Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-14

condition. And then proceeded to give her
| an account of my method of life and my rea-
sons for 1t. 1t Is interesting she said but it
is very odd i do not think it half SO odd
| answered, as that you should be here by YOUR
SELF That Is truly an out-of-the-way sort of
| thing she said, but just now am doing out
of-the-way things. If | do not do them now
| shall never have the opportunity again. In two
weeks l shall be married, and then 1 shall go
to Prague, and everything will be by line and
| rule. No more delightful rambes by myself
No more sitting quietly in the woods watch
ing the little birds and hares. No more max
ing a sketch Just where l please no matter
whether the ground be damp or not Il
| wonder that you are allowed TO do these things
now l said. i am not allowed, she answered.
i do them in hours when / am supposed to be
painting flower pieces in an upper room
But when you're married. / said, your hus-
band Will be your companion in such rambles
| Hardly she said. struggling her shoulders;
he Will be forty-seven on the 18th of next
! month, which l believe is July, and he is a
great deal more grizzled than my father who
is past fifty. He is very particular about all
sorts OF things. as suppose he has to be, as he
Is colonel OF infantry. Nobody could disap-
| prove OF my present performances more than
he would could not help calculating, Why,
then do you marry himS She smiled at my
earnestness. oh, that is all arranged she
said, and have nothing to do with it, have
known for more than a wear that I'm In
that have given myself much concern about
| 1t until recently. 1t now occurs to me that il
expect to amuse myself in the way best like I
must lose no time in it, / looked at the girl
with an air OF earnest interest 1t appears to
| me-, said /, that your ways of amusing your-
self are very much like mine That is true.
she said, looking up with animation, they are.
Is it not delightful to be free, to go where You
| like, and do what you please, without any one
! to advise or interfere with your 1t isdelight-
| I'm / for half hn,,r
| talked about these delights and kindred sub
| jects. She was much interested in our castle.
| and urged me to make a sketch of it SO that
she may know what it now looked like. She
had seen it when little girl, but never since,
| and had been afraid to wander very far in this
direction by herself. told her that it would
be far better for her to see the castle with her
| own eyes, and that could conduct her to an
| eminence, not half a mile away, where she
could have an excellent view of it. This plan
| greatly pleased her. but, looking at her watch.
she said that it would be too late for her to 90
that morning, but If / happened to come that
way the next day, and she should be there TO
| finish her sketch, if the weather we're fine. she
would be delighted to have me show her the
emlnence."
II think" interrupted Aunt Martha. ''that
she was very imprudent young woman"
| That may be" he replied, "but YOU must
remember, madam, that up to this time the
young lady had been subject to the most con-
Nentonal Irammels, and that her young nature
had just burst out into temporary freedom and
/ true life. 1t was the Gagged birds fight into
! the bright summer air."
Just the kind of BIRDS" said Aunt Martha
that shouldn't be allowed to fy, at least nm,
TIL they are used to it. But you can go on with
your story" "'''
well, said the young man, .'the next dav
we met took her to the piece of high ground
| had mentioned and she sketched the castle
| After that We met again and again. nearly
every day. This sort OF story tells itself be-
came madly in love with her and am sure she
| liked me very well; at all events was a COM
panion Of her own age and tastes, and such n
| one, she assured me, she had never known be-
| fore. and probably would never know again "
There was some excuse for her." said Aunt
Martha, ''but still she had no right to act in
that way, especially as she was so soon to be
married"
| Il do not think that she reasoned much upon
the subject" said the young man, land / am
| sure 1 did not. We made no plans. Every
day We thought only Of what we were doing or
| saying, end not at all what we had done or
would do. We were very happy.
Zone morning was sitting by Marie In the
very place where had first met her. when we
heard some one rapidly approaching. Look
| ing up saw tall man in an undress military
uniform. Heavens cried Marie, lit is Col.
Kaldhein.'
The situation was one Of which an expec.
tant bridegroom would not be likely 10 ask
many questions. Marie was seated on A low
stone with her drawing block in her lap. She
i was finishing the sketch ON which she was en-
gagged when hrst saw her and was kneeling