Evening star., 1896-11-07


I examined this crate car. and found
that it hung by two iron trolleys or pullsys
upon the wire rope, which, as 1 mentioned
before, came from somewhere In or beyond
the forest, extended across the stream and
through the easement into the tower. 1
now found that the end Of the rope was
securely tied to an iron stanchion let into
the wall. and that the car. sliding in
through the window till it reached this
wall, had become fastened by an automatic
latch or catch. which prevented 1t from
running back again out of the window I,
which it undoubtedly would have done
without this contrivance. At this point
may as well state certain other facts about
this piece of machinery which learned
afterward. This wire rope aerial railway
extended from Castle SchreckenS throm to
the counts villa, the mansion where he Or
dinar.ly resided. This mansion, called ty
the count 'Auser dem Walde," was three
fcurths OF a mile from Castle Schrecken-
Strohm, stood just outside of the forest
and was situated about a mile from the
walls of Orlendorf. By means of this air
line daily communication was established
between the two places, and it was by this
means that the inmates of the castle were
supplied with the necessaries of life and at
the same time kept in touch with the out
side world At the Schreckensthrom end 1t
was only needful TO unfasten the latch and
the car would start of its own weight and
run across the torrent and through the for
est all the way to Auser dem Waldo. This
L knew OF my own experience. as / after
III.
carriage in the opposite direction, namely,
1Iom the villa to the CASTLE required con-
siderable power, and this power was fur
nlshed by compressed air, the car being
Shot out OF a window in the villa like
Shell from one of the pneumatic guns of
the Vesuvius.
The six damself now seemed to be maxi
ing great fuss over some matter which
lhey had found in one of the newspapers
Tney clustered around it and gesticuated
wildly
Then Brunhilda. the queen-like, seized
II and ran up to me, and the rest followed
her, and all six showed by their faces and
manner that they had taken a new in
terest in me, and that 1 was something
more to them than l had been up to that
time. And the lovely Brunhilda thrust
the newspaper under my eyes and pointed
out with her snowy and richly bejeweled
hand the following paragraph:
DUSSELBERG, July 49, 1s9-.-Balloon
thief arrested. The government balloon
which got away from Professor Schaff-
haCsen at Oldendorf on the evening of the
18th, and which was supposed afterward
10 nave been stolen. was recovered yester-
day from the miscreant who ran Off with
II. He was arrested as he was climbing
down from a tree upon which the balloon
had caught and gave his name as August
Won Dunkelheim of Munich. From docu-
ments, letters, etc, found upon his person
1t is believed, however, that his name is
not Won Dunkelheim, but that he is an
American named Julius Waterbury. He
more fully tomorrow"
When she saw that / had read 1t she
placed a dainty forefnger upon the words
Won Dunkelheim," then pointing the same
nnger at me shook her head several times
ana all the other damself shook their
heads likewise. Then, indicating the words
julius Waterbury,, she went through the
same pantomime, this time nodding i'm the
most emphatic and decisive manner, ami
all the rest of the six sisters nodded Ike
SO many toy Chinese mandarins Thus 1t
was that in their naive and touching way
they at last acknowledged their error
Thus II was they showed me that they
now believed the necessarily fantastic tale
which L had told them, showed me that
they no longer identified me with the de-
tested Ananias, whose company had been
forced upon them by a brutal and cruel
sire.
From this time on. between me and these
SIN ingenious and amiable creatures there
was perfect understanding: the barriers
of conventioTalty We're swep. away: the
air OF reserve. of hIuteur. which they had
maintained for ;he supposed Won Dunkel-
heln' melted Ike April snow, and l be-
came as mitch their companions as though
L had been with them for so many weeks
ihStedi Oh hourS- The difference was
most apparent in the charming Brunhilda.
She was ever closet at my side and | fiat
tered myself that the tender siances which
L gave her were Returned with interest
now watched tor an occasion fitting
1or the moIc ntouS declaration which |
time during the day when there were not
several of the fair prospective ststers-in-
law present. / might have spoken before
them all. but knew that this was net the
aCCe pied and ordinary way of doin. it,
Therefore | waited until the evening and
wien We Were gathered as on the preceding
nSht IN the drawing room. with the sphinx
like Dame Gelskopf watchins. us-While
dldd and sOlde were playing Won
Weber invitation 10 the waltz | reached
over and took Brunhildas pad from her
and wrote upon it the following words:
In the few hours since 1 first beheld
you, L have learned TO love YOU as never
mortal maid was loved before With
cut you, life would not be worth the Iiy-
ins- Write Your answer here. VIII YOU
be mne?''
as she read it. AS she became aware Of
my meaning, her long dark lashes sank
ana her rosy tint deepened. She looked
up at me, and l imagined melting glance
In her magnificent eyes; but she turned
her head partly away and sadness seemed
10 steal over her features, like .he shadow
OF cloud upon the meadow and she
wrote something underneath my own mes
sage and showed it to me, and l read
these lines:
1t cannot be, for we six have vowed
an eternal sisterly love. We have bound
ourselves by an inviolable oatn never to
separate while life endures. Were this rot
SO, 1t might have been, but now it cannot
be-"
Nothing dauEted, wrote as follows:
y ou heed not have to separate Your
five lovely sisters shall live with us al
ways"
She gave one glance at the words, lock-
ed into my eyes with an expression in
which there was a world of joy and trust
and gratefulness and love, and immeIi-
ately wrote:
1t is enough / am yours forever"
Before L knew what she was going to
do, she made gestures and summoned the
other five maidens to her side, and showed
them the writing upon the pad so that
all of them. at once, became conyersant
with the details of my courtship This
was embarrassing enough, but what FOL
lowed was infinitely more trying for they
all, with one accord, flung their arms
around her and kissed ner anl sned copious
tears, and -wrung their shapely hands,
and otherwise gave evidence of the most
unconsolable grief. The tears came into
my own eyes as L looked at therl but NV
sympathy was wasted, as l afterwards
found that they were one and all delighted
with the occurrence. and that this was
their way of showing it.
The precise old duenna now clme for
ward from the other end of the room,
and not knowing. Of course, what had
taken place, glared at :1e, as she would
have done, had l attempted to assassinate
one of the Crafts daughters. Then Brun-
hilda's five sisters came up to me one
after the other and clasped my hand and
gaZed at me affectiona tely; and some of