The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-08-20
: THE :
BARON'S STORY

We called him "Mr. Smith, but we
all knew that he was a baron. When
DE was i'll, his thirst for sympathy
made him unusually effusive. l called
on him every evening. Once, a few
days before his DEATH he detained me
until daybreak. He was full of pathos
and sad humor. and he told Inc much
Of his past life. lie was apparently
! ashamed Of this mood of his and vanly
struggling against it. At last he raised
himself from his pillow, with gesture
saying:
"1t's no use trying to be strong and
manly and so forth and so on when the
machine is all out of gear. We old folk
are like babies. We want people. to cud-
die us. to sigh over us. We are hungry
for attention"
! must add that with all his laxative"
ness and scntimentality and in spite Of
his elncere aversion to being addressed
as baron there was something In his
bearing and manner Of speaking which
kept reminding one that he was u
baron after all.
The story of Countess NJ, who
brought him to New York. where he
was to cease being German without
becoming an American" as he put it, is
one Of the episodes heard from him
that night.
Her father, Polish noblcman in re-
duced circumstances, settled in Ger
3'any when "uerr Schmidt was Il
blicutenant. The young man's reg-
]: ont was stationed In humdrum,
Of the way town, ana the advent Of
countess (she was a young widow
/, de stir.
She was pretty. That goes without
! ing" he said, with the wistful look
icll scarcely ever left his peaked
. low face during that week. "But by
: ;us you this tell you nothing, for
! real power over me was something
/. Ch marred her good looks rather
n enhanced them. She had queer
" OF avoiding to meet your glance
N she spoke to you which did not
1 nme her. At first | made up my
/ al that she was an affected. disin.
, i,lous creature. prded myself up,
{ my insight into human nature in
se days. 1t was my mother who had
that notion into my head. WAS
pet. don't you know; So she was
"rvcr discovering some new sort OF
rllus In me. was a prophet of the
'.'nlan soul among n LOT Of other good
'ngs, and for some reason this title
ased me more than anything else.
other words, ! heartily agreed with
! that | WAS u prophet and so forth
q j so on. Well, when | met the count
& for the first time ana found that
could not look me full in the face |
sd to myself. Liars look Ike that
II was rather elutcd by this manifes-
ta'ion Of my wisdom. | can tell you
that, but l soon hud to change my mind
about the young woman. saw her
again and again. and two months had
scarcely passed before | knew her as
well US did MY sister Well. she turn
VI out to be the most truthful and SIN
lere person had ever seen. As to her
tabit Of looking away from her inter.
1ocutor, II was an Unborn trick, due 10
some sort Of kink in her nervous sys-
lem. ! suppose. However It may have
been, those unsteady, bashful eyes Of
Aers disturbed my peace of mind AMI
were the source of the whole trouble.
why doesn't she look up? Dashed II
4 don't get her TO stare ME straight in
the eyes for ten minutes together. and
70 forth and SO on. She was candor 1t.
,telf. and II any one was bashful 1t was
] rather than the countess, yet l was
crazy to put her at her ease, to gain her
full confidence. The prophet of the
human soul was simply hopeless fool.
That was the long and short of IT, OF
course did not give up the struggle. as
some ordinary mortal might have done.
Prophctllke, took to phllosophiztng,
eeneralizIng, calling into play my In.
light
J "WIth flourish Of trumpets made
The discovery that It was the mystery
pf those eyes of hers which was trou-
bling my brain and my heart. The re-
quilt was the same as when doctor
puts on learned airs and makes a NEIL
tnl note of the diagnosis In his pa
Nent's case. Look here! II Shakespeare
.eally thought there was nothing In
pane he was grievously mistaken. A
game 10 either worse than nothing or
Everything. When the doctor does not
know what alls me, he knows at least