The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-11-16

co give her Id token Of her troth- plight.
And in year little baby lay within
her arms, and looked into her eyes, and
taught her to love its father, who had
been 80 tender and so kind to her, and
she was the Baroness Claussen and wife
and mother, and not the peasant girl
Gretchen grieving fer her lover any more
And just at this time Carl Steyer, with
his two-years pay in his pocket and some
hard-won possessions besides, stepped
from the ships deck upon dry land and
hurried as best he might toward Hesse
Darmstadt to find Gretchen That she
might be dead was fear that crossed his
mind, but that she might be married
never occurred to him. He had sent her
information of his intentions; he had
toiled, drenched by rain, beaten by wind,
pelted by hail, in danger Of shipwreck and
assailed by the fever laden breezes Of
southern lands to win the little pittance
which seemed 80 great sum to him. He
boated it and footed It homeward in an
ecstacy of yearning love, and the poor
mermaid who had followed the vessel
over the ocean, waited for it at foreign
ports and followed it back again, made
her way along the Rhine, sobbing and
signing, for her sailor had left the sea and
was going back to his lady love, and she
was about to lose him.
The barons castle hung over the Rhine,
and the nursery wherein the baroness
watched over her baby boy looked out
upon the water. 1t was under this win
dow that the mermaid stopped, bemoan-
ing herself, her fiossy hair all tangled her
eyelids heavy, her Lutte unstrung and her
looking-glass lost And Carl hurried
down to the cottage where Gretehen's
grandmother dwelt, and rushed in and
cried, for he was 80 brown and so long
bearded that they did not know him:
al am Carl Steyer, come back to marry
my dear Gretchen Wernarl Tell me
where to find her"
But the old grandamo answered:
"You can't be Carl, for he is drowned
and has had masses said for him; but even
If you were you have no business to call
the Baroness Won Claussen your Gretchen.
1t is piece of impertinence not to be par
doned, should the baron hear you"
"The baronessl" faltered Carl. "How.
the baronessp"
"Ay," said the old grandame. "She
married the Baron Won Claussen genera
tons ago, and has as fine young baron
as any one ever set eyes on. Would you
have had her wait for a ship-boy to come
back and make her beggarS even If you
were not a ghost, which doubt greatly"
where is sheS" gasped Carl. "Pll be-
lieve no one but her"
"She is where she ought to beat the
CASTLE" said the old women. "But you'd
be mad to go there"
Perhaps Carl was mad for he went. He
put aside porter and maid and page, and
made his way to the room where Gretchen
sat singing to her babe; and she, seeing
him forgot everything else, and rushed
to meet him, and he took her in his arms
and they wept together. But soon he put
her off, and asked her sternly how 1t was
that she had deceived him.
81 came back to win my BRIDE" he said
"Oh, Gretchen, could you not keep faith
with me for two little years?"
II thought you dead" she said, then
suddenly great horror came upon her.
"Why did you come?' she cried. ~ am
wife. | have learned to love my husband,
my childs father. Now there will be
only you again. OH cruel to come
cruel" and amid these words, though
even while she spoke them, she chung TO
Carl's shoulder.
They heard clatter of horses hoofs,
and voice sbelow bidding the servants
say if it were true that Carl Steyer really
we're closeted with their mistress-the
baron's voice, and raised in angry tones.
"See" cried Gretchen. "See! how cruel
you arel He'is jealous; he will hate mel
| must not love you, for am a wife. !
cannot love him, for he keeps me from
you. Even my babe will scorn me when
they tell him my story. oh, cruel to come
back and ask me, and bring me such
shame and sorrowW
Cruel" cried Carl "Ah, she calls me
cruel; but see, Gretchen, am kinder than
you have been to me- The baron shall
not find me here. Tell him Carl Steyer's
ghost came to you. You will speak the
truth, for | shall be dead when you utter
the words. Adieul Forget me, since that
will make you happy. Adieu"
And as he spoke he pushed the lattice
open, and jumped from the window into
the foaming waters of the Rhine.
The jealous baron rushed in the mo
ment after with his sword drawn, blu,
found his wife alone beside her baby'i
cradle-alone, muttering and moaning o.
the sea and Of Carl Steyer, as she NUT
tered and moaned through all her wear,
life-a mad woman from that hour, de
spite all that could be done by cunning
| icSChco, hCdSiy w w thOii bSo
with the baron's gold,
But as for Carl Steyer he did not drown
! The mermaid caught him in her arms al
he sank beneath the waters and bore hin
away to her caves of coral and pearl
where, with her songs and her embraces
she taught him to forget inconstan
Gretchen, the tolls OF the sea, the pleas
ures of the land, his own soul, and every
thing but her.
So now, though the castle of the Barol
Won Claussen Is a ruin, and all the baron
of that name dead long ago, the peasant
often see a fair, weeping phantom at 1t
empty windows, and see, In the strean
below another fair as maiden of the SCI
can be, who bears in her white arms tn
most beautiful Of mankind, lulled into
mystic sleep by the magic OF her song
And they say that 1t is the mermaid tina
followed Carl Steyer across the ocean
and now comes to taunt and triumph owe
the sad phantom of Gretchen Baroness
Won Claussen. New York Daily News.
To Find a Sweetheart.
The following directions are given L