Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-01-10
LIEUT.. LENDHEIM.

for all Austrian hussaIs are handsome.
He was, moreover, about 80, clever,
well educated and a good deal Of 4 nan
Of the world in Il German sort of way.
With all these charms Of mind and
manner united ina single individual,
It was not a cause for the slightest Won
derment among his friends that Miss
Mary White, the daughter of Colonel
White, Il New York broker, who, with
her mother, was spending the winter in
Vienna, should fall captive to the
manifest court that he paid her from
the first. The wonder really was that
she held out as long as she did, for it
was quite two months after she had first
met him before she agreed at the eXpi-
ration of certain time, to become his
wife
1t was accordingly settled that the
lieutenant should procure leave of
absence as long as possible and appear
in New York at the appointed time
the following June-to claim his bride
at the hands Of her father, although up
to this time that particular functionary
was wholly in the dark as to what was
to be required of him. These inciden
tai preliminaries having been thus satis-
factorily arranged, the bride to be and
her mother-whom the lieutenant in
his unaffected way already called
mamma set out for Paris to under
take the real, serious business of the
affair, and for the next few months
cl,
dressmakers.
History does not chronicle the doings
of the lieutenant in Vienna during these
weeks of waiting, but lovelorn letters
on pink paper with Il crest came regu-
| larly to Miss Mary White-she hated
the pink paper, but adored the crest
and were answered by her in good time.
Like all protracted seasons of longing
and waiting, this, too, at last went by,
and not only had the dresses and other
paraphernalla been sent home from
Paris, but the lieutenant at last found
himself on a Bremen steamer half way
to New York, whittier Miss White and
her mother had already preceded him.
He arrived early one sitting morning
in the pleasant suburb Of Hoboken. By
a series of contretemps, although the
vessel had been reported the evening
before, neither Miss White nor any
member of the family, nor even the
coachman, met him at the pier. He
was forced to drive alone as best he
might, to the apartments of an old ath-
letic friend in Fifty ninth street. with
whom, as had been arranged, he was
to lodge while in New York. He final
ly reached the metropolis in a very
mixed frame of mind. Such a little
matter as this, however, although it
wounded the lieutenant's vanity, even
in his present state of subnissiveness,
was easily and satisfactorily smoothed
over and soon forgotten, and the few
days intervening before the wedding
were spent in round of gayety. So
much did he see in such a short time
so many persons and places-that to
this day he does not know whether Del
monico's is Il street or a theater, Or that
Riverside drive is not part Of the
Battery. One thing, however, he does
remember, and that is the exact location
of the Church of the Holy Trinity,
which he vows he could find in the dark
but that is anticipating the story.
When the day of the wedding came
the ceremony had been fixed for the
evening-the lieutenant drew sigh of
relief. Somehow or other the New
York visit had not been quite satisfac-
tory to MIN. He had been whisked about
so that it had not only confused him,
but had begun to tell upon him physic-
ally. Worse than all this although he
had been constantly in Miss Whites
company, somebody or other had always
been there. too, and they had not even
had an opportunity, as he reflected
somewhat bitterly, with an old world
conception Of the part he was playing,
for single comfortable tete-a-tete or
an exchange of condolences. This par
ticular day he had been denied-heart-
lessly, he thought, though they told him
it was a necessary preliminary-the
first sight of the beloved object until he
should meet her at the altar, and he
had rather Il wretched time, which he
spent variously in retrOspection, polish
ing his cartouch and vigorously rub
bing up other metal parts of his equip
ments. Upon one thing he certainly
congratulated himself, and that was
that the end was near, and that his
troubles were almost over.
The wedding was to be a military one
to certain extent. The groomsman
was to be the Austrian consul in uni
form, and with that minute attention
to detail that characterized all the we'd
ding preparations it had been arranged
that out of compliment to the diplomat
and t1e nationality of the groom him.
self the Austrian national hymn should
be played during the service. The cere-
mony was to take place at s O'Clock at
the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Now, it must be borne in mind that
there are in New York no less than
three churches of the Protestant Episco-
pal denomination having Trinity as a
constituent part Of their names. First
of all, there is Trinity church proper, or
Old Trinity, which, as everybody knows,
is on Broadway, opposite Wall street;
then there is its immediate offshoot,
Trinity chapel, extending from West
Twenty fifth to West Twenty-si2th
street, near Broadway, and, finally, there
is the Church of the Holy Trinity, al
ready mentioned, which stands at the
corner of Madison avenue and Forty
second street The three churches bear
no sort of resemblance to each other in
shape or size, and, as has been stated,
they are block after block of city streets
! apart.
The first of Lieutenant Won Lend
helms misadventures, and, be it said,
, the moving cause of them all, was, in
certain sense not his own fault. They
had So many things to attend to around
at the Whites that he had been left
rather negloctfully to arrange for his
own carriage to take him to the church.
1t only occurred to him late in the ait
ernoon that it was necessary to have
carriage at ull, ana he at once rang for
a messenger, and when he came gave
him q verbal order to The liverynan in
the next street. The lieutenant had al
ways maintained. and even now, when
he can view the matter to certain cx-
tent dispasaa a)nateiy, still maintains
that he gave the order correctly to the