San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-10

~ &F~
81 am Miss Birchmore, If you please,
SIR"
Ny route to Italy was rather round
about one Instead of running down to
Marseilles, and so on via Civita Vecchia
to Rome, set off eastward and crossed
Germany, passing through Cologne,
Frankfort-on-the-M Main and Nuremberg
thence l proceeded to Leipsic, and at
length brought up in Dresden. 1t was
my intention to go from there southwark
through Switzerland to Venice, and thus
to make my approach to the Eternal
City.
Dresden, however, detained me longer
than expected. 1t was in August that
| reached it; there were not many
people in town, but | was delighted
with the gallery, with the picturesque
sweep of the river and with the green
shade and good music of the Grosser
garten. There were several charming
drives, too, in the neighborhood; and as
for the beer, it was really a revelation
to man who had never known any
thing less heavy and solid than Allsopp's
pale ale.
had put up at the Hotel de SAKE, a
broadsided old building ON one side of a
large, irregular ''Platz," called, be-
lieve, the Neumarkt. My landlord, who
was a young gentleman of great per-
sonal attractions, interested himself a
good deal about my amusements; and
one day he happened to ask me whether
had visited region known as Saxon
Switzerland. This, it appeared, was a
mountainous district some twenty miles
up the Elbe, in which was solved the
problem of putting the greatest amount
OF romantic picturesqueness into the
smallest possible compass. It was a
land of savage rocks, wild precipices
and profound gorges, conveniently
grouped within the limits of good
days tramp. 1t comprised all the sub
lime and startling features of your Yo-
semitic valley in California, with an
area about equal to the summit of one
of the table bluffs in that region.
i packed my valise for a sojourn OF
two or three days among these pocket
Alps, put my diamonds in that secure
inner pocket and took drosky for
the railway station. The trip to
Schandau the principal village OF
Saxon Switzerland) can also be made
by steamer, but after discussing the
pros and cons of rival routes with my
host of the hotel the evening previous
had decided to go by rail, which pro-
vides nearly half as much pretty scenery
as the river road, and takes up less than
a fourth as much time.
alighted at the station door some
what late, and having given my trunk
in charge of porter was hurrying tC
get my ticket, when my attention was
caught by young lady who was stand
ing on the platform in an attitude thai
bespoke suspense and anxiety. Her vel
was down, but from the slender ele
gance of her figure and the harmoniou.
perfection of her costume | could mo-
doubt that her face was beautiful. Evi
IDENTIFY she was not German: had sh,
been thought less tastefully dressed
should have said she was an English
girl. As it was she might be either al
Austrian or an American. Even then
rather inclined to the latter hypothesis.
She appeared to be entirely alone, bu,
she was scanning with i'll concealed
eagerness the crowd that was enterin,
- the station as if in search of a familiar
face. When her glance fell upon me
fancied that she took an impulsive ste,
In my direction, but she checked hersel
Immediately and looked away Will
was hastily debating within mysel
whether or not it would be 1.-THE thing
for me to go up and ask her if she need
ed any assistance, saw Il dienstman
or carrier come up the steps, and takin
off his cap deliver her note She tor
it nervously open, threw back her We
impatiently and ran her eyes over tn
contents. Beautiful she was, indeed
My anticipations had been behind til
truth on that score. Such strange, my.
teal, dark eyes underneath level, blac
eyebrows | had never seen But ius
then there was an expression of disma
and distress in them that made me ha
forget to remember their fascination
She now addressed the carrier, seen
ingly in broken German, for he evidentl
did not well understand her, and the al
1919 --aAa anDaare1 TO increase h,