The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-02-03

can help me-"
"Perhaps he CAM" the count saw
daylight again, lit will so vast a pleas
ure be for him."
1T is very important" said I.
"Of course-of course. l will tele-
phone at once to the baron that he
shall here come"
The count retired into the telephone
box. Presently he emerged. "Alas,"
he murmured again, 1.-The baron is in
conference with the secretary of agri>
culture until IL O'clock The hour il
not harmonious with him, fraulein."
Where will he be this afternoon?"
~ will to Herr Walters telephone i'm
mediately, fraulein, and learn"
Again the count telephoned. "He
will be in his lodgings on Connecticut
avenue, near L street, at three o'clock,
fraulein. To make this certain, Herr
Walters will telephone him to be there
and myself will telepho one to the agri-
cultural department., and then, frau
lein, if you will be so kind as to leaf
your number, I shall there send word
to you that the appointment may be
definitely arranged, and will tell Herr
Walters to do the same I am sorry,
fraulein, that this does occasion for
you one worry, but it is all that can
be done just now, is it not, fraulein?
Or is there more that I may do?"
/ thanked him and said, perhaps
another time"
AS he held open the door for me, he
bowed many more times and mur-
INJURED low:
Il only hope, fraulein, that there
may another time be!'
AS it was then II o'clock, I decided
to walk to the agricultural department
leisurely and corral Baron Gustave ii
possible before he got away to his lodg-
ings. Alas! as my Siegfried said, he
too had come, und he had gone! The
secretary laughed and told me he was
mighty sorry, but he could not help
it-that at least five telephone mes
sages from the embassy had come for
the baron while he was in his office,
and that Prussian gentleman, excitable
at all times, had become quite un-
manageable and had left 20 minutes
before. The secretary was good
enough to detail clerk to locate the
baron for me, while he joyfully rem
dered statistics on the point in Ques-
ton. He gave me the thrilling news
that our egg crop exceeded in value the
country's combined gold and silver
output since 1850; that our American
hens laid during the last fiscal year,
] ,29O, 100000 of eggs; that we have in
the United States 81 standard varie-
ties of chickens. He even presented me
with pictures of all the various kinds
OF hens, the very ones he had given
to the baron and the freiherr the day
before. 1t seemed that all these de-
partment figures had quite staggered
the Prussians. Fhe secretary said that
Baron Gustave had told him with tears
in his eyes, in the presence of the frei-
herr. that the hens in Germany would
not lay, and that every egg in the en-
pire had to be imported from Hun
gary.
'The baron also stated" remarked
the secretary dryly. that he was
charmed with the American hen. only
tee that she would keep up her model
standard in Germany-which Informal
ton I will ask you to use at your dis
cretion."
BY this time the clerk reported that
the embassy said the baron was at the
club, the club said he was at the lodg-
ings and the lodgings said he was at
the embassy.
I returned to the Office and there I
found enough messages to float
dozen barons. The first four actually
stated that the Count Karl Josef Will
helm Won Steinwartz-Linstow was do
ing all in his power. The last one from
me that the baron was at lunch at
the Metropolitan club, and would como
to his lodging at three by the clock,
according to the hour named, where
he would be charmed. An hour later
I was again called up, Herr Walters
asking in a heart-rending tone if
could not possibly make the appoint
AACAO a. t"O 1uSIedu VI IuICS NY
clock, and I replied that I could. l
took a car in time to make the lodg-
ing at the hour named. when, as luck
would have it, the fuse burned out and
l had to get out and walk, so it was
slightly after two when I reached the
lodgings.
This was a two-story, pressed brick
building, painted pale yellow with gin
ger-bread trimmings, opposite the con-
vent on Connecticut avenue. The first
floor was devoted to Turkish baths.
On the second fiourished the baron and
his suite. I went up a long flight Of
dark stairs and reached a gloomy hall
with crimson hangings and a few old
guns and shields for armorial effect
A small, stout gentleman in an en-
broidered smoking jacket opened the
door. His hair was perfectly erect
over his mushroom brow. 1t was Herr
Walters.
Zach! you vas der LADY," he cried,
"und der baron on der ferry instant