The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-05-16

| played no trick upon you cried Lies
who was still very pale.
I'VE have both been self-deceived.
did not understand that you thought
was my cousins wife till couple O.
| hours ago. when we were waiting FOL
the rest Of our party snd your allusior
last night to the barrier which yoI
knew existed between us. made m,
think you were yourself married.
1T was awkward Immediately tx
explain. I thought it would be better
--less-less terrible to write. Pray for.
| give"
"Meine Geliebte, interrupted Stein.
hansen, trying to find her hand among
the furs in which she was wrapped
''the knowledge that you are free is
too delicious to leave room for any
thing but delight.
81 breathe, ! hope again; tell me-
tell me how ali this tissue Of mistakes
arose."
He had found the hand, which, after
moments hesitation, was gently
withdrawn.
when the Frau Burgomeister pre-
scented you to us last night, you must
have taken Gretchen for Fraulein and
myself for Frau Cheering, and nothing
occurred to correct the error.
my own conduct must have con-
firmed you in your mistake"
II see it all" cried Steinhausen; ''but
go on, explain everything, the old mys-
terry which SO puzzled me at Berg
fielder"
"Ah! that is long story" replied
his companion, the color coming back
to her cheeks, and sweet, conscious
smile to her lips, as she proceeded to
relate the history, interrupted by per-
tinent questions from Steinhausen,
which drew out minuter details.
Lies, it appeared, had sister a few
years older than herself, to whom she
had been fOndly attached, and whom
she closely resembled.
This sister was early married to her
cousin, the Hauptmann Ghering-a
very happy but short-lived union.
At the end of two years the young
wife was carried off by fever, leaving
an infant daughter first to aniict and
then to comfort the bereaved father.
About year and a half after the
death Of her sister, Lies was greatly
surprised by proposal from her
cousin that she should be that sisters
successor, and mother to the little
niece she cherished so fondly.
In Germany such proposition had in
it nothing revolving, and although Lies
at first, from personal Discrimination,
rejected her brother-in-law's offer, she
was over-persuaded, especially by her
mother. to accept it, stipulating only
that the engagement almost as serious
an affair in Germany as marriage)
should not be formally announced until
the second year of her brother-in-law's
widowhood had elapsed.
Before that period, strong convic-
tion had grown upon her that she
could not and ought not to complete
the sacrifice urged upon her by her
family.
AT length, by tremendous effort OF
moral courage, she brought herself to
explain her difficulties to the Haupt-
mann himself
A most painful struggle ensued, for
the unhappy widower was more in
leve with her than she believed, and
angry beyond description at his dis
The war of '66 broke out at this
juncture Of the family history, and
Lies had first to endure the great trial
Of parting on unfriendly terms from
her cousin, for whom she had sin
cere sisterly regard. and then the fur
Their grief, when he lay severely
wounded after Koniggratz, Of his re-
fusal to permit her to go and nurse
him, or to come to Villa Bellevue, that
the whole family might care for and
tend him.
In this depressed mood, saddened
and sobered by the disappointment she
had caused every one, she was reused
to little of her old playfulness by
Clarchen's report of the curiosity re-
specting herself expressed by the
rrussian Rittmeister when looking at
her photograph, and which the little
Backfschchen accidentally over
heard.
Lies determined that the intruder
SHOULD not be gratihed, and gave the
strict injunctions to that eff
feet.
Accident, and her father and mothers
warm sympathy with the rejected
assisted her game, which
the unexpected fire and earnestness Of |
her Prussian admirer made more ear
nest than she had anticipated.
Having once mystified him, she was
to explain, and his evident
half alarmed, half interested
her.
So much she could not help acknowl-
edging.
Many anxieties and serious losses
the disappearance Of the
Prussian troops, and amid this gen
eral gloom her only CLEAN Of comfort
was the announcement of her cousin
and brother-in-law's engagement to
pretty Silesian girl, a relative Of the
Burgomeister, and the consequent res
toration of the frank friendIiness
which used to exist between them.
Herr Hauptmann Cheering had been
about a year married, and this was
Lies first visit to her kinsman in his
new home.
All 4his ana v,no,w v,o,.~ - ~; r.r,tove