, 1886-07-02

The wooden Wages Of our infancy,
And how the doctor scowlcd when |
vested my substance on some vivid
green pottery OF ar old pattern.
What's the USE buying such trash.s'
he asked.
"Ah. the aesthetic taste lacking. You
call this waste: but you don't under
stand the art of economy. This green
dish. that looks as if il were deformed.
and THAT cost me exactly > cents, will
look so foreign and fantastic in the
garish light-of America that my friends
will think l have brought them a
bonanza. Besides. I like to spend with
ont counting the cost; ! hate to count
my money. | hate poverty or a genteel
su~ficiency.-
an other words, you love luxury"
"IIave ! eve confided my love to youi
/ love plenty, l confess. l should die of
economy; it is worse than the govt for
cramping one"
"You must marry a millionaire" said
Mrs. Adams.
First catch your hare" suggested
Ladislaw.
There's the Herr Doctor l heard
Mrs. Adams say in an aside to Ladislaw.
"But he's not a millionaire, nor to be
caught with chaff."
/ wandered il the doctors ears were
as keen as mine; but his face betrayed
nothing.
/ think it was in Heidelberg that we
met again our friend Of the steamship,
Mr.. Finch. We had climbed to the
tSclhoss, and found him seated in a loop.
hole, so to speak, behind its curtain Of
ivy. s%ketching the scene.
"Mr. Finch n I cried.
"Yes." said the doctor; "a bird in the
haud.n
"He.looks more like one in tho bush
just now" as he hoped down from his
perch to greet us with effusion.
"Welcome to my studio" he said; ~
am Just sketching the valley of the
Neckar in passing"
"What a lovely old ruin this is :" said
Lndislaw.
81 like to think of the lords and ladies
who made love on that old balcony in
the sweet June weather." Mr.. Finch re.
piled. ~or when the moonlight overlap
the valley, who are only n handful OF
dust today"
~ suppose their ghosts walk theref"
asked Ladislaw.
Certainly. What's an old ruin with.
ont n ghost z"
"Oh | wish I could see one - I cried.
The doctor "pshawed.r "You base
materialist! you do not deserve the
vision .
"If you will come up here with me
some starlight night" ~vouchsafed Mr..
Finch, 1--WE may be able to unearth one.n
"And Mrs. Adams will come too" said
Ladislaws
1t was Nj. Finch who "pshawed" this
time h,uc. beneath. bis breath.
Certainly put in the doctor. Mrs.
Adams is as anxious to see n ghost as
yourself. You should extend to her all
the advantages of foreign ~travel.r
But. for all that. Mrs. Adams did not
see one. 1 met Mr.. Finch on the stair.
case the following evening, and we
slipped out of the hotel and up to the
Schloss, while the others supposed l was
writing letters in the retirement of my
room. Was it very wrong? l dare say
Mr., Fipcls thought so. We wandered up
ana aboutthe old place with its haunted
shadows. startling bats and owls and
all sorts of night-moths from the tapestry
of ivy. while he repeated ghostly verses,
and whispered a good many ghostly
nothings. And | had my reward. For
while we rested in a recess that looked
out upon the dark sky and river, the
moon shot ont n beam between the
clouds, and revealed the shadows of two
figures on the balcony.
There. l told you you should see a
ghost. You are not faint? 1t is really
only two lovers" said Mr.. Finch.
Wa faint? Judge whether the sen
satiou that possessed me was fear OF
pain. l had recognized one of the shad-
ows as that of the Herr Doctor As
they stirred and walked slowly out of
sight. | saw the lady was yelled and
leaning c%onfidingly on the doctors arm.
But what business was that of mine;
What was the doctor to me, OF | to the
DOCTOR Plainly, nothing.
81 think we had better go down."
| said, presently to Mr.. Finch.
"rhose shadows That passed., he said,
ARE a noble lady who eloped one dark
night with her physician. They have
been dust these hundred years, but as
punishment ARE doomed to retrace their
steps every night. Don't you want to
stay till we see the old noble, her father,
with all his retainers and men at arms,
stalk in ghostly pursuit ?"
Smother night" l answered, frivol-
ously. IF Mrs. Adams finds | am not
in my room
What will she do p
"Send the Herr Doctor after me-
"And the Herr Doctor is not a favorite.r
complacently, as we went slowly down
the steep.
/ lay awake till late that night. won.
dering who the yelled lady might be.
The doctor looked very innocent next
morning, and so did II hope.
"Why do you look at me in that tone
of voice. he asked, when my eyes had
been Involuntary fixed upon him for
some time, trying to unravel the mys-
terry.
Il was looking into vacancy 1 an
swered briefly.
Speaking of vacancy, have you seen
Mr.. Finch to-day p
MIR. Finch is a highly aesthetic nature"
l began.
And you love the esthetic-birds of a
feather!7
. "By-the-bye,T i v%entureI, "why didn't
you come up and play cards with us last
evening"
"Did you wait for me7' he asked, re-
garding me gravely.
Il can't say that | did. But | hate to
play with dummy"
"And did you play with dummy
as this the New England catechism,
Herr Doctorf"