Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-12-24
AN EYENTFUL
CHRISTMAS
II UniteS a Pair of
Lovers.
By WILLARD MALTBIE

Count Caspar Gotwald at twenty-one
came into his ancestral estates. AS
for family responsibility, his inner
itance was large; landed property
and money were inVersely small. In
his fathers time the schloss that had
been in the family for hundreds of
years had passed into the possession
Of an American millionaire. When
Caspar received his inheritance it was
the remains of everything the family
had owned turned into money and in
American currency amounted to about
$4,000
The young man concluded that he
might as well avail himself of the
only other asset in his posseSSiOn-an
entry into the court circle of Berlin.
The funds at his command would en-
able him to keep such a position
through one season, after which he
would go to some country where he
would not be known and make a liv
ing the best way he could
Had he realized that he would great
ly need this money in the new field.
that it's possession would be great
advantage to any one knowing how to
handle it, doubtless he would have
foregone this plan of brief career in
the gay world at Berlin and held on to
his funds. But Count Caspar was as
ignorant of business as child, and it
is quite probable that considering this
ignorance, had he retained his inner
itance, he would not have had the
slightest knowledge of how to use it
to advantage.
So it was that one autumn Count
Caspar Gotwald appeared in Berlin,
presented his credentials and made his
appearance in that exclusive society
presided over by the kaiser and the
kaiserin. He was the handsomest man
in the court circle that winter, the
most entertaining conversationalista and
the best dancer. All the women were
in love with him. Yet, singular as it
may appear, he seemed to have no fac
ulty for lettering his financial condi-
ton by marrying fortune. which he
might easily have done.
For this there was a reason. Among
those who entered Berlin society that
year was an American family named
Rathbone. Winifred Rathbone then
saw the gay world for the first time
as young lady. Her father was Il
retired banker and rich. The young
count met her and was conquered
During the whole season he was sub
servient to her beck and CALL But
when the spring opened he was not be-
trothed to her and had thrown over
half a dozen women any one of whom
would have been glad to marry him.
After the departure of the fair Wini-
fred. Baron Geralt, one of Count Cas-
paris intimate friends who knew OF
his necessities, took him to task for
having wasted his opportunities.
"Since you could not get the Ameri-
can. why did you not take one of the
other women who were dying for
your
II did not ask Miss Rathbone to
marry me-"
did not ask herr"
mo In America they do not make
WI
sidered beneath a man who has moth
ing to ask woman of wealth to mar
ry him."
'Then why did you not ask the Bar
oness Richter?"
81 did not wish to marry the bar
oness, and | do not know that the
baroness wished to marry me-"
"Caspar, you talk like fool"
Nevertheless l am gentleman, and
my ancestors have been honorable
men. l cannot offer myself and my
poverty to any woman in whose coun-
try a man without the means of sup
porting himself is demeaned by tax
ing rich wife,
"Well," concluded the baron, "since
YOU won't marry the American be-
cause you are poor and will not marry
one of your own cOuntrywomen who
is rich l don't see what you are going
to do
81 am going to America to lose my
self among the 100000 people there
are there"
"How will you make a iving?
"By doing anything l can find to do
what, a count work?"
81 shall drop my title. ! shall be
Caspar GOtwald."
''Count, you are mad. Drop this non
sense. Marry the Baroness Richter.
True, she is forty and homely, but she
has fortune that will enable you to
maintain the position to which you
were born. But if you prefer one OF
the others with blood Of lighter hue.
there is FrauIein Adelaide
"Do not compel me to say that do
not want any Of these women. My
mind is made up Within month
shall have been forgotten in Berlin.
The Rathbone family Of Chicago
were preparing for Christmas. 1t hap
pened that some persons who had en-
tertained them in London were on their
way to India via America and the Pa