The Washington times., 1909-10-17

the place. TO his intense chagrin. he
had found the quaint old city very
uresome True IL was wonderful old
town, rich in tradition. picturesque in
character, hOary with Gge, bulging with
the secrets Of an active past: but at
present according to the well Travelled
TruNtou, IL was a pol<y old place about
which historians either had lied slori-
ously OF had been taken In shamelessly-
In either case. Edelweiss was not what
he had come to believe it would be. He
had travelled overland for nearly a
month, out of tho heart of Asia, = find
himself, after all. i'm a graveyard of
great expectations
He had explored EdeIweiss, the CAPT
tai He had ridden about the ramparts;
he had taken snapshots Of the fortress
down the river and had not BEEN mo-
Tested, he had gone mUle-back up the
mountain to the sHOw-capped monastery
Of ST. Valentine, overlapping and over
looking the green valleys below; he
had seen the tower in which iUustriOus
prisoners We're reported 20 have been
held; he had ridden over the Kings road
10 Ganlook anG had stood on American
bridges at miduiSEt-ali the while won
deTlng why he was there. Moreover
he had traversed the narrow, winding
streets of the city by day and night,
never in all his travels, had he encoun-
tered a more peaceful less spirit-stir-
ring place or populace.
Every body was busy, and thrifty, and
law abiding. He might just as well
have gone to Prague or Nuremberg
either was as old ,nd as quaint and as
stupid as this lukewarm city i'm the
hills
Where were the beautiful women ne
had read about and dreamed Of ever
since ne left Teheran? On his soul. he
had not seen half a dozen women in
Edelweiss who were more than passably
fair to look upon True, ne had to
admit. the people he had seen were OF
the lower and middle cIasses-the shop
keepers and the shop girls. the buck
sJeTs and the fruit vendors What he
wanted to know was this: What had
become Of the royalty and the nobility
Of Graustark? Where were the princes
the dukes, and the barons, to say moth
ing of the feminine cOnCOmitants to
these excellent gentlemen
What iTritated him most or all was
the amazing discovery that there was
a Cooks tourist office I'm town and
departed under his very nose, all mildly
exhilarated over the fact that they had
seen Graustark, Tie Interpreter with
Cooks" on his eel o. was quite the
most important. IL quite the least I'M
pressive. parsonage In town. Il IS no
wonder that this experienced globe
trotter was Disguised.
There was a train 10 Vienna three
times a week. He made up his mind
that he would not let the Saturday
express go down without him. He had
done some emphatic sputtering be
cause he had neglected to take the
one on Thursday.
Stunning the newly discovered
American Club, in Castle avenue. as
If it were a pesth0use. he lugubri-
ously wandered the streets alone.
painfully conscious that the citizens.
instead OF staring at him with admir-
ing eyes, were taking but little notice
Of him. Tail Young Americans We're
quite common ia Edelweiss in these
days.
one dingy Hrtle shop ia the square
interested him. tt was directly on
posite the RC-aI Cafe with Ameri-
can bar attact ed. and the contents
Of its grimy little windows presented
q peculiarly fascinating interest 10
him. Time and again he crossed over
from the cafe garden 70 look into
these windows. They were packed
with weapons and firearms Of such
ancient design that he wondered what
they could have been used for. even
IN the Middle Ages. Once he ven
tured inside The little shop. Finding
no attendant. he put aside his sud
denly formed impulse to purchase a
mighty broadsword. From some
where IN the rear Of the building came
the Changing of steel hammers, the
ringing Of highly tempered metals:
but. although he pounded vigorously
with his cane. NO one came forth to
attend him.
On several occa sions he lad seen a
grim, shsrp-featured Old man in the
doorway Of the shop. but It was not
until after he had missed the Thursday
train that he made up his mind TO
accost him and t5 have the broadsword
at any price. With this object in view,
ne quickly crossed the square and in
serted mis- tall frame into the narrow
doorway, calling ont Justify Tor atten-
ton So loudly did ne shout that the