Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-11-04
THE SUNBEAM
q Game Of Chess
BY ANNIE ASHMoRE.


you observe, your queen is in dan
ger"
eff l lose her l may yet win an
other"
''Not at your rate of playing, sir.
You would have to advance a
pawn"
Pardon, Miss Cheswick, but do
play the game so badly? The loss is
mine. l would play better if | could.
Teach me how. Miss Cheswick."
II will take you through this one
move, but fear you dc not attend to
my Instructions My bishop may be
removed by your knight, which, how
ever, is at once sacrificed to my rock,
which commands that square if
choose to take him."
THANK you. take your bishop,
then, and offer you this knight, en-
blem of myself"
II am not obliged to take him."
"No; but hope you will not reject
him
a short pause, while the dark, rich
face of the young lady bends studious-
1y over the glittering board of mother
Of-pear and pink cornelian, while the
pallid, russet bearded face Of the gen.
tleman qUivers and wakes paler yet.
"Not obliged to take him." murmurs
the lady again, her white hand hover
ing ever the mimic field of war. "In
fact, if I do, you Will win the game,
in spite Of all your bad play, So"
'Take him-pray, pray do!" almost
whispers her adversary.
J. Miss Cheswick's hand descends on
her rock, and twirling it undecidedly
she lifts her eyes with a look of sur
prise and questioning to Mr.. Stanley's.
care you so very anxious to win a
game of chess?" asks she.
He looks at her silently. That
"white f1ush," as the poet has aptly
called it, is drifting over her counte-
nance. In his eyes there is look Of
which no woman can misunderstood.
"This is but the emblem Of an
other" he says, at last, in a low, but
Intensely passionate tone.
The lady drops her eyes and pond
ers. Her gay smile has faded; there
is a troubled frown family carved
upon her smooth brow.
1--WE will consider this drawn
game" she says, quietly; "and, in
stead of playing another, will, if you
choose, tell you story. 1t will amuse
and-and instruct you"
Pale and hopeless, Mr.. Stanley leans
upon the shining chess-table, with his
eyes half-shaded by his hand.
With quick glance at his detected
attitude, and a deepening of the
troubled frown, the lady speaks.
"Have you ever been at Baden
Baden? But of course you have; who
has not? Do you remember Die
Hohe Felsen' and 'Das Alte Schloss,
on the side of the hill, and how the
road winds down into the valley
through the Black Forest, with the
lovely village lying beneath?"
Some years ago | was spending a
few months at Baden with my moth
err" she glances at her black garments
with heavy sigh, 'who was ordered
there to drink the waters. One aft
ernoon we had driven up to the "Alte
Schloss' and while my mother rested
there I climbed up above to view the
EHohe Felsen.' You know they are
within ten minutes walk of the castle,
and I never dreamed of danger. How
ever, | was mistaken. 1t was so early
in the season that the forest was not
Swarming with tourists and pleasure
parties-in fact, it seemed quite de-
serted.
Il sat down at the foot of one of the
rocks and was soon lost in contempla-
tion of the sublime view below. 1t
was not long before I heard voices,
and, before l could rise from the sort
of niche which l had chosen, two
rough-looking Frenchmen flung them
selves upon the moss within six feet
of me, and, all unaware of my pres
ence, began to discuss a plot which
caused me to tremble with horror.
cit appeared from their converse
tion that a certain baron was becom-
ing celebrated in the Kursaal for his
unprecedented run of luck at the gam
ing tables-that, in fact, the bankers
had that day entreated him to
seek some other field wherein to
pursue his successes, as they were
well-night ruined; that he was, no
consequence, going to leave Baden
Baden, and should drive through the
Black Forest on his way to Freiburg,
starting at midnight.
"The plan of the two robbers (for,
to my terror, l discovered them to be
nothing else) was to waylay the bar
ons carriage near the 'Alte Schloss,
demand his money, and, if he resist
ed, to back the horses over the preci-
pice, and descending after the wreck
help themselves to the plumber. II
was not without much wrangling
however, that they finally agreed upon
this fiendish course of action, and
meantime | crouched in my nook
u,,o1-;o~ Iooct thew should discover