The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-10-04

| tDe LOfelel.
The Lorelei." exclaimed Bishuif.
You tell your experience as if 1t had
really happened The Lorelei is a
myth"
Call her what you like. don't
wish any more of her. I'll take some
of that punch. | need a bracer after
my narrow escape"
Taking mug from the mantel. he
poured out some of the liquor and
drank it of
"One would judge from the way you
conduct yourself" said Bishoff, that
you are at home here"
II am"
What do you mean?" snapped Bish-
off angrily. b..
"Oh. don't get huffy. Let us enjoy
ourselves together" Then, noticing a
chessboard and chessmen on a table.
he added
DO you play chess?"
YES"
"Well. there is no better way of
spending an evening. Let us have a
game"
He took up the chessboard. set the
pitcher of punch aside, placed the
board on the table, arranged the men.
Without saying by your leave" he
| took the first move. Bishoff, wonder
ing at the mans audacity, lowered his
| eyes to the chessboard and soon forgot
/ his astonishment in the game. He saw
at once that the stranger was an ex
cellent player. The game was long
one. and for some time neither gained
an advantages; then Bishoff. thinking
he saw way to checkmate his an
tagonist. moved and looked up at his
antagonist as if to say, "I'll soon have
you now, my fine fellow"
The stranger looked up, too. and
with a low laugh turned his head
toward the picture of the chess play
ers that hung over the chimneypiece.
| Bishoff glanced from the board to the
picture then back to the board. He
started. The chessmen were in the
same position as in the painting, Bish-
off having the advantage. And then it
dawned on Bishoff that his visitor and
the man with the red beard were one
and the same
II will checkmate you in six moves"
said the stranger.
"You mean that will checkmate
you in six moves" said Bishoff.
This against your castle that it is
who checkmates you" He drew forth
a draft for 10000 marks on a bank in
Cologne.
Done" said Bishoff.
His opponent took up a piece and
moved it like. an automaton. Bishoff
moved again. On the strangers fourth
move something Bishoff had never
counted on happened. 1t seemed TO
him that the tables were turned. Aft
er a long time he moved. The stran-
ger moved again. Bishoff, who now
lost his head, moved for the fifth time.
"Checkmate!" said the stranger,
moving.
You've won; the castle is yours"
gasped Bishoff.
The stranger chuckled.
"All this is very queer!' gasped the
American, staring at the man with
eyes as big as butter plates.
You are mistaken. Nothing is queer.
What is, is. You have only certain
relations with the world of which you
are conscious. You think the past is
dead. Nothing is dead. Everything
always lives, but all things change.
Good night. This castle is now mine,
but | leave you in possession for the
present"
That's all Bishoff remembers of that
memorable evening. The next morn
ing he awoke sitting in his chair. The
fire had gone out. and he was shiver-
ing. He left without even waiting for
breakfast and offered the castle for
sale. An agent found purchaser, and
before Bishoff returned to America he
met the man in the agents Office to
complete the sale.
He nearly tainted on recognizing in
the new owner his visitor who had
checkmated him at chess.
While the papers were being made
out and the signatures appended Bish-
off continued to stare at the purchaser,
who gave no sign of ever having seen
him before. The man was in modern
dress. and his beard though red, was
cropped close. He had lost everything
of his old fashioned appearance in the
picture. In other words, he seemed to
have been taken out of the fifteenth
or sixteenth century and dropped into
the tweISeth
"Have you ever been in the castle?
Bishoff asked him
mo. / do not live in Germany.
have since my boyhood been in bust
ness in South America. 1t is there
that I have acquired the means to re
cover the home of my ancestors"
At this point the agent finished work
ing on the papers and said:
"BarA Becker comes into his own
after maRy centuries. He is linea
descendant of the original baron who
built the castle. 1t was lost some 40C
years ago at a game of chess. There
is a legend that a descendant of its