El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-03
The Stolen Wine
A short story.

n ONE of Luebeck's medieval
streets is a big wine shop This
l. house with its pointed gable
facing the street belongs to strange
distant past
..roday. there is another bottle
empty. children" said the old wine
merchant to his clerks in the old
smoky office which looked even darker
than it really was because of its pan
eled walls and ceiling of black Elem
ish oak. That kind OF thing cannot
go on any longer"
They all sat quiet as mice. The ap-
prentices threw back their dark or fair
heads. and the clerks chewed their
I mills but nobody said a word
In the dark cellar were long rows OF
giant casks. Daylight never entered
these deep caves, family illuminated
/ by a smoking oil lamp here and tnere'
To descend into the cellar from the
| garden you first had to enter a small
room, Scantily furnished. with taDleS
! and chairs, the tap room, Irequehteu
/ by shippers and sailors VINO 1ONeu d
! glass of good wine
( on the right were the private apart
( ments of the master, his writing room,
/ then his bedroom and next 10 TINS ms
! wife's room. From the master ped
! room a seemingly endless nall leo 70
/ the rear of the house Wine was
! thousands of bottles, on shelves ana
! in bins among barrels, slaves ana
| cooper's tools, and lar lar away IN q
world of their own were thousands o.
| old bottles dusty and covered with
/ the cobwebs of many decades or even
/ centuries, the treasures OF the ancient
! And from these cataeombs the keys
/ of which were in the masters pocket
+ during the day and hung on nan
| over his head at night another bottle
/ IF wine missing. ana
/ this had been going on Tor many
months.
/ where they slept in three or four
stories, had sliding doors INTO the
| paneIcd wall Often the old man
| nOiselessly opened these doors IN ne
! middle of the night and counted the
sleepers. He spied on the master pin
man and his assistants never had
single mark" been missing from the
till, all were honest, and Stlu there
must be a sneak thief among tnen-
The whole house was like one Dig lam
lily, but who was the black sheep-
One day the master binman became
i'll and was taken to the hospital Inc
very same day a young man, VINO ha9
just returned from France, oIIered
his services He knew everything
about wine for Bordeaux to. Cognae,
where he had spent several years ana
he had splendid letters OF reference
/ the vacant position as head cellar mas
ter and in a few weeks ne IelI thOr-
oughly at home in the old house and
was the favorite OF every BODY
The old man told him about the
mystery of the missing bottle As II
! had happened before his time, ne nat
uraIly could not be the culprlts ana
/ the old merchant trusted MN more
| than any of the Others who all were
under a cloud of suspicion
The daughter of the house, also, the
| beautiful fair haired young Gertrude
had noticed the young cellar master,
who in France had learned gentler
! and more refined manners. Her Dig
I blue eyes had a very tender express
| sion whenever they met his, so 1t was
small wonder that he fell madly IN
love with her. The rules Of the house
and of the times did not permit MN
to address her, though he was dying
( to do so, and, besides he did not nave
! a moments rest and at meal times
they were separated according TO the
In the meantime bottles continued
to disappear Every month a bottle OF
the most precious wine was gone II
I could not be an ordinary thle1, VINO
would probably have been sausIled
I with a JOhannisberger, Chateau
| d'Youen or a 20 years old namelesS
Tokayer Auslese. 1t was century old
bottles which old Wendorff Kept IN
secret hooks that were found opened
and emptied. And there was no trace
The young cellar master swore that
he was going to catch the thief, out
though he lay awake night after night
I he heard nothing and found nothing
but the emptied bottles
Gertrude alone took no interest IN
the mystery. There were dark rings
around her blue eyes and her cheeks
were pale. Was she perhaps consumed
with secret longing for the young
, cellar master who had learnt TO love
in France and who was thinking OF
/ leaving the gloomy old Hansa town
, for sunny France once more?
| Another month passed 1t was full
| moon and Gertrude's birthday was
] anOroap ching It to be celebrated
by all. young and old.
The night before that day, the new
scattered flour all along the passages
{ ! and was hiding between two Big Oarreis
with his tinderbox in his hand sud
denly he hard faint tootIall ana
| of a candle screened by small white
t hand. It was a girl
{ The young man felt ike rusnlns
p | up to her and telling her OF ms pas
/ | sionate love, but then he realized that
: I she was walking in her sleep and t1iit
it might cause her harm were he TO
! She went into the inner cellar, stayed
5 ! there a while and returned with
5 flushed cheeks and wide open, un-
( seeing eyes She walked straight TO
? the door leading to her fathers bed
. | room and disappeared
t The cellar master went into the in
: ner cellar where he found her tracks
! in the floor leading to a cupboard
! On shelf was a half empty bottle
l | of their most precious -rhiEewine and
on the floor a bunch of keys and a
= | blue ribbon tied in a bow.
e In the morning old WendOrf was
D ! more mystified than ever, for today
! ! it was not only a bottle but his whole
4 | bunch of keys that was missing
The cellar master entered and asked
( permission to give Gertrude a pres
2 ! ent.
: He handed her a small parcel and
S | when she opened the box she found a
D | bouquet of beautiful roses. bunch
of rusty keys ana a blue silk bow
She Immediately recognized her rib
S / bon which she wore only nights. just
as her father recognized his keys, and