News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-01-28
IN THE ALTMARKT,
BY MARY n. PREsCo TT.

| Violet had lost both her situation an6
her lover when Mrs. Van Buren, called
I've just had letter from nv old
TREND Frau Schilling, in Dresden; j. she
sald. She wants me to find her com.
panion In America who can sing a little.
Gould anything be more fortunate? ]
propose to send you, Violet
You are very kind to think of me.
But in order to 90 1 shall be OBLIGED to
use all the money have put aside for a
rainy day.
But it is not exactly fair weather
! now, is it9 Besides, it will be capital
we'll invested. You will see the world,
you will learn German, and you will
forget Mr.. Dabney, and perhaps marry
German baron"
Il don't want to marry a German
baron, but l think l will 90, thank
you"
And the next outward bound steamer
carried her to Hamburg. Not knowing
syllable Of the German tongue, she
engaged a young German woman who
was returning home to travel with her
to Dresden, where Frau Schillinp met
her. She found her situation no sine
cure, to be sure. Frau Schilling's Eng
hsh was so broken as to be almost be-
yOnd repair. Once or twice Violet went
out with her to afternoon tea, where
she sat like statue, trying with all her
might to grasp the thread of the con-
VeFsatIOn in vain; the loneliness of a
IN a foreign land, unable to /
speak the language, possa~scI her- II |
sometimes seemed to her that she should I
die unless she could find somebody to |
" ch n rnVllI ppha = H.,
and trials in good terse English. Frau |
Schilling lived in the eastern part of the |
city, in a street leading out OF Durer-
strasse. Although it was remote from
the central market-places and the shops,
and from almost everything, it made up
for this inconvenience in being cheap;
but Frau Schilling convinced everybody
that she lived there for the pure air
and the view. Of course the tramway
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 afternoon, after she had been
a fortnight in the city, it occurred to her
to walk out alone, and make acquaintance
with the place. 1t was quite late in the
day, however, before she got started,
and the KY was already a deep saffron
color in the west She remembered
that Frau Schilling had conducted her |
down Durerstrasse, past Holbeinplatz, |
through the narrow Zeigestrasse, paus-
ing to look at the old Saxon monument |
at the corner of the Botanical Garden, |
where Death, with his hour glass, stands |
like a shadow behind the warrior. The |
stream of passers scarcely observed her
as she loitered upon the Terrace of |
Bruhl, and stopped to count the spires |
in the Neustadt; band was playing in |
the BelvedeIe, some homesick strain |
that pursued her as she went on toward
the gilded groups of statuary that adorn
the flight of steps giving upon the
Schlossplatz.
The sunset lightwas upon everything;
steamer was towing a fleet of barges
up the river; the hills across the Elbe
looked blue and enchanting in the dis
tance; but it all made her feel more
alone and bereft 1t was a fair, a great
world; but what did it signify to her
now that John Dabney had forgotten
herr She crossed the Platz and went !
slowly up Schlossstrasse and into the
Altmarkt; it was the longest way
round, but it was the only way she |
knew. She ventured into one or two |
shops, and struggled to make herself !
understood, vainly; she stopped with |
the crowd to gaze in at the windows of |
a print-shop at some effort of the |
modern masters, and wondered if it was |
wrong to think them quite as satisfac-
tory as some of the masterpieces Frau
Schilling had pointed out to her in the
Royal Gallery; the Altmarkt was
thronged with people; carriages hast
ened, who knows where; every one
seemed gay and cheerful; she wished
with all her heart that she knew few
of these pretty women, these kindly
matronsS she longed to hear somebody
speak her name over her shoulder, TO
happen suddenly upon some familiar
face. Once she passed two people
speaking English, and she turned back
and made believe an interest in the en-
broideries in a neighboring window
that she might listen TO the delicious
sounds.
81 was so surprised to see him." the
lady was saying. "IIe said he had come
to Dresden on important business; |
can't think what it is.
Perhaps he will tell you" laughed
her companion.
'Oh, no; nothing of the kind; he
was never sweet upon me; we are first
cousins"
''And cousins are dangerous things.
When did he leave New York 2"
New York! Violets heart bounded;
he 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 important business" might
be; but at the thought Of John her
''old sorrow walked and cried.o 1t was
such mere trile that had separated
them, ''the little rift within the lutte"
How foolish it had been, and vet how
How sorely she missed his
kindness, his presence, the right to
think of him as belonging to her 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 signifed after
that; she coul think Of nothing that
she could substitute for his love: moth,
in o in all the orId cOuI. mol, n o,,ondc