Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1906-11-02

4
tell me how all this tissue Of mistakes
arose"
He had found the hand, which, after
a moments hesitation. was gently
withdrawn.
"When the Frau Burgomeister pre-
sented 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"
"Ahl that is long story" replied
bis companion, the color coming back
to her cheeks, and sweet, conscious
smile 10 her lips, as she proceeded to
relate the history, interrupted by per-
tnent questions from Steinhausen,
which drew out minuter details.
Lies, it appeared. had a 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 of by fever, leaving
an infant daughter first to affllct and
then to comfort the bereayed father.
About a year and a half after the
death of her sister, Lies was greatly
surprised by a proposal from her
cousin that she should be that sisters
successor, and mother to the little
niece she cherished so fondly.
In Germany such n proposition had In
It nothing revolving, and although Lies
at first, from personal disjDclination,
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 a marriage)
should not be formally announced until
the second year of her brother-in-law's
*idowhood had elapsed.
| Before that period, a strong eonvic-
ton 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
love with her than she believed. and
angry beyond description at his dis
appointment
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 a sin
eere sisterly regard, and then the fur
ther grief, when he lay severely
wounded after Koniggratz, of his re-
fusal to permit her to so 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 a little of her old pIayfulness by
Clarchen's report Of the curiosity re-
specting herself expressed by the
Prussian Rittmeister when looking at
her photograph, and which the little
Back1sehchen accidentally over
heard.
Lies determined that the intruder
should not be gratifed, and gave the
servants strict injuactions to that eff
feet.
Accident, and her father and mothers
warm sympathy with the rejected
.Hauptmann, assisted her game, which
the unexpected fire and earnestness Of
her Prussian admirer made more ear
nest than she had anticipated.
Having once mystifed him, she was
ashamed to explain, and his evident
sincerity half alarmed, half interested
her.
so much she could not help acknowI.
edging.
Many anxielles and serious losses
followed 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 sieslan girl, a relative of the
Burgomelster, and the consequent res
toratlon Of the frank friendliness
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 this, and many more particulars,
answers to Steinhausen's questions
and minor explanations, occupied al
most all the drive back.
They were already over the bridge
when Lies voice sank into silence.
"Tell me-" asked Steinhausen, who
had again taken the reius, did you
ever think without Indignation of the
audacious enemy who dared to speak
to you of 1--we on scarce twenty-four
hours acquaintance?
81 confess the memory of it appalls
myself. Yet. meme Liebe. liehe Lies,
it was a true instinct. which urged me
to grasp the jewel that seemed within
my reach.
"Haye you forgiven me yet:'
"Ah, yes," said Lies, and there was a
sound of tears in her voice.
"You We're abrupt. and-and perhaps
audacious: but l think you were more
in earnest than l then believed"
"And l am as earnest now as then.
81 am no longer a foe. Prussian,
and Saxon, and Bayarian-we have
fought side by side; we have suffered
and conquered together.
you have surely learned to look on
me as eountryman; take me for
something closer and dearer stin."
But after ALL Herr Major" she re