Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-02-27
IN THE ALTMARKT.

lover when Mrs Van Buren, called
sTve just had letter from my old friend
Frau Schiiling, in Dresden,' she said ''Shs
wants me to find her companion in Amer
lea who can sing little Could anything
be more fortunate. i propose to send you,
Violet
"You are very Kind 10 think Of me. But
in order to CO. l shall be obliged TO use all
the money / have put aside for rainy
day"
''But 1t is not exactly fair weather now,
is it. Besides, it will Be capital well in
vested You viii see the world, you viii
learn German, and you viii forget Mr. Dab
ney, and perhaps marry q German baron
II don't want to marry German baron.
but think 1 will go, thank YOU
And the next outward-boun German
steamer carried her to Hamburg. Not
knowing syllable of the German tongue,
she engaged young German woman who
was returning home to travel with her 10
Dresden, where Frau Schilling MT her. She
found her situation no sinecure, to be sure.
Frau Schilling's English was 50 broken as
to be almost beyond repair. Once or twice
Violet went out with her to afternoon tea,
where she sat Ike a statue, trying with
all her might to grasp the thread of the
conversation in vain; the loneliness of
a stranger in a foreign land, unable TO
speak the language, possessed her. 1t some
times seemed to her that she should die IN
less she could find somebody TO whom she
could rehearse her thoughts and trials in
good terse English. Frau Schilling lived in
the eastern part OF the city. in street
leading out of Durerstrasse. Although it
was remote from the central uarket-places
and the shops, and from almost everything,
it made up for this Inconvenience in being
cheap, but Frau Schilling convinced every
BODY that she lived there for the pure
air and the view OF course the tram
way ran near, on its way to Blasewitz, but
Frau Schilling and her companion always
walked when they went Quit was so much
healthier Violet had been to the Royal
gallery and the Altmarkt but once, in the
convoy Of Frau Schilling, when one after
noon, after she had been a fortnight in the
city, it occurred TO her walk out alone, and
make acquaintance with the place. 1t was
quite late in the day, however, before she
got started, and tine sky was already deep
saffron color in the west. She remembered
that Frau Schill;ng had conducted her
down Durerstrasse, past Holbeinplatz,
through the narrow little Zeigel-
strasss pausing 10 lool; at the old
Saxon monument at the corner of the botar-
ical garden, where Death, with his hour
glass, stands like a shadow behind the war
rior The stream Of passers scarcely OBJ
served her as she loiteTe1 upon the Terrace
Of Bruhl, and stopped TO count the spires in
the Neustadt; a band was playing in tbs
Be!vedere some honesicl1 strain that pur-
.,,,J Iar Oh want ~, tpx-arl fha oil lffi
groups of statuary that adorn the fight Of
steps giving upon the Schlossplatz-
The sunset light was upon everything; n
steamer was towing feet of barges up the
river: the hills across the Elbe looked blue
and enchanting in the distance; but it all
made her feel more alone and bereft. II was
a fair. great world; but what did it sig
nifty to her now that John Dabney had for
gotten her. She crossed the Plat and went
slowly up Schlosstrasse and into the Alt
markt: it vas tie longest way round, but
il was the only way she knew She ven
tured into one or two shops, and struggled
to make herself understood, vainly; she
stopped with the crowd TO gaze in at the
windows of print-shop at some effort OF
the modern masters, and wondered if
it was wrong to think them quite a.
Frau Schilling had pointed out to her in the
royal gallery; the Aitmerkt was thronge1
with people: carriages hGs-ened, who knows
where; every one seemed gay aud chez ful;
she wished with ali her heart that she knew
a few of these pretty women, these kindly
ma.rons: she longed to hear somebody speak
her name over her shoulder, TO happen sud
denly upon some familiar face. Once she
passed two people speaking English, and she
turned back and made believe an interest in
the embroideries in a neighboring window
that she might listen 10 tie delicious sounds
Il was so surprised to see him, " the lsdy
was saving. He said h. md come to
Dresden on important business; l can't
think what it is.
Perhaps he win tell you" laughed her
companion.
'.Oh no; nothing of Ne kind be was
never sweet upon me: We are first cousins. y
'.And cousins are dangerous things
When did he leave New York;
New York. Violet's heart bounded
here was somebody straight from home.
Perhaps she knew him. At any rate, he
must know John Dabney: and she found
herself wondering what this strangers i'm
portant business might be; but at the
thought of John her ''old sorrow walked and
cried" 1t was such a mere triie that had
separated them. the little rift within the
Lutte How foolish it had all been, and yet
how irrevocabie How soreiy she missed his
kindness, bis presence, the right to think Of
him as belonging g her! how bleak AMI
barren the world seemed without him! Life
was ended for her: that =. ali that made life
worth living had left her: nothing sigHiiiel
after that; she could think OF nothing that
she could substitute for his love: nothing in
all the world could make amends to her for
all she had sduandered. and she had dolb.
if Heaven would BE- Heaven without
him. In the distraction OF her thoughts
she had walked On till she was
tired, and now she turned back into
the Altmarlt How the scene had changed,
the peopie. the shops, the carriages. were
still there, TO b. sure, and the figure OF Ger
mania in the center Of the square stil
seemed to soar into the violet heavens. IL
was all another world by gasliSht: such
necromancy had been wrought that Violet
could not tell which direction Il take to-
ward home; SO many cross lights pulzled
and blinded hers Everybody was fastening
ho,nsward: everybody had some one waiting
for his approach some one thinking Of him
Only she was foriorn and alone and desc
late. She forgot that
.sNo wind could drive her bark astray.
Or change the tide of destiny
OF course it would be impossible for Violet
TO lose herself to-day in D-osien. she laughs
at the idea: but at that time il was quite a
different story The Altmarkt, as every
body knows. is square shut in with shops.
with two streets leading out Of il from each
O. its four corners, so to speak. In frenzy
of fear Violet chose one OF these streets; If it
were the SctloSstraSse through which she
had come 70 the Altnarst, she knew j. would
presently bring her in view of the
thoroughfare leading into the Schloss-
platz. where the giiie-i groups On
the stairway OF BruE.'s terrace
woufi show her that she was all right for
home That WIS the only route She knew,
but after walking some distance tie street
ended against dark and Forbid ng build
ing: then she retracei b Il. weary ss-.ss and
hurried in the opposite direction, into Wild
and IS this opens upon tbs
Pcrtp!atZ, she soon saw that sha was wrong
again. always she rc:ar.lsci TO the Alt,aarkt,
feeling that tkis Was her only guide and
safety. as the stree: winch had brougnt heg
there must stili lead on; Of il. unless soms
enchanEment hal be1n az work
In her haste and excitement she explored
one street after another vi;hoa: biting
upon the right one, Eli, in fact, following
several 81 their more than oaCe before re
cognizing her mistake II it had hem day
light, she felt that all would he well, the
adveutare woiid have beea delightful; but
here, With tire clocks striking eight in tbs
darknesS. ussS0 more perplexing by the
numferlcss iiyilts without . single German
word in her vocabulary. i was anything
but eonfor.abl, sni pleasant Des-
p-rate at ieslgth. shan the ScAlosstrass,