Evening star., 1896-11-07

ed. properly stockinged and shod. and the
whole sK-representing every possible
male, from tie age of fifteen to twenty,
possessedEstanding and sitting, were
grouped around me In a radiant semicircle.
l gazed at them one after the other, In
ecstatic rapture. Here are six girls.
thought I, each one of them in her way
as lovely as u dream, rot one of whom
can speak word. 1 remembered the
dainty breakfast which had eaten that
morning. and at once the old adage came
to me that the perfect woman is she who
can cook but who cannot talk. Here was
not one perfect woman only, but half a
dozen of them. The gardiner Predgt OF
Frau Hilda Won Waldeck Jenkins was still
fresh in my memory. and 1 declare that
If such thing had been possible j would
Immediately and incontinently have fallen
in love with the whole six.
L was now upon the point CT asking
whether trey had been born mute or had
become so after birth, because / was anxi-
Gus to ass ertain the locality where, and
the means by which, such families or races
of females were produced-with the idea
of giving the Information to my friends
for their good and the general benefit OF
humanity. i, however, refrained from in
terrogatlng them upon the subject. as 4,
was delicate one and might put them
to unnecessary pain.
Young ladies'" said i, Il am very glad
to have you say so. No, 1 do not mean
that, of course l am sorry-that is to say.
L am glad that you can, at least, hear SO
distinctly. 1t will now give me pleasure
to tell you who / am, and to describe the
odd way in which l came here"
The oldest maiden, whom l by this time
fancied exceedingly, a tall brunette, with
slender but perfect figure, large, dark
melancholy eyes, a creamy complexion and
wealth of dark, glossy brown locks, al
this produced from behind her a writing
pad with pencil attached. After tearing
off a page which had been scribbed upon,
she wrote upon the pad and gave ii &c
me- The handwriting was full of char
acteI and was charnlingly feminine
read as fellows:
I'VE know who you are and how you
came and the errand upon which yo,
came"
Before handing it to me she had shown
it to the girls nearest her. They now
watched my face. and glanced at each
other with looks of Eischievous amuse
ment. ] was somewhat nonpluSsed. They
were either beat Oh mystifylng me. OF
they took me for some one else.
Then" said i, you have been told by
Frau Jenkins and you saw the balloon
last night when it passed over the castle
The Schreckenstrohm ladies looked won.
deringly at each other. and my particu
lar favorite sratched the pad and wrote
as follows:
I'VE have heard nothing from Frau Jen-
kins, though we are acquainted with q
lady of that name in the city. Neither dc
we know what you mean by that nonsense
about the balloon. We know that yCu
are Herr Won Durkeihe.m of Munich, and
that pap brought you here last nigh'
after we were AL in bed"
'Mesdemoiselles Schreckerstrohm."
cried. You We're never more mistaken IN
your life. / am not Herr Won Dunkeiheim
My name is Julius Waterbury. Won Dun
ke!heim has left the island, and i did not
come with your father and have not seer
him"
Her eyes had strange light in them as
she seized the pad and again wrote upon
il:
Then how did You get here?"
Impressively, and with exact detail,
narrated the manner of my arrival at the
castle and of Won Dunkelheim's departure
from it. / have never seen increduiity Sc
fully and unmistakably depicted on the hu-
man cEntenance as it was upon the pretty
faces of the six countesseS. One of them.
an ethel cal blonde creature of about seven
teen, thrust a little hand into a reticue
which hung suspended from her belt, pro-
diced a letter. unfolded it and handed ii tO
meat the same time. with triumphant air.
pointing TO the opening paragraph with a
taf er index finger. L took the letter and
read aloud the following words:
Dearest Ysolde: l learned today that my
brother-in-laws brother. August Won Dun
kelheim, is to visit you and the rest of my
seen him, yo: will doubtless wish to know
81 tmething about him. In the first place
you must not believe a word he says, for