Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-10-27


think of"
Pardon me Anna Maria"-the
words sounded almost solemn was
present when your dying mother took
from Klaus his promise never to leave
you, always to protect you. But at
the same time to forbid him to love
another woman, woman whom his
heart might choose, she surely did not
intend."
Aunt Rosamond." cried the girl,
almost threateningly.
/ mo, my child, | repeat it, your
mother was much too wise, much too
just, to wish such thing; she was
too happy in her own marriage to
wish ner children But, mon Dieu
| am exciting myself quite uselessly;
you have such totally false concep-
ton of this promise"
"Klause told me so himself Aun,
Rosamond," declared the girl, in a
tone which made contradiction i'm
possible.
Aunt Rosamond was silent; she
knew well that all talking would be
vain, and that nothing in the world
could convince Anna Maria that any
object worthy of love beside her be-
loved brother could exist. Nous
verrons, ma petite" thought she, you
will not be spared the experience
either!"
And now her thoughts wandered
far back into the past, to the night
when Anna Maria was born A ter
rible night And as they passed on,
there came day still more terrible;
in the heavy wooden cradle, adorned
with crests, lay, indeed, the sweetly
sleeping child, but the mothers eyes
had closed forever, not, however,
without first looking, with a fervid,
anguisheG expression, at the little
creature that must go through life
without mothers love And beside
her bed had knelt boy of fifteen,
who had to promise over and over
again to love the little sister, and pro-
tect and shield her
How often had Aunt Rosamond told
this to the child as she grew up;
how often described to her how she
hou bCCh DdptlEcu ny 1ST E1OlneT'
coffin, how her brother had held hel
in his arms and pressed her so closely
to MIN, and wept so bitterly. Indeed
indeed, there was not another brother
, like Klaus Won Hegewith, that Aunt
Rosamond knew best of all.
She remembered how he had watch.
ed for nights at the child's bed when
she lay i'll with measles; with what
y unwearied patience he had borne with
: her Whims, now even as then; how
= carefully he had marked out a course
of instruction and selected teachers
3 for her, lookedup lectures for her, read
: and rode with her, and did everything
, that the most careful parental love
alone can do, and even more-much
r more! Indeed, Anna Maria knew
nothing of parents love; the father
1 had always been peculiar person
| especially so after the death of his
! wife: 1t almost seemed as if he could
4 not love the child whose life had cos,
4 a life. He was rarely at home: hall
the year he lived in Berlin, coming
back to the old manor-house only at
a the hunting season. But never alone;
4 he was always accompanied by a
;, young man, Baron Sturmer, owner
i of the neighboring estate of Dambitz,
r and two years older than Klaus.
S 1t was a singular friendship which
r had existed between these two men
d Hegewitz, well on in the sixties
e gloomy and unsociable, and from his
e youth distrustful of every one, and
e not even amiable toward his own
l. children, was affable only to his
friend, so mech younger. To this mo
y mept Aunt Rosamond distinctly re
T. membered the pale, nobly-formed face
n with the fiery brown eyes and the
n dark hair. How gratefully she re
membered him! He had been the
only one who understood how tc
mediate between father and son, the
+: only one who, with admirable firm
d ness, had again and again led the
;, struggling little girl to her father;
and ne did all this out of that in
r, comprehensive friendship. The two
n used to play chess together late into
e tho night; they rode and hunted to
v gether; and still one other passion
I united them-they collected an
= tiquities.
They searched the towns Anc
n villages for miles about for old carved
chests. clocks, porcelain and pictures
and would dispute all night as e
= whether a certain picture, bought al
L an auction, was by this or that master
whether it was an original or a copy
q They often remained away for days or
;, their excursions, and the treasures
\ they won were then artistically ar
p? ranged in a tower-room-"a regular
Z rag-shop." Aunt Rosamond had once
said in banter. Il only wonder they
don't get me too for this Collection
u Antique" After the death of Hege
/ witz this really valuable collection
o was found to be made over by will, tC
Baron Sturmer, because Klaus die
e not understand such things" Stur
I, mer accepted the bequef., but he hac