The Portland daily press., 1894-07-24
A TUNNEL KISS.


Fraulein Martha, a pretty blue eyed
blond, sat in second class carriage in a
train which was hurrying toward the
Rhine. We had struck up an acquaint-
anceship, as tourists SO often do. As a
rule don't care to have anything to do
with my fellow passengers, but Fraulein
Martha had quite captivated me. AS she
entered the compartment for nonsmokers
L had taken her travelling bag from her
hand and put it carefully on the rack for
her. Then had resigned my corner seat
to her and put up the window, so as to
protect her from the draft, which she found
too strong. AS the train started we ex-
changed a word in praise of the weather,
which had become much cooler after a
heavy rain and was very pleasant for
travelling, and we gradually got into a
very interesting conversation.
F'raulein Martha chatted very nicely and
made no pretension to superfine education
She could not be called young, but when
she laughed she became child. Her laugh
was clear and silvery and her face lost it's
rather serious expression. This induced
me to make all kinds of jokes, which evil
IDENTIFY amused her immensely. When
girl laughs as Fraulein Martha did, the
man who provokes the laughter becomes
a humorist in spite of himself She was
capital listener, too, and it is rare
thing to find good listener among the
'other sex" AS she listened her face re-
sponded to all 1 said. Besides being so
charming mentally she had very pretty,
elegant figure, which the eye of connois-
seur (my eye) never wearied of. watching
and discovering new traits of beauty. She
was dressed in very simple travelling
gown, which displayed to perfection all
the pretty lines of her form.
She was not alone. In the next seats
of the compartment sat a married couple,
and opposite them was their daughter, q
pretty, shy girl, who had just emerged
from the bread and butter miss state
These people were relatives of Fraulein
Martha, who, when [ asked her to tell me
something about them, said that the man
was called Fenchel and was possessed of
the mistaken idea that he was the wisest
man in Christendom. He thought that he
could hear the grass grow if he tried to
though, as matter of fact, he never did try
to-and also that he possessed the gift of
prophecy. 70 him coming events always
considerably cast their shadows before. If
he did not happen to have foretold an
event before it happened it was simply
because it had slipped his memory-an-
other time he wouldn't forget. Frau
Fenchel admired her husbands extraor-
binary qualities and therefore did not dare
to contradict him when he asserted that
the young~man who was sitting with their
daughter was no son-in-law for him, for
it was easy to see that, once married the
young rascal would turn out thorough
Don Juan and would cause unheard of
misery in the household The young man
in question, who was called Taube- Bern
hard Taube, did not look likely to fulfill
such a prophecy. He was as shy as Frau
lein Roschen Fenchel with whom he was
deeply in love. Both these facts were quite
evident. The most dsring deed he had
ever perpetrated was when, Herr Fenchel
having informed him that he intended to
accompany his wife and daughter to the
Rhine on the following Wednesday, he.
Taube-had said that, strange to say, he,
too, was going to the Rhine on the same
day and with Herr Fenchel's permission
would join them.
This was not very agreeable to old Fen
chel. In the first place, as prophet, he
ought to have foreseen the young mans
intended journey, and, secondly, he was
afraid that Taube's society would be more
acceptable to Roschen than he approved Of
In the latter assumption he was quite
right. Roschen was as happy as Herr
Taube, although the young people had
only ventured to hint as much to Frau
Fenchel, who, aware of her husbands
aversionNto Taube because of his conceal
ed Don Juan proclivities, had limited in re-
turn that Roschen was too young to think
of love, and Herr Taube was not old
enough.
Fraulein Martha told me this in man
nerWhieh showed that she was heartily
sorry for the young folks. 1t was evident
that she was on the side of the lovers and
was very angry with Fenchel for tyrannic-
ally trying to hold them apart Although
she was not full of that eager desire for
matchmaking which is so strongly devel-
oped in many ladies who have left youth
full f6llies and youthful wisdom behind
them, still she loved Roschen dearly and
wanted her to be happy. ''There are some
girls" she said, ito whom single life
would mean misery and ruin, and our
Roschen is one of them. If she is not al
AoWSN 10 Ildi ", HeE Liz WILL Dc SpOlleQ.
By this ti11e our train had approached
series of tunnels. We were occasional
ly plunged into deep darkness, in which
nothing was heard beyond the rumbling
of the carriages and the occasional invol-
untary "Ah!" of a passenger who was
reading the newspaper or studying his
guidebook, and who was suddenly disturb
ed in his occupation. Fraulein Martha
wanted to find something in her handbag
and in tunnel took off her silk glove, the
better to accomplish her object. When we
again emerged into daylight, I noticed
that her ungloved hand was of surprising
Wilderness. Its beauty it is beyond me to
describe, for black letters are not adapted
to the description Of such whiteness. And
what an elegantly shaped hand it was! l
laid bet with myself that it would quite
disappear in my own hand If Fraulein
Martha would be SO accommodating as to
let me try the experiment. But she was
not inclined to be SO accommodating.
Nevertheless 1 could not think of losing
my wager. 1.-THE courageous conoucr the
hand" said to myself, with all the OBJ
stinacy with which one sticks to a Net