The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-23

So" so 49,
He glared at her again. and became
ssMare that this actually was a new face
As a rule all women appeared TO the gen
Ia 10 be more or less alike BY the
oIlclal documents which he himself had
Slsheq, he knew that this small salIOvv
ured-looking young woman of somewhere
ABOUT thirty, was Fraulein Marie Bueh-
htI. newly installed in her office and her
fs FAN Ihe orphan daughter Of defunct in
here in November
beg your pardon and again that
anxious, expectant look.
LOFu aDoNe- Open your ears when I'm
speaking; You aren't deaf are your"
4es- i am little deaf in the left ear"
said Marie Buchner, as quietly as before.
i'm, that's it, is it2'' remarked the
general, suddenly subsiding into a grunt.
lie felt distinctly taken aback. If the
new teacher had attempted resistance or
as much as self-defense he could and
would have crushed her with zest, but
put him out of his calculations. And
then. what a fool he had made OF him
self! Why had not somebody or other
told MIN that she was deaf2 He had put
hlmself in more uncomfortable posi-
ton than he had put Marie Buchner
though hers was probably not quite pleas
ant either, standing there on sort of
pllory, under the gaze of her fellow
Ieacners' not OVCr-sympathetic eyes. She
had certainly taken her reprimand very
quietly, although now that he came to
look at her nearer, the general was not
quite sure whether he did not see some
thing moist and shiny at the corners of
her eyelids.
I'VE haven't been in the kitchen yet"
he remarked, abruptly dropping the sub
lect OF the bed-curtains as he resumed
MS progress. lie couldn't possibly admit,
even in his own mind, that he felt ashamed
of himself, but he was aware that his
fictitious courage had suddenly collapsed.
Il wonder what il feels like to he teacher
in a military institution" something in
this style his reflections ran when he was
back in his lodging.
Not an Over-cheerful life, I fancy. And
I wonder whether that Buchner girl felt
half as frightened of me as | did of her
She doesn't look happy, and I'm not sure
whether she doesn't look a little hungry.
Not a penny of her own, of course. And
she's quite alone, too. that ought to be
enough without being deaf what's the
good of having an adjutant If he doesn't
find out things? I'll give 1t him roundly
tomorrow" And with this prospect in
view the generals humor slightly i'm
To his CONSERVATION he presently dis
covered that he would have to be back at
the school before the end of this same
week.
There were new boards being laid in
some of the rooms-the result of long
and finally triumphant struggle with the
niggardly "Arar"-and il was necessary
that the general should keep an eye upon
the progress of the work. Since his en-
counter with the new teacher these visits
had become to him even more distastetul
than they used to be. Never in his life
had the general, despite all his ferocity,
been able TO strike a thing that was down,
and TO see Fraule!n Buchner's colorless
face was to remember that he had been
guilty of something of the sort. Most
carefully he went out of her way. without.
however, being able completely to rid
himself of the uncomfortable feeling that
he owed this person some sort of repara-
ton. OF course. she expected nothing of
expected anything good from life
general - the quiet hopelessness of
but this was all the worse for this pc
culiarly constructed generals peace of
mind. Perhaps IL was because he himself
was so big and so strong that he had
never been able to stand by quietly while
anything small and weak was being run
down by the car of fate, and Fraulein
Buchner was certainly very small and
weak, smaller and weaker than any of her
fellow teachers. and obviously far more
isolated than any of them. Her dresses
were sha.bbier than theirs, her cheeks
her. In few years she would probably
be far too deaf to go on teaching-and
Not that that need concern the general
in any way, but at least it was an excuse
for grumbling afresh at the arrangements
of the world in general.
Il wonder if it would be quite impossi-
BILE to do something for her." he reflected
one evening, sitting alone in his room, on
his return from another visit to the school.
Il couldn't well offer to lend her money,
l suppose? If thought was getting near
the end of my tether | should make a will
and put her in as sole legatee of all my
possessions There's no other mortal soul
who has expectations from me, anyway
but don't think my leg is going to xiii
me quite yet. There'll be plenty of time
for her to starve in the meantime. And
then, let me see, what do my possessions
exactly consist of? There is never any
ready money somehow, but there's my sta
bleS and my wardrobe" The general got
up and opened the writing table drawer.
1t was with a very rueful face that he
looked into it. An Austrian generals pay
is not exactly what an English generals
pay is; neither is it without reason that
our French cousins sing:
Dams lie service de 7 Autriche,
lie militaire nest pas richie,
Chacun salt car'
yet might it be suppose that a bachelor
with no expensive tastes might manage
to put aside some modest savings ana
yet, oddly enough. Gen. seidi had never i
saved penny. Possibly he had expen-
sive tastes, not known to the public The
only thing that was certain was that he
had once been seen to give a 10-florin note
to one-legged organ grinder"
From the writing table he went to the
wardrobe, and began thoughtfully takinS
down the different articles of clothine
shaking his head over each-not without
reason. Two pale blue uniform coats, of
which both had already seen a good deaf
of life, three pairs of winter trousers, one
linen ditto. a cloak whose sheepsldn fur
erals hat with the bunch of green feathers
this was about all.
'And the gold braid isn't real, and the
feathers are dyed reflected the general
II don't believe the Jews would give her
so forms for the whole lot, confound
them"
And he flung himself back into his easy
chair. There were still the stables. With
his minds eye he ran over the general
appearance and points of his three
chargers. Nothing very brilliant here
either. Sultan was nothing but a hard
working scarecroW, Karl's temper would
always stand in the way of his selling ad-
vantageously while as for zorza. it was
not likely that she would fetch much
more than the price of horsehesh, since
it isn't everybody who cares to have an
old mare eating off her head in his STA
bles, merely because she is an old mare
and has done good work"
at won't do!' was his conclusion, IT
must find some other way. ! don't see
why she shouldn't marry yet-she isn't
so very plain, so far as 1 understand these
things. 1 wonder If l couldn't get Koch
to marry her? He's got some money. But
1 suppose she's quite five years older than
he It's more of an early husband that
she wants"
All at once Gen. Seidl broke off, and
gave an almost perceptible start. Then
lsos,a