Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-11-29

Knew one Carl Steyer. Then there was
little cry and the wheel stopped.
81 bring news of him" said the man,
"bad news. knew him in Holland. He
had shipped for two years voyage, but
before the vessel started he was drowned
! saw him fall overheard God rest his
soul!' Then he went away, nwardly
Cursing himself and the merm,Id, who,
! in very excellent spirits was following
over the sea the vessel on which Carl
sailed, thinking Of nothing but home and
| Gretchen.
The news nearly killed the poor girl,
since she never doubted it for moment,
but though had she known Carl to be liv-
| ing she would have thought of him only
and waited for him through long rolling
| years and loved him though all his beauty
! had left him and though he had returned
| poorer than when he parted from her the
veil of death separated him from her SO
! completely and there was such blank
wherever she turned her yearning eyes
that in the end she did not feel so angry
with the Baron Claussen for looking at
her tenderly and holding her hand fondly,
and at last she married the baron and
went, with crown of white flowers on
her head and white gloves on her brown
hands, up to his castle, his bride and not
unhappy.
1t was grand wedding, and the bride
was beautiful, and the baron was very
kind to her, and instead of toiling in the
fields Gretchen sat in her handsome house,
to be waited on by her maidens, and wore
silk in place of coarse stuff, and golden
rings upon the fingers whence she had
slipped poor Carl's gift, the little silver
circlet which was all that he could afford
to give her
And in year little baby lay within
her arms and looked into her eyes and
taught her to love its father, who had been
so tender and so kind to her, and she was
the Baroness Claussen, and wife and
mother, and not the peasant girl growing
for her lover any more.
Just at this time Carl with his two
years pay in his wallet and some hard
won possessions besides, stepped from the
ships deck upon dry land and hurried as
best he might toward Hesse Darmstadt to
find Gretchen. That she might be dead
was fear that crossed his mind, but that
she might be married never occurred to
him. He had sent her information of his
intentions. He had toiled, drcnchCd by
rain, beaten by wind peltcd by hail, in
danger of shipwrCck and assaiied by the
fever laden brcezes of southern lands, to
win the little pittance which seemed so
great q sum to him. He had done it for
the sake of her love. He boated it and
footed it homeward in an ecstasy of ycarn-
ing, and the mermaid who had followed
the vessel over the ocean, waited for it at
foreign ports and followed it back again,
made her way along the Rhine
The baron's castle hung over the Rhine,
and the nursery wherein the baroness
watched over her baby looked out upon
the water. 1t was under this window
that the mermaid stopped, her fossy hair
all tangled her eyelids heavy, her lutte un
strung. And Carl hurried down to the
cottage, where Gretchen's grandmother
dwelt, and rushed in and cried, for he
was so brown and so long bearded that
they did not know him:
81 am Carl Steyer, come back to marry
Gretchen. Tell me where to find her"
But the old granddame answered:
"You can't be Carl, for he is drowned
and has had masses said for him. But even
if you were you have no business to call
the Baroness Won Claussen your Crotch
en-"
1.-THE baroness!" faltered Carl Chow
the baronoss?"
"Aye!" said the old granddame. "She
married the Baron Won Claussen and has
as fino a young baron as any one ever set
eyes on"
Where is sho?" gasped Carl "Pn
believe no one but her"
she is where she ought to be, at the
"a - Cni1 tho old NypmnD Rrt NrnI1'6
be mad to go there"
Perhaps Carl was mad, for he went. He
put aside porter and maid and page and
made his way to the room where Gretchen
sat singing to her babe, and she, seeing
him, forgot everything else and rushed to
meet him, and he took her in his arms,
and they wept. But soon he put her off
and asked her.
- thought you dead" she said.
Then great horror came upon her.
"Why did you Gomez" she cried. II
am a wife. l had learned to love my hus-
band Now there will be only you again"
And amid these words they heard a clatter
of horses hoofs and voice below bidding
the servant say if it were true that Carl
Steyer really were closeted with their mis- !
tress-the baron's voice.
jealous! He will hate me. l must not
love you, for l am wife l cannot love
him, for he keeps me from you. Oh, cruel
to come back and seek me and bring me
such shame and sorrowr'
Cruel" cried Carl. "Ah, she calls me
cruel! But see, Gretchen. l am kinder
than you have been to me. The baron
shall not find me here. Tell him Carl |
Steyer's ghost came to you. You will |
speak the truth, for I shall be dead when |
you utter the words Forget me, since
that will make you happy. FAREWELL"
And as he spoke he pushed the lattice
open and jumped into the foaming waters
of the Rhine.
The jealous baron rushed in the moment |
after, but found his wife alone beside her |
baby cradle-alone, muttering and moan |
ing of the sea and Of Carl Steyer, as she |
muttercd and moaned through all her
weary life.
But as for Carl Steyer, he did not drown.
The mermaid caught him in her arms as
he sank beneath the waters and bore him |
away to her caves of coral and pearl,
where, with her songs and her embraces, !
she taught him to forget inconstant
Gretchen, the tolls of the sea, the pleasures