The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-05-20

1
delicate dew of silver, dropping golden
pine cones, grown in fairyland, and sill
yer acorns and walnuts, budding with
real roses and lilies, mignonette and
Parma violets, poisoning into gorgeous
cornucopias of gorgeous sweetmeats, and
lighted by hundred tapers. The doc
tor took keen pleasure in it, as if we
were two children. enjoyed it all of
course, as if it were dream-a poem;
i but the vision of the yelled lady would
rise up anon, and seem to ask if l had
forgotten her. L had not forgotten her,
although at times she had seemed like
| the baseless fabric of dream. The doc
tor and were extinguishing the tapers,
after Mrs. Adams and Ladislaw had gone
to their rooms, when he stopped hum
ming the Lorelei, and said, turning to
me, "Here is little flower that Christ
mas trees sometimes bear, which YOU
have overlooked. The reason was so
long IN selecting the tree was because
wanted one that was sure to bear this
kind of blossom" and he held in his
palm tiny ring box in which a circlet
of pearls cleaned. 1 put out my hand;
just then the yelled lady seemed to
sweep between us, her long veil almost
| obscuring the doctors face. @Shal 1
put it upon your finger, mein Leibling,
for better or worse 2" he was asking.
I withdraw my hand. Il did not I'M
! derstand, stammered; II do not wear
rings" And he blew out the last candle
as left the room.
The doctor was preparing to leave us
at this time, having only agreed to
1 - L, IL
was now quite restored; but Ladislaw,
knowing nothing of his discontinue,
would have him stay over the New
| Year; and, as the custom is in Germany,
we lighted our Christmas tree again ON
New Years, and talked over other dead
years, and kept each other awake till all
chimes of the old city pealed midnight
with a hundred mellow tongues; then
we opened the balcony doors, and lis
tened to the weird music and the voices
in the street calling Happy New
Year" from far and near; and presently
some one stopped beneath us, and sang an
Abendlied sweet as the murmuring of
little brook among the grasses, tender as
lullaby.
"a happy New Year, Mr.. Finch" 1
cried. Come up and say good-morn-
ing"
Then as 1 leaned over the Christmas
tree to blow out a candle that had
burned down to the evergreen, and was
making rich, pungent odor in the room
the lace shawl l had thrown over my
head caught in the flame of another can
die, and in an instant 1 seemed to be
standing in the center of flame. 1
never knew exactly what happened.
seemed to remember seeing the doctors
face through that red mist, and perhaps
Mr.. Finc.l's, 1 cannot be sure, and then
darkness. When came to myself 1
was in bed, and the little dark doctor
was feeling my pulse; and Just lifted
myself on my elbow to look in the big
mirror opposite, and then buried my
head in the pillow. / can never repeat
all the lovely things the doctor said just
then; how 1 was dearer to him than
even in my beauty; how no flame was
so strong as his love, or could burn it to
ashes.
"And the yelled lady?' asked, irrele-
vanity.
@The yelled lady?" he repeated.
eyes. Who was she? In the evening
at Heidelberg castle. You must remem-
DSIs OOh IIy " OSOcANS Lie
"Yes"-and smile was leaping from
every dimple-"yes; and the yelled lady
of Heidelberg castle was-Mrs. Adams,
your chaperon."
yes" said Mrs. Adams afterward,
CONFESS that you thought very little of |
the woman Who would walk to the |
Schloss with the doctor alone at that |
hour. I had missed you andw went in
pursuit"
And has Mr.. Finch been to ask for
me ?" 1 inquired later. "Did he send me |
the Jacqueminot roses"
'Mr. Finch is not at liberty to inquire |
for you just now, answered Mrs. Adams, |
"and roses are not exactly in his line. |
He has thrown off his disguise"
"And has he turned out to be cuckoo, |
or a nightingale 2"
"He has turned out to be only a jail
bird, my dear. He has been a famous |
forger, that is all."-Mary N. Prescott in
Harper's Bazaar.