San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-14

spots not far from here where no one
goes for sometimes many months"
"Well, I'll be very careful Christin-
chem" | rejoined laughing, and in truth
not a little amused at the care my friends
| took of me. But thou must remember
that no one in Germany, except Herr
Birchmore and his daughter and thyself,
knows that any such diamonds as these
are in existence-much less that they are
in my pocket"
Christina raised her finger to her lips,
as if to caution me to speak lower.
There is at least one other who knows
the man Slurky she said.
"Well, perhaps he may" / replied
somewhat struck by her observation;
"and as | see thou hast taken dislike
to the fellow will confide to thee that
consider him an atrocious brute. But,
brute though he is, there's no harm in
him of that kind. He is an old servant
of Herr Birchmore, | believe, and would
of course be dismissed at once if there
were anything serious against him."
Naturally" was all Christmas an
swer; she made no pretense of arguing
the point with me. "Adieu, honored
sirT she said at the door. But, with her
hand upon the latch, she paused, turned
around and added, rather confusedly.
"Will Herr Gainsborough go on any ex-
petition with his friends today"
why, hardly think so, Christina.
But tomorrow, perhaps" she persist
ed, lifting her blue eyes to mine again
perhaps" admitted with smile.
''Then-if he can trust me-would
the Herr mind leaving the diamonds
with me until he comes back again"
NAY, Christinchen, cannot give
them up, even to thee, and although
trust thee as much as thy brother or my
self. But thou mightst lose them, and
if they are to be lost at all, | would
rather the responsibility should be mine
Besides" continued, showing my re-
volver, 81 go always with this. But
thank thee all the same, Christinchen
and would like to do mething-to"-
lstepped toward her.. the fact is, |
suppose | meant to kiss her. But her
expression changed in manner not en-
couraging to such an advances; she
looked both grave and hurt and paused
81 was going to say-if thou wouldst
like to see the diamonds, it would give
me great pleasure to show them to thee.
Many thanks, honored sir; would
rather not" And, with formal cour
tesy, the fair haired little maid opened
the door and disappeared, leaving me
feeling rather foolish.
The pretty peasant has pride of her
own" said to myself as | opened my
trunk and got out my writing materials.
She's actually offended because
wouldn't constitute her guardian of
thirty thousand pounds worth of dia-
monds. Good gracious! why that father
of hers, if know anything of faces.
would cut all our threats for as many
! groschen. But what an unmistakable
scamp my friend Slurk must be to have
aroused the suspicious of such an limo
cent, unsophisticated little creature
as Christinchen! By Jove, though
anybody might be suspicious of a
leer and SLOUGH like his! What if
there should be anything in it? Just
suppose such thing for a moment, Ell?
It's impossible, to be sure; but the i'm
| possible does sometimes happen. How
| on earth did Birchmore ever happen to
have such a fellow about him? l tell
you I've always had notion that he
may be at the bottom of all this mystery
that Birchmore and Kate are so much
exercised by. Now, what if he-but
| pshawi % h.t.,. ar.s r-.. .a
There's one thing I'm resolved to do,
however," continued to myself, as !
settled down with the paper. pens and
ink at. the table in the, window. LII
buttonhole Birchmore this very after,
noon, and get ont of him everything he
knows about his precious valet. 1t can
do no harm to have the matter cleared
| up. The thing is absurd, of course. still
the situation out here is rather lonely,
and with two such lovely neighbors as
| Papa Rudolph and Slurk-par Mobile
fratrum-it may be well to be on the
safe side. Yes, that shall be cleared up
today"
| Having arrived at this sapient de
termination, | set to work writing my
letters, and scrubbed away diligently
for an hour or two. At length. as was
looking vacantly up from my paper, at
loss for something interesting to set
down upon it, my eyes happened to rest
upon the pane of my open window.
Like nearly all German windows. il
opened inward on hinges, instead OF
running up and down in grooves, The
pane on my left, therefore, having the
dark room as a background, acted as a
mirror of the sunlit landscape outside on
the right, showing me a portion thereof