Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-21

of the two sons, to Linz with instructions
| to procure artisans who could be depend
/ ed upon to undo the ravages of time to a
| certain extent.
My friends. abhorring rheumatism and
/ like complaints, refused to sleep over
night in the drafty, almost paneless
1 structure. They came over to see me on
| the ensuing day and begged me to return
to Vienna with them. But. full of the
project in hand, / would not be moved
/ With the house full Of carpenters. black
smiths, masons. locksmiths, tinsmiths
| plumbers. plasterers, glaciers, joiners
that / couldn't 60 away and leave 1t
without q controlling influence. They
/ promised to come and make me a nice
short visit however, after I'd got the
castle primped up bit-the mold off the
walls of the bedrooms and the great fire
/ places thoroughly cleared of obstructive
swallows nests, the beds aired and the
/ harder stocked
/ A day or two later the castle was
swarmng with wor!Smen- The banging
of hammers, the rasp Of saws. the spat-
! tering of mortar, the crashing of stone
and the fumes of charcoal crucfbles eX-
tended to the remotest recesses. The
Tower of Babel was being reconstructed
| in the language of six or eight nations
and everybody was happy / had no idea
! there were so many tinsmiths in the
world. Every artisan in the town across
| the river seems to have felt it his duty
1
] in the enterprise. There were so many of
them that they We're constantly getting
in one another's way and quarreiing over
matters of jurisdiction with even more
spirit than We might expect to encounter
among the labor unions at home.
Poppendyke. my secretary, in great dis
tress of mind. notified me on the fourth
day of rehabilitation that the cost of Ia
! Dor as we'll as living had gone up ap-
preciabiy since our installation; in fact,
| it had doubled
You will be surprised to know Mr..
+! Smart" he said. consulting his sheets.
| that scrubwomen are getting more here
| than they do in New York city, and / am
/ convinced that there are more scrubwom-
| en-. Today we had thirty new ones
scrubbins the loggia on the gunroom
floor, and they all seem to have appren-
| tees working under them The carpenters
and piasterers were not SO numerous to-
day. / paid them off last night, you see. 1t
may interest you to hear that their wages
for three days amounted to nearly 800
in our money, to say nothing OF materials
and breakage.''
"Breakage"' 1 exclaimed in surprise.
Yes, sir. breakage. They break nearly
as much as they mend Well-We IL go
bankrupt sir, if we're not careful.
Never mind" l said. well soon be
rid of them
They've got it in their heads, sir, that
! it will take at least year to finish
| the"
You tell the foreman that if the job
| isn't finished to our satisfaction by the
| end of the month I'll fire all or them,
J said l wrathfuly.
That's less than three week off. Mr.
| Smart. They don't seem to be making
much headway.''
We'll, you tell 'em, just the same"
| by the way. old man SchInick and his
family haven't been paid for nearly t two
years. They have put in a claim. The
| late owner assured them they'd get their
! money from the next
/ Discharge them at once, said !!
We can't get on without tsa Them Them % pro o.
speak, and. what's more to the point,
| they know all the keys Yesterday was
| nearly two hours in getting to the kitchen
for conference with Mrs Schmick about
couldn't find the way, and In the second
! place all the doors are locked.
please send Herr Schmick to me in
them the I couldn't recall the name
| of the administration chamber at the
| head of the grand staircase. so l was
| compelled to say. .I'll see him here.
eff we lose them we also are lost, was
| his sententious declaration. beheVeo
| him.
| That evening, after the workmen had
/ fled down the steep looking for all the
1 world like al evacuating army, l sought
/ a few moments of peace and quiet In the
/ small balcony outside my bedroom VIM
! dows Ny room was in the western wing
/ of the castle. facing the river. The east
/ ern wing mounted even higher than the
1 one in which we We're living, and was
| topped by the Hottest watch tower OF
/ them ALL We had not attempted to do
] any work over in that section as yet.
| for the simple reason that Herr Schmick
/ cou dn't find the keys to the doors
! The sun was disappearing beyond the
! highland and a cool. soft breeze swept
j up through the valley. l leaned back IN
| comfortable chair that Britton, my
/ valet, had selected for me, and pulled
/, at my pipe. not quite sure that my seren-
/ ity was real or assumed. This was all
costing me a pretty penny. Was l, after
i ALL parting with my money in the way
| prescribed for fools? Was all this splen-
| did antiquity worth the
/ MY reflections terminated sharply at
that critical instant, and / found myse
| staring If stupefied at the white figure
! of woman who stood in the topmost
| balcony of the eastern wing, fully re-
, vealed by the last glow of the sun. and
/ apparently as deep in dreams as l had
| been the instant before.