The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-25

The gnome told me that 10 was not good
spirit al all IL was a thing Of witchcrsft-
/ a bearded wolf-which carried of village
| children. and ate them up. That was why
/ II did not want any food from the castle.
l Several times he had fired at this wolf IN
| the forest but no bullet took effect upon It,
In one word no one knew anything about
/ the whole affair Sometimes pretend
/ ed al night that / was asleep, but IN
vain. for until I really slept the creature
would not appears though she OWNED
Z my cunning device. ] heard constantly,
/ however. sometimes signing. sometimes
/ saily laughing, though 1 could never dis
/ cover whence the sounds proceeded. felt
/ Ike going out of ny mind. The mystery
| took further developments
pictured her 70 myself as slender, lis
/ som creature. with fair hair reaching to the
/ ground. which glittered like gold in the
I moonbeams. Her face was pale and not
I tinged with blood and from beneath her
long lashes CLEANED forth beautiful fasci-
mating fres. Her lips were thin and deli
| cate, and tinted like the rose 1 could
| always see her thus in my dreams. They
say II Is fool who relates his dreamsi
but this l know very well-that so soon
as / fell asleep I seemed to see her in my
room exactly as have just described her.
She would approach me. gaze at me and
speak sweet words TO me in my dreams.
She seemed to be watching over me, and
would walk up and down as though my
guardian angel, though when looked AT
her she would blush.
During the day / could hardly wait for
the night to come, so that I might sleep
and then see her. 1t was a necessary part
or my life. At daytime l cultivated my
neids. attended TO my turnips. looked after
my eccentric servants. 1 had the feet
of the animals scratched and every one
thought was becoming veterinary en-
thusiast. But they little knew that all the
time | was longing to retire to bed and
get one more glimpse of my beautiful
phantom. If. during my sleep, could only
confess TO her that / loved her and en-
treat her to come to me in the morning.
Night after night l determined to make
this confession if I could only command
the power of viii during my dreams. At
last it seemed that was succeeding-for
the idea grew upon me very strongly, and
was not obliterated by sleep.
One night I dreamed that we were sit
ting side by side beneath the shade of a
lemon tree. Before us spread an end
less ocean. The sun could not shine
on us through the foliage. but it threy up
golden glitter from the water which
made her look more heavenly than ever.
1 was delighted to discover that there
was a sea in Hungary, and also lemon
trees. ] plucked a lemon and gave her
a little piece to eat. She took it be-
tween her lips, but expressed by her
countenance that it was sour Then
put another little piece of it between my
own lips, and. indicating to her by my
expression that it was sweet, held my
mouth toward her-one does these ridicu-
lous thing in dreams-that she might
take it. She put her face against mine
as if for that purpose; and feeling the
touch of her lips for the first time, I
gave her a passionate kiss, throwing my
arms about her neck, and receiving from
her passionate kiss in return. But from
this heavenly embrace, / was awaked by
a scream. 1 looked around. There was
no one. Yet the kiss, the embrace had
been real, l was absolutely certain. Had
clasped her in my sleep as she watched
by my bedside-had she, forgetting her
maidenly fear, yielded for one moment
to my embrase, and then, in alarm at
what she had done, fled with a Shrek?
/ got out of bed and instinctively went
to my embrace, and then, in alarm at
have disappeared through the spacious
chimney. But this was impossible; for the
fire was still burning brightly in the grate.'
Had she actually visited me, had ] sim
ply dreamed. or was ] at length mad? I
could not determine; but 1 know that my
heart was still throbbing from her en-
brace, and that my lips were still warm
from her kiss. Yes, and suddenly ! dis
covered a proof that she had indeed Wis
tied me; for l found upon the floor a
dainty little embroidered slipper. l took
II up and gazed upon. 1t in wonder. Could
l believe my eyes, or was 1 dreaming
still? For sometimes man will dream
one dream, and then, without waking, go
on to dream another. That night l would
not allow myself to believe that what l
held in my hand was a real slipper.
1. therefore. put it away in a drawer.
locked it up, and went to sleep again.
In the morning my first eager thought
was to go TO the drawer, l did so-unlocked
-
full little slipper with a butterfly and
violet and tied with tiny red ribbons. From
that moment l could rest no more in the
house, through longing and yearning for
the night to come. 1 had to amuse myself
as best / could with the company of lu-
natlcs about me, and wondered whether
/ too should lose my mind Sometimes 1
thought l would put stop to the matter.
1t is pleasant to go on dreaming and
dreaming, but 1t seemed to me that as a
practical man l had better sell the estate
for mere song and go away to live at
Buda Pesth. This ultimately determin-
ed to do and made no secret of it amongst
the servants.
got in such an exasperated mood that
my unfortunate servants were accustomed
to hasten out of the room as l entered One
day, however, the Waterman slightly ap-
preached me as though wishing to speak
l supposed that he wished to inform me
that l was master even in the realms he
meath But was wrong. His military de-
meanor had entirely left him, and like
a perfectly rational servant, he came to-
wards me and deferentially kissed my
hand.
why, sir, he asked, do you wish to
leave this place? Does it grieve you that
the poor girl is here? Does this burden
you? Have you any grievance against
| her?'
could hardly recover from my aston
isment. Why. this man was apparently no
lunatic at all.
You seem to have quite altered in your
speech and demeanor," l said
Yes, sir. Listen. 1 will tell YOU all
so that you will then understand MANY
things which before seemed to YOU mvs-
FERROUS; and after the explanation do not
think you will leave the Castle. The de-
ceased count, you must know, had a secret
! love affair. He found himself in possess
sion of little child. The world could not
! possibly know of the matter But the
mother died. and the count wishing to
save his tiny daughter from reproach. de-
termined to bring her up himself exclu-
sively within the castle walls He was
kind to her, but either through pleasure
Lee ,~4v,