The record-union., 1897-03-07

! near at hand, which was made up eN-
! clusively OF their retainerS-laborers
on their land and servants TO their
house The sick of the village were her
care: and the school and the church for
which his father provided teacher ana
preacher, were under her supervision
Were not such occupations and respon-
sibilities, together with husband and
| children, enough to satisfy a woman
mind?
why, yes" replied Cynthia: some
women's. There are others, however.
who might prefer something different,
| something new"
"Ach this something different, some
thing new" he exclaimed. This fin
| de steele unrest that even the women
are getting. 1t is the bane of present
existence for those of us who believe
that things as they are are right. 1t
| is running us agrarians. driving our
| best away to your reckless country,
| or to restless Berlin, where they turn
| social democrats and vote against us.
! ia, gnadiges Fraulein would ycn be-
ieve it? after having for all these
centuries depended on their lords
| That would account for it, 1 should
/ say-the natural swing of the pendu-
lum. Have they the suffrage, the men
who live in your village?"
Certainly they have, those Of them
who are qualified"
| And may they vote as they plcase?"
| "Ach, but you wouldn't expect us TO
| let them vote against us on our own
| soil. Besides, what do they know about
| such matters? They have to be in
structed and we instruct them"
| Cynthia laughed in her mocking way;
| they were evidently patriarChal condI-
| tions, those obtaining at Schloss Drach-
! enfels. But she was beginning 10
think she would like very much to see
| it, with it's lofty turrets and ancient
keep, and the newer portions where the
family lived. Consequently, when a
week or SO later he asked her If she and
her mother would come at his parents
invitation and visit them later oil shat
summer, she said perhaps they would.
His attentions to her soon began to
take on a special significance. He
brought her flowers these evenings
when he came, presenting them To her
in way that emphasized their delicate
flattery; and books, such as history of
Prussia in the old style of annals Of
| it's royal house, and a life or rather
|
| adored as the highest type of German
womanhood, striving thus to imbue her
with his own feudal ideas of royalty
and loyalty, and the benign necessity
| of that form of society that has a
King for it's head and a powerful band
| of mobiles between him and the masses
beneath. Then he tried to interest her
| in agriculture, cattle breeding and the
|
| books, pamphlets and other papers by
| the dozen on these subjects also And
the versatile girl, whose eager, restless
! mind really did reach out TO every
thing, gave him even here a compra-
hending and tireless attention. But
often when it was her turn to read, she
would look up suddenly from her paga
to find his eyes resting on her with an
expression that showed he was think
ing of something quite different from
the three fields system" or the i'll
fluence of the transalpine highways on
the commercial development of medic
val towns" or whatever the topic was
they CHANGED to be engaged on.
Finally one night as he was leaving he
bent over the hand she gave him and
kissed it with a fervor that could not be
mistaken. She found herself bIushing
and trembling after he was gone, and
presently she was wondering for the
first time in her life how much her father
was worth, and whether he would make
a settlement on her in case she were to
marry Herr Kurt. This idea did not
| startle her; it had been formulating it
| self within her during these days when
his sub-inimical curiosity about her had
| hcPn I'M MT ha ho h,
just betrayed, which metamarphosis. it
must be recorded, she had done her part
to bring about. He had fascinated her
| from the first with his suavity and high
| breeding, his strong though narrow per-
| sonalty, which was so convinced. so
proud, so masterful, and yet so full Of
| the refinement and grace of his class
and the latent tenderness and poetic
| sentiment of his race. Of course they
were opposed and always would be in
most of their views, but she had already
made him change thus radically that
| most decided one of his which scored
the intellectual woman as a. creature
necessarily undesirable in herself; and
she might perhaps similarly succeed
with the others. What a revolution she
could make, to be sure, in Schloss Dra-
her liberal ideasi
Cynthia was pugnacious, and the
prospect of such contest set her ewes
agleam with wicked eye, but they soft
ened again to the thought that Kurt
Won Drachenfels was in himself a low
able man.
Meantime Allen Armstrong had been
keeping himself out of the way, for
which she was thankful, though il
piqued her, nevertheless, to be dropped
thus as if she had been weighed and
found wanting by that tickle young
man. He had ceased altogether to attend
the early morning lecture, and she had
scarcely seen him for more than a nod
in these eight weeks during which she
and Herr Kurt had been drifting into
their present critical position. One warm
afternoon, however, when the o'clock
lecture had been postponed on account
of a funeral in the faculty, and she was
turning away from reading the notice to
this effect on the lecture-room door,
Allan came up and joined her.
What do you say to that row we've
postponed SO long," he asked in his d.
rect way which was so different from
the aristocratic finish of the Germans.
She had mind to punish him for the
postponement by prolonging it, but with
his friendly face there before her such
resentment seemed petty and absurd,
and consequently they were soon afioat