Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-07-04
kOTTEIKAMP' WIDOW. ;
By JAMES PEMBERTON GRUND.

When the Franco Prussian war
broke out in 1870. my father was a
major general I'm command of n cayalrv
brigade in Westphalia and l a student
at Bonn. l was barely Il, but deter
mined TO take part in the campaign.
and sent telegram 20 him asking his
permission To go. receiving In reply the
words: "Of course. Blessing Father"
In "a hours l had been accepted by the
colonel OF hussar regiment as a gen
ueman cadet, or "avantageur." and
after taking part in an action or two
was commissioned a acknowledgment
anti as u matter of course. The for
tune OF war took my squadron into a
charming bit of country near Amiens
We We're quartered i'm and around the
Chateau dc Magny, the property OF
one OF the prctticSt and most aminble
OF Frenchwomcn. the Maruuise de
Magny, whose husbands family took
their name from this estate. There
was excellent stabling for our horses
at the chateau and I'm the villages of
Magny -ie-Grand and Flcurus. one a
quarter of a mile. the other mile
from It. OF the four "Zuge" that com
posed our squadron. one. with the
"Rittmeister." old Breisewitz and nv
self. was at the chateau: two. with
Ldeutenants Prince Ehrenberg and
Won Breitenstein. were IN quarters at
Magny-le-Grand. and the fourth. Lieu
tenant Won Seckcndorf I'm command. at
Fleurus. where. as this village was but
two miles from the French advanced
posts. there was also company of in
fantry. In addition 10 the highroad. a
deep ravine connected Magny-le- Grand
and Fleurus, extending beyond the lat,
ter village 10 within mile of the en-
emys advanced posts. The Somme
divided the hostile armies, but we IA
the chateau and the village were on
the French side of that river. held out.
Salver 10 tempt the French to cross the
Somme. The chateau was but half a
mile from the river. crossed at that
point by a wooden bridge with the
posts supporting IL sawed through
while powder mine below completed
the arrangements for its instant de-
structiOn. We sent patrols every two
hours day and night up to the French
enemy's outpOsts, with whom they of
ten exchanged shots.
The mnrquisc was delicate little
creature. with fair hair and n pair of
bright blue eyes that always seemed TO
be laughing even when she screwed up
her lips tightly into the prettiest pout
possible and tried to look stern. Her
hair, that dcned control. fell over her
forehead and almost into her eyes in a
way that suggested n highly idealized
Skye terrier. Her figure was perfectly
prOpOrtloncd and her complexion Of ex-
quisite delicacy, a beauty rarely found
in France. Married at 20, her husband
died within year. She had one child,
4 little girl. Marguerite ola Princesse
MargOt." we had nicknamed herr was
now s years OF age and the apple Of
her eye-a small, graceful, winning,
frolicsOme creature, u pocket edition
of her mother. whom she strongly re
sembled in appearance and character.
The establishment consisted Of a
housekeeper. old Prosper, the butler;
Julie, madame's maid; the cook and
some men about the stables. The cui-
sine was excellent. Prosper put be-
fore us every day the best wines in the
cellar, while madame, and at luncheon
her little daughter, kept us company.
The chatelaine treated us more As hon
Ored guests than rs officers OF the en-
emy'S army quartered on her. We all
enjoyed il very much, except poor
Seckendorf, whose quarters were too
far from the house for him to leave his
mon IN iOir ,tS a 1snnar IN another
squadron of ours that occupied these
excellent quarters some time before
was Lieutenant Won Kottenkamp, a
rather vain but extremely handsome,
clever and distinguished looking young
officer who spoke French like n native
and who In appearance. with his dark
eyes and short. black mustache smart
ly turned up at the ends, greatly re-
sembled French marquis painted by
Fragonard on lady's fan. To Kotten-
kamp, year or two younger than her
self. the lady took a strong liking, and
before he had been u week at the cha
teau he was head over heels In love
with her. When he was ordered away
and another lieutenant, by no means
as good looking, took his place. IT was
supposed that the task of consoling the
lady for Kottenkamp's absence would
be thankless one. This was not the
case. She smiled as sweetly on the
newcomer as she had on him who had
gone. and when the new man was In
turn succeeded by n third the same
phenomenon was observed. When No.
8 yielded the ''pas" to No. 4, the latter
semed TO inherit all the good fortune
OF his predecessors. Kottenkamp. how
ever. outranked the others In her af-
fections by seniority, as 1t were, and
she was always known in the regiment
as "Kottenkamp's widow" That young
man seemed to take the situation quite
calmly and never displayed the slight
est signs OF jealousy
When i NO. 81 came under the spell.