The Opelousas courier., 1886-02-13

all been, and yet how irrevocable! How
sorely she missed his kindness, his pres
ence, theright to think of him as belong.
ing to herl how bleak and barren the
world seemed without him! Life was
ended for her; that is, all that made life
worth living had left her; nothing sig
nified after that; she could think of moth,
ing that she could substitute for his love
nothing in all the world could make
amends to her for all she had squandered,
and she had a doubt if heaven would be
heaven without him. In the distraction
of her thoughts she had walked on till
she wa tired, and now she turned back
into the Altmarkt. How the scene had
changed! the.people, the shops, the car
riages, were still there, to be sure, and
the figure of Germania in the centre of
the square still seemed to soar into the
| violet heavens. 1t was all another world
by gaslight; such necromancy had been
wrought that Violet could not tell which
direction to take toward home; so many
cross lights puzzled and blinded her.
Everybody was fastening homeward /;
everybody had some one waiting and
watching for his approach, some one
thinking of him. Only she was forlorn
and alone and desolate. She forgot that
"No 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 Dresden;
she laughs at the idea; but at that time it
was quite a different story. The Alt
markt, as everybody knows, is a square
shut in with shops, with two streets
leading out of it from each of its four
corners, so to speak. In a frenzy of fear
Violet choose one of these streets; if it
were the Schlosstrasse through which she
had come to the Altmarkt, she knew it
would presently bring her in view of the
thoroughfarc leading into the Schloss-
platz, where the gilded groups on the
stairway of Bruhl's Terrace would show
her that she was all right for home.
That was the only route she knew, but
after walking some distance, the street
ended against a dark and forbidding
building; then she retracted her weary
steps and hurried in the opposite direc--
ton, into Wildrufferstrasse, and as this
opens upon the Portplatz, she soon saw
that she was wrong again; always she re-
turned to the Altmarkt, feeling that this
was her only guide and safety, as the
street which had brought her there slust
still lead out of it, unless some enchant-
ment has been at work.
In her haste and excitement she ex-
plored one street after another without
hitting upon the right one, and, in fact,
following several of them more than oncs
before recognizing her mistake. If it
had been daylight, she felt that all would
be well, the adventure would have been
delightful: but here, with the clocks strik-
ing eight in the darkness, made more per-
picking by the numberless lights, without
a German word in her vocabulary, it was
anything but comfortable. Desperate at
length, when the Schlosstrasse really
seemed to vanish out of existence, she &C
costed a woman and asked her way in
English. The woman smiled, and shook
her head. It was of no use asking the
way; nobody understood her. She was
hungry and cold and faint. 1t seemed to
her that she had been hunting for the
Schlosstrasse for hours, and might con-
tinue in that occupation all night if no
one came to her aid. There was the
droschkas, to be sure, drawn up in long
lines, waiting for passengers who never
seemed to arrive, the drivers wrapped in
their blankets, smoking II sleeping con-
tentedly; but she dared not takesone,
even if she could have made the driver
understand where she wished to go. At
that time she did not know that a Dres-
den droschka is as safe as ones roof-tree.
At last she paused in her mad and dis
pairing haste to beg help Of a gentleman
with his wife upon his arm. They an
swered her in broad German, and she re-
piedin ELUSIVE English. It seemed to.
her that the woman began to regard her
with suspicion, to question if she were a
beggar, or what. The. man opened his
purse. Violet shook her head, and the
tears sprang into her eyes. II have lost
my way" she persisted. IF I could find
the Terrace, / should be all right. /.
know the way well from there" While
she spoke, somebody else stopped and
listened, arrested by her voice.
eVioletl violetm somebody said, close
at her elbow and Violet answered:
nOh, john John is it you2.
ssYes, it 10 /. IL found ! couldn't live
without you.' And Violet was in his
arms, safe and happy and the German
gentleman and his wife smiled at each
other and at Violet, who no longer saw
anybody in the crowded square but John
Dabney.-Hdrper'8 Bazaar.
Winter Euessimg Amusement.
A list of amusing f%orfeits, which will.