they were to be there |
and how they were to be dressed, and he
found her out. She was to be dressed like |
a Swiss peasant girl-bodice and sleeves,
short skirts, you know
" Yes-silver spoon in the hair, liberal |
display of ankles. Go on"
My friend looked grim at my levity, and |
l felt bound to excuse myself by saying |
that as didn't personally know the fellow |
who was the hero of this romance, might |
be forgiven if l spoke too lightly of his |
idols ankles.
"Roundell went on: " 1t was the queer |
est sort of thing, the meeting of these
three-the three always, until just the end.
There really wasn't any love making in /
particular, although the fellow grew at |
last to be madly in love with the girl with |
the eyes. . She called herself DOrothea; |
the other was Meta. They were cousins, |
they said, daughters Of worthy trades
people, who. supplied things to the Schloss. |
They used to talk about books. The girls \
were particularly interested in English 1
novels and poetry and art, and l don't
know what all. The poor fellow was con-
fonndedly happy. And, do you know, l
think studiOus and poetieal young fellows
of that age are wonderfully pure. This
fellow wasR't any better than the rest Of US,
but, by Joye, his love for her was as pure
as the love OF a woman.7
4" Did she fall in love with him?
"Well, it. came out in this way. He
was rather a good-looking fellow then,
though perhaps you wouldn't think So
now-fellows change so-that he was full |
OF poetry and passion and that sort OF
stuff, just at the age when man would be-
OeLBuGcu 70 give his 'ule lOI HOAudu.
Well, sir, one morning she had q little
flower in her hand, she held it in an uncer-
tain way, as if she were going to offer it to
him. He extended his hand; the flower /,
dropped; he reached down for it; she
reached for it; their hands just touched
one moment-by Jovel as short as the puff
Of this smoke; and when she looked up her
face was all crimson; and then she turned
away; and she knew as we'll as Heaven does
that the fellow was in love with her, and
she knew that she loved him."
Roundell paused in his story. The
evening was deepening down, the skies
were purpling, and the Thames was as
suming a sad and melancholy hue. The
faint ripple Of the water was heard more
clearly. My friend looked out of the win
dow, and seemed to enjoy the quiet beauty
of the scene. ~
"Well, but the rest of The story, Roun-
dell?" said.
"The rest of the story; don't know
that it isn't all over" r-- .rE
"0h, come nowi there must be little
more"
"Yes, little; but l think it would
have been better, somehow, If it had ended
there.
"AnyhOw, it didn't so go on. ." FT
"Well, the fellow didn't see either of the
girls next day, or the next. But the third
day they came; and Dorothea was very
sweet and melancholy, and the other one,