The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-27

the dining hall. The logs are laid and
we can light the fire. You will call me
| if there is any alarm. What can you
give me for supper-you?"
sAlas, monsieur, there was time
when I might have answered, What
you wish!' but nows-it is all that We
can do to find a bottleNofs new claret
and cold pullet."
THAT will do very WE'LL Lef9a guard
go about with him, .sergeantY and let
| him feel the end of bay01aet If he
| plays us any tricks" Xxi. ~
| Capt. Baumgarten was q Old cam
| paigner In the eastern pfoNInces and
before that in Bohernia he had learned
| the art of quartering himse1 upon the
| enemy. While the butler bFought his
! supper he occupied himself in making
| his preparations for a comfortable
night He lit the candelabrum of ten
! candles upon the center table. The fire
was already burning up, cracking mer-
rily, and sending spurtS of blue, pun
| gent smoke into the room. He was
tired and hungry after his long tramp,
/ so he threw his sword, his helmet and
| his revolver belt down upon chair
and fell to eagerly upon his supper.
| Then, with his glass of wine before
him, and his cigar between his lips, he
| tilted his chair back, bordering over
| the strange chance which had sent him,
man from the Baltic coast to eat his
supper in the ancestral hall of these
proud Norman chieftains. But the fire
was hot, and the captains eyes were
| heavy. His chin sank slowly upon his
chest, and the ten candles cleaned
upon the. broad white scalp.
Suddenly slight noise brought him
| to his feet. For an instant it seemed
| to his dazed senses that one of the
] pictures opposite had walked from it's
! frame There, beside the table, and
| almost within arms length of his, was
standing a huge man, silent, notion
less, with no sign of life save his fierce,
glittering eyes. He was blaek-haired,
| olive-skinned, with a pointed tuft of
black beard and a great, fierce nose,
! toward which all his features seemed
to run. His cheeks were wrinkled like
a last years apple, but his sweep of
| shoulder and bony, corded hands told
/ of a strength which was unsapped by
age His arms were folded across
his arching chest and his mouth was
set in fixed smile.
PRAY do not trouble yourself to look
for your weapons, he said as he
Prussian cast a swift glance at the
empty chair in which they had been
laid. 'sYou have been, if. you will al
low me so say SO, little indiscreet to
| make yourself so much at home in a
i house every wall OF which is money
combed with secret passages. You will
/ be amused to hear that forty men were
watching you at your supper. All!
| what them"
Capt Baumgarten had taken step
forward with cIenched fists. The
Frenchman held up the revolver which
he grasped in his right hand while
with the left he hurled the German
back into his chair.
Pray keep your seat" said he. .You
/ have no cause to trouble about your
men. They have already been provided
/ for 1t is astonishing with these stone
floors how little one can hear what goes
on beneath. You have been relieved
Z. of your command, and have now only
to think of yourself. May / ask what
your name is?"
81 am Capt. Baumgarten, of the
Twenty fourth Posen regiment"
''You know, doubtless, who it is who
addresses your
1.-THE Count of Chateau Nor.'
precisely. It would have been a mis-
fortune ii. you had visited my chateau
and had been unable to have word with
i you. l have had to do with many German
soldiers, but never with an officer before
have much to talk to you about
i Capt. Baumgarten sat still in his chair
Brave as he was, there was something III
this mans manner which made his Skin