, 1886-07-02

NO" said the doctor; Railways give Il
kiss for a blow"
But for all that, l couldn't help being
a little distant to him afterward, when
ever | remembered the yelled lady at
Heidelberg castle. He used to call me
Lady April" / was so innocent in my
moods. don't know how it happened,
but after this, wherever we went, Mr..
Finch was sure to be there before us, o r
tofollow later. The doctor called him
my shadow, and Ladislaw said he
thought my shadow was the only thing
about me which the doctor disliked. But,
for my part, Twas growing rather tired of
MIR. Finch and his everlasting prating
about his medieval art. and color, and
what not; and l couldn't go to a picture
gallery unless he attached himself, and
explained the pictures loud enough for
all creation to overhear, while | was
anxious they should suppose that l
had been familiar with the master
pieces all my days, and was only looking
at them out of a sincere appreciation of
the beautiful. I'm afraid / liked better
the doctors method of going through a
picture gallery in ten minutes, and the
scientific air with which he regarded
Rembrandt's school of Anatonomy" in
Amsterdam for two minutes, and re-
marked, patronizing, that "the arm and
hand were well laid OPEN" as if Rem
brandt was a pupil in the dissecting-
room. But Mrs. Adams said, Il ought
to be thankful for such an instructor in
art, and that probably NJ. Finch was a
nobleman travelling incognito."
"He lives in a castle in the air, l
fancy l said.
But she would go on encouraging his
attentions, and he would go on follow
ing us hither and thither. Well, we
were in Germany at Christmas-time,
and we had a Christmas tree all to our
selves. The doctor and l went out t.
select it, and it seemed as if the Black
Forest had walked into the market
places. 1t took a good while to find the
right one. and we went out day after day,
till Ladislaw said it looked as if We were
waiting for one to grow. However, we
had it planted in our parlor, and such
lovely things we coaxed into blossom
upon IL. 1t was the most wonderful
tree in the world, when it was fairly in
bloom; hung with cut papers hat re-
sembled fine gold chains, dripping with
n delicate dew of liver, dropping golden
pine cones, grow in fairyland, and sill
yer acorns and W.s, bud'.-g with
real roses and lilies, migrNT-te and
Parma ~violets, blossoming into gorgeous
~cornucopias of gorgeous sweetmeats, and
lighted by a hundred tapers. The doc
tor took a keen pleasure in it, as if we
were two children, enJoycu IL all of
tUtnse, as If it were a dream-a poem;
but the vision of the yelled lady would
rise up anon. and seem to ask if l hao
forgotten her. / had not forgotten her,
although at times she had seemed like
the baseless fabric of a dream. The doc
tor and l were e~xtinguishing 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 a little flower that Christ
mas trees sometimes bear, which you
have overlooked. The reason / was SO
long in selecting the tree was because l
wanted one that wa sure to bear this
kind of blossom" and he held in his
palm a tiny ring box in which q circlet
of pearls cleaned. l put out my hand;
just then the yelled lady seemed to
sweep between us, her long veil almost
obscuring the doctors face. "Sl.all l
put it upon your finger, mein Leibling,
for better or worse y he was asking.
l withdraw my hand. u did not I'M
derstand," l stammered; Il do not wear
rings And he blew out the last candle
as l left the room.
The doctor was preparing to leave us
at this time, having only agreed to
spend six months with Ladislaw, who
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 n hundred mellow tongues; then
we opened the balcony doors, and lis
tened to the weird music and the voices
in the street calling a Happy New
Year" from far and near; and presently
some one stopped beneath us, and sang an
Abendlied sweet as the murmuring of n
little brook among the grasses, tender as
n lullaby.
"A happy New Year, Mr.. Finch l
cried. "Come up and say good-morn-
ing
Then as l leaned over the Christmas
tree to blow out n candle that had
burned down to the evergreen, and was
making a rich, pungent odor in the room
the lace shawl / had thrown over my
head caught in the flame of another can
die, and in al instant l seemed to be
standing in the center of a flame. l
never knew exactly what happened.
/ seemed to remember seeing the doctors
face through that red mist, and perhaps
Mr.. Finch's, l cannot be sure, and then
darkness. When | came to myself /
was in bed, and the little dark doctor
was feeling my pulse; and I 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 | wa1 dearer to him than
even in my beauty; how no flame was
80 strong as his love, or could burn it to
ashes.
And the yelled lady?n l asked, irrele-
vanity.
"The- yelled ladyi' he repeated.
"Yes. Who was she? In the evening
at Heidelberg castle. You must remem-
Der. Don't try to deceive me-"
~Yes"-and a 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