The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-02-09
IN THE ALTMARKT.
BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.

BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.
Violet had lost both her situation and
her, lover when Mrs. Van Buren, called.
'Ive just had a letter from my old
friend Frau Schilling, in Dresden" she
said. "Shc wants me to find her a COM
panior in America who can sing a little.
Could anything be more fortunate? I
propose to send you, Violet"
"You are very kind to think of me.
But in order to go l shall be Obliged to
use all the money l have put aside for u
rainy day."
"But it is not exactly fair weather
now, is it? Besides, it will be capital
we'll invested. You will see the world,
you will learn German, and you will
forget Mr.. Dabncy, and perhaps marry
a German baron"
81 don't want to marry a German
baron, but l think I will go, thank
you
carried her to Hamburg. Not knowing
a syllable of the German tongue, she
engaged a young German woman who
was returning home to travel with her
to Dresden. where Frau Schilling met
her. She found her situation no sine
cure, to be sure. Frau Schilling's Eng
lish 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 a statue, trying with all her
might to grasp the thread of the CON
versation in vain; the loneliness of q
STRANGER in a foreign land, unable to
speak the ldnguage, possessed her. It
sometimes seemed to her that she should
die unless she could find somebody to
whom she could rehearse her thoughts
and trials in good tcrse 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 Blascwitz, but
Frau Schilling and lei companion always
walked whcn 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, md make acquaintance
with the place. 1t was quite late in the
day, however, before she got started,
: and the ~ 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; n band was playing in
the Bclvedere, some homesick strain
that pursued her as she went on toward
a gllded groups of statuary that adorn
h flight OF steps giving upon the
! Schlossplatz.
The sunset lightwas upon everything;
q steamer was towing a fleet of barges
up the river: the hills across the Elbe
looked blue and enchanting in the dis
lance; but it all made her feel more
alone md bereft. 1t was a fair, II great
world; but what did it signify to her
now that John Dabney had forg often
hera 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
b crowd to gaze in at the windows of
q print-shop at ONE 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 a few
of these pretty women, these kindly
matrons; 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.
II was so surprised to see him." the
lady was saying. ''He said he had come
40 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