The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-12-03

| GuiGI6Q
Kurt rose, and at once began to make
apologies for his unwarrantable intru
sion. The lady waved white hand to
ward him, and babe him be seated
''Say no MORE" she said, in sweet
sad voice. Il expected you"
There was evidently some mistake
here, thought Kurt, but as the mistake
seemed to mean good supper, he was
not unwilling to fall into it. He al
once took seat at the table, and the
lady took hers opposite him.
She was certainly very beautiful, he
thought, as he looked again at her over
the trimming wine-cup. The wine, too,
was excellent; so was the whole repast
at which the lady waited upon him
with her own fair hands-the only pc
culiarity about it being that neither bread
nor salt was to be found upon the table,
but Kurt Won Stain was too much of a
gentleman to notice the omission, though
he certainly enjoyed his supper the less
by reason of their absence.
At length the young man ventured to
ask one or two questions of his kindly
hostess. MAY inquire" he said, 'are
you, fair lady, the daughter of this
| house?"
eyes" was the answer, given, as it
seemed, sadly and low.
SAnd your parents?
'They are there" said the lady, point
ing to the pictures on the walls.
F'Do you mean to say that you live in
this house alone?" asked Won Stein.
"Alone," returned the lady. 81 am
the last of my race"
Who shall say how it came about?
The lady was beautiful, the man was
Young. In such cases love is sometimes
found to be plant that does not take
long in growing. Moreover, Won Stein,
though noble, was poor, and the lady
the last of her race, the heiress of an
ancient lineage. Possibly the notion of
the inheritance the lonely girl might
bring with her had some partin the sud
den passion which filled the young mans
heart Who can tell?
1t was not long before he found him.
self kneelng at her feet and offering the
beautiful maiden all that he had to offer
his devotion and his life.
The lady listened silently and with
bowed head to his ardent pleading.
Then she said, looking up, but away
from him, and speaking absently: 81
have heard those words before"
"But never from Ii ps so true, so hon
est, so disinterested, said the young man,
warmly, forgetting in his fascination for
the beautiful lady how he had certain
ly taken her inheritance into account in
the first place.
The lady sighed and was silent.
III 7 TO
wishes we must be married at once"
cat once!" cried Won Stein, perhaps
little startled. Yet what lover ever
found the time between betrothal and
marriage too short! Il am ready" he
said, CALAMITY, "and impatient"
The lady smiled, moved softly away
to an old worm-eaten chest which was
set against the wall, took from it two
rings, and white veil and crown of
myrtle, which she laid upon her dark
flowing hair. Her dress was white.
Come" she said to her lover, and led
the way
A little bewildered, after the fashion
of bridegrooms in general, and scarcely
knowing whether to be happy or
alarmed, the young man followed his
bride through, as it seemed to him,
miles of dimly-lighted vaulted passages,
where the damp was trickling down the
walls, and where unthOught-of steps
up and down, were ready at every
moment to trip up the unwary passer.
The lady, however, seemed to be well
acquainted with every turn and twist of
the place, and giving her hand to her
lover, she led him on step by step, until
at length they reached vaulted cham
Der, which they had no sooner entered
than great iron door shut heavily be-
hind them, with sound that echoed
through every arch of the dimly lighted
building.
1t was the chapel
'tYour baud Is cold, my love-" said
the young man, tenderly, to his bride.
'No matter yours has warmth and
life enough for both," returned the
lady.
Yet the life seemed actually to ebb
from the young mans heart as he OBJ
served the stone figure of Bishop,
which was scultured on a grave-stone
in the center of the chapel, gradually
rise from its recumbent position and
walk up the steps of the altar.
The eyes of the Bishop famed like
glow-worms, the candles upon the altar
lighted of themselves, and the tones of
the organ rolled solemly through that
vaulted building.
kurt Won Stein, wilt thou take the
Lady of Windeck for thy lawful wife, "
said the Bishop. in a low, sepulchral
tone, which sounded as though not he,
but some muffled voice a dozen yards
away, we're speaking.
AT this moment the whole horror OF
the scene seemed to break upon the
young man. Around him, slowly rising
from their graves, he saw the etrouded
forms and feshless faces of the dead
who came as witnesses to the ghostly
marriage. Even the face of his bride,
as his fascinated eyes fixed upon it,
wore the livid hue of death. He turned
in an agony to fly from the horrible,
scence, tried to snatch his hand from the
cold, hard grip of the phantom lady,
fell, as he believed, senseless upon the
chapel foor-and awake to find himself,
at dawn of day, lying at his full length
on the mOss-grown stone where he had
sat to rest the night before, ut the castle
door, and his horse intent upon an early
meal on the rank heritage Of the grass
grown court.
When he told his tale in the village
and at the neighboring castles, 40 one
in the least doubted that he bad almost,
H not quite, laid the unquiet spirit of
the Lady Of Windeck.
The greatest trouble with profension-
al bill clubs IS TO find 4 pitcher tha /