Litchfield enquirer., 1879-03-27
TFrom seribners Monthly.l
 FRAULEIN.

the steamer already three days out from Liver pool. Her seat was on the very edge of this wooden frame where it joined the guard and with no support save this, she almost overhung the plunging ocean. Her feet swung clear, and she was clapping her hands in kind ot ectasy as the stern of the great ship rose in the air, then fell, to churn the waves into spray flying far above her head.
 She wore no wraps, though the air was icy cold no head-covering of any kind-only the tightly braided masses of dark hair. The locks about her forehead had blown free and hung loose and wet over her face or were tess ed wildly in the furious wind. AS she pushed them aside with her dripping hands, was struck by her beauty heightened by the enthu- siasr of the moment into briliancy of color and intensity of expression fairly startling.
 Her precarious position had already given me shock. Seizing her arm rather roughly, 1 beg your pardon, said l, but you Will be tossed off here if you are not careful"
 What disenchantlnent was i'll my touch In an instant she had changed from a Wate- sprite into an exceedingly abashed young girl.
 T thank you, madam, but haf no fear, J she said, with the precision of one to whom the English language is strange.
 But I was glad to see that she hugged the rack closer with her knees and seized the slen- der flag staff with one hand, while she tried to gather the stray locks of her flying hair with the other. With the exception of the man at the compass, she had been alone upon the deck My appearance and warning had broken the charm of the situation. She soon slipped down from her perch and vanish ed around the corner Of the wheel-house just as the stewardess appeared with my bowl oi broth.
 Who is she-the girl you met in crossing the deck ?' 1 asked, as 1 received it.
 Il met nobody, ma'am, but the German nurse in the state-room next to your own"
 ''It is not possible" 1 exclaimed. There was an intelligence and grace about this girl which placed her above the rank of nurse maid. Do you mean to say she has the care of that dreadful baby 7" It had kept us awake for two nights.
 'Well m, the ladies do complain" the old stewardess replied gently, ''but the poor little thing can't help it's pains. It had kind of a wastin' sickness when they brought it oboaru. No doubt the motion of the ship do make it worse. But what the mother would do with out wl-hine,' as they call her, a body can't tell Sea capn's wife though she is, she's not fit to raise her head, and this the third day out"
 We had heard through the thin partition of our state room, soothing, grooming voice es- saying to hush the fretful vail of the sick child. This then was the voice of the German nurse ,:'
 'But she can never hav' begun life as a nurse-maid," l protested, as took my last spoonful of lukewarm broth.
 "Well, she do appear different from them we usually carry" admitted the placid old sGewardess, as she rolled away with the empty bowl
 1 thought SO, indeed, as at that moment one of these nurses engaged for the passage, y crossed the swaying deck,-a novel borne os- tentatiously in her hand, a series of faint ap- pealing shrieks issuing from her lips and ad- dressed to the third mate stationed before the compass her young charge, in the meantime, sprawling crabl like and forgotten at her feet. The German nurse was certainly not of this order.
 Before many days had made the acquain- tance of the Jerninghans, to whom the sick baby belonged. They had been spending some months upon the Continent-for Captain Jcr- ningham had left the sea-and were now re. turning to New York where they had taken a house in the same street and close by some friends of my own, 1 soon found out. Mrs. birmingham spoke at once of her German nurse whom had watched with increasing interest, quietly busying herself about the sick child and only occasionally flying to the deck for a breath of fresh air, and then at the hour when it was deserted by the passengers.
 s- Do you happen to know of anybody about to return to the Continent-some nice family ? ask on account of Fraulein Koner, who has the care of the baby. She desires to go back at once. She has only crossed for sight of the ocean and one glimpse of America"
 "A remarkable curiosity, for one in her pe- sition,'' 1 said snobbshly.
 ''Ruts Elsa iS no ordinary nurse maid. '" Mrs birmingham replied quickly. ''We became acquainted with the family last winter, in Gottinggen, where my husband was laid up with broken ankle. Her father holds one of the minor professorships In the university. We had some German lessons from his step-son, a fine young fellow whom we all admire. h. deed, we enjoyed the whole family immensely, and finally brought Fraulein off in charge of my baby. She was crazy to see the ocean and that big America, as she calls it, and they are poor. of course All those German prOfes- sors are, you know. But 1 have promised to send her back immediately, and by safe hands. There is always somebody going; only, of course. am particular as to the person. She would do excelently well as companion to an invalid lady. Her English is good her French even better; and Doctor Carew, who has spent years in Germany, assures me that her German is of the purest quality"
 Doctor Carew?"
 "Yes, the surgeon aboard. 1 have had him once or twice for the baby"
 So our young English doctor, whose name had never chanced to hear before, had made Frauleins acquaintance. It occurred to me that I had seen him playing the part of moon to her-revolving around and at a little dis tance-that very afternoon. Now, I did not thoroughly like our young ship surgeon. He oxub not Nf a foy, i'm anH oir pH full of boasting concerning rich brother -in- law down in Connecticut, whose place he averred to be the finest in the country. We were all rather tired of the surgeon, and es- pecially of the brother-in-law, who had been brought forward upon every possible occasion. Perhaps it was this prejudice which rendered the reference to Fraulein in connection with the surgeon dlsagreeable one.
 I might have forgotten it. hnt that came upon them together the same evening. l was scurrying across the deck at odd and uncom- fortable angles, making my way toward the wheel-heuse, when discovered my favorite corner to be occupied by two absorbed figures. 1 veered to the other side. The golden bowl of the sun was, broken and gone but a flood of glory still poured over the sea and sky, and by the waning light had no difficulty in rec ognizing Elsa and Doctor Carew. She was perched upon the rack as usual, striving with both hands to hold in place the light skirts which the rampant wind would convert into into balleon,-too thoroughly engaged in these efforts, and an animated conversation full of 'ichs" and ''achs," to notice my cratic approach. Doctor Carew, leaning against the guard, cool, taut-rigged in his clese-buttoned coat and regulation cap, was less oblivious. There was an instantaneous change in his lounging, easy attitude. He came to his feet. and, after moment, resumed his apparently interrupted promenade. The first turn broughthim to my side.
 Fraulein, in the meantime, had slipped from her pinnacle of danger and gone below, and the other passengers were beginning to struggle up the companion
 That's nice little body, that German girl, {" he remarked carelessly, knocking the ash from his cigar, and hoping the smoke did not of- fend.
 As it was being borne in the opposite direc- at the rate of sixty miles an hour, replied that 1t did not, and that Fraulein Kener was 8 very charming and estmable young woman.
 "1 always make point of speaking to her, it happen to be on deck when she runs up with that timid air (perhaps you have observed h). make point, really, ,Iof noticing her. |"