Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1892-09-20

IL have heard 1t said that travelling
makes people acquainted with" she
paused and looked down thoughtfully
at her bare feet. Presently she lifted
her blue eyes straight to mine and asked
Herr Gainsborough has his diamonds
with him.?
Undoubtedly They are never away
from me-
"ln going about this place the Herr
should be cautious, Some Of these hills
and valleys are very lonely. There are
spots not far from here where no one
goes for sometimes many months.
"Well. III be very careful Christin-
chem rejoined laughing, and in truth
not 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 pocketr
Christina raised her finger TO her lips
as If to canton me 10 speak lower.
There is at least one other who knows
the man Slurkr she said.
well perhaps he may / replied,
somewhat struck by her observations
~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, l 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
sirl~ 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 todayg"
why, / hardly think so, Christina"
But tomorrow, perhapsy" she persist
ed. lifting her blue eyes to mine again
Perhaps" / admitted with a 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 Bat 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-
volYer, II go always with this But
thank thee all the same, Christinchen.
and would like to dosomething-to"-
stepped toward her; the fact is,
suppose meant to kiss her. But her
expression changed in a manner not en-
couraging to such an advance; she
looked both grave and hurt and paused.
II was going to say--if thou wouldst
like to see the diamonds, it would give
me great pleasure 10 show them to thee.
MANY thanks, honored sir; | would
rather not. And, with a formal cour-
tesy, the fair haired little maid opened
the door and disappeared, leaving me
feeling rather foolish
THE pretty peasant has a pride Of hel
own, | said to myself as | opened my
trunk and got out my writing materials
shes actually offended because
wouldn't constitute her guardian OIL
thirty thousand pounds worth Of dia
monds. Good graciousl why that father
Of hers, il know anything Of faces
would cut all our threats for as many
groschen. But what an unmistakabl'
scamp my friend Slurk must be to have
aroused the suspicious Of such an limo
cent, unsophisticated little creatur,
"a as Christinchenl By Jove, though
anybody might be suspicious of
leer and a slouch like hist What 4
there should be anything in it, Jus
suppose such thing for a moment, en-
It's impossible, to be sure; but tho i'm
possible docs sometimes happen How
on earth did Birchmore ever happen Il
have such a fellow about him9 ! tel
you I've always had a notion that h
may be ut the bottom Of all this myster,
that Birchmore and Kate are so mucl
exercised by Now. what If he-bu
pshawl !.
There's one thing I'm resolved TO do
however, | continued to myself. as
settled down with the paper. pens AM
ink at the table in the window at
buttonhole Birchmore this very after
noon. and get out of him everything b
knows about his precious valet II ca
do no harm to have the matter cleare
ND The thing is absurd, Of course. still
the situation out here is rather lonely
and with two such lovely neighbors a
Papa Rudolph and Slurk-par nobil
fratrmn-it may be well to be on III
safe side. Yes. that shall be cleared u
todayr
Having arrived at this sapient d,
termination, / set to work writing m
letters, and scribbied away diligentl
for an hour or two. AT length, as wa
looking vacantly mp from my paper, a
a loss for something interesting TO SC
down upon it. my eyes happened to res
upon the pane Of my open window.
Like nearly al German windows.
opened inward on hinges. instead {
running up and down in grooves Tn
pane on my left. therefore, having IN
dark room as background, acted as
mirror OF the sunlit landscape outside O
the right, showing me portion therec