The Tupelo journal., 1915-07-16
The Castle
Clock
BY JOHN Y. LARNED

- .~ R~0
distant connection who had never seen
him or his abode. The young man
who succeeded to the title and the
property. Adolf Herzog. or receipt
Of notification of his relatives death
and his own ascension to the estate.
went to the schloss and took up his
abode there. He found Hans SchlOtter,
an old servitor. in charge of the place,
who showed him his domicile and gave
him a minute account Of everything
In it. for Schlotter had been there ever
since he was born and for many years
had been the major domo.
"That clock" he said, referring to a
timepiece some six feet In height and
In breadth and thickness the size Of a
coffin for an adult, has stood there
ever since the schloss was built, now
nearly 200 years ago. 1t has foretold
the death of every count since the first.
WHO was ennobled on account of his
services In battle"
WHAT exclaimed the young man,
with a shudder. "Foretold death!
How did it do that?'
II cannot tell you,' replied the old
man. "All / know is that two counts
have died while | have lived here. One
OF them told my father that he was
going to die. the clock having warned
him of his approaching end. The 9th
er, he who died a few weeks ago. told
me the same thing with regard to him.
self. But there is nothing remarkable
about this, for there is a tradition that
the clock will foretell the death of the
incumbent count till the schloss Is a
ruin"
Count Adolf said nothing In reply to
this information, but it affected him
very sensibly. Soon after becoming
domesticated in his new home he found
himself constantly looking for some
sign from the clock that could be in
terpreted as an indication that his end
was near. 1t would seem rather that
the clock should be looking for signs
of its own decay. because 1t was very
old while the count was young and
healthy.
Count Adolf was betrothed when he
acceded to the property to Bertha Won
Holwig, whom he married oon after
his accession and took her there to
live. Not wishing that she should be
aware of his uncomfortable feelings oc-
| casioned by the tradition he said moth
ing to her about. 1t. But it was not
long before the young countess saw
that something unpleasant was affect
ing her husband. and in time she sur
missed that it was the clock. For she
natica1 that her husband was often
WYaeful, and whenever that occurred
be told her he wished it would not
tick so loud.
IS One night when Count Adolf was not
feeling well. after he had gone to sleep
his wife arose. slipped downstairs n
stopped the pendulum. Then she went
back to bed. The reason she did this
was that she feared if her husband
awoke and heard the ticking he would
be annoyed by it. In the middle OF
the night the count awoke, feverish
and in pain.
Immediately he noticed that the clock
was silent. Had he been in a normal
condition he would doubtless have
thought it had run down, though 1t
had never beer known to ran down..
for Hans Schlotter attended to its
winding and had done so for half a
century. He boaSted that in all these
years he had never permitted 1t to
run down but once. though he admit
ted that this had occurred shortly be-
fore Count kerchoff's death.
Unfortunately the old man had tod
this 70 his young master. Therefore
when Count Adolf awoke feeling i'll
and did not near the ticking of the
clock he at once inferred that Its ceas-
ing presaged his death. Having al
WAYS concealed what troubled him
from his wife. fearing that she would
conceive a contempt for him on &C
count of it. he did not now reveal 1t
to her. But he awoke her and told her
that he feared he was going to die.
The countess at once awoke the serv-
ants and sent for a doctor, who found
the count in a state of collapse. He
could not tell Will was thS uteS
with his patient. for all his organs
seemed to be in fairly good working
order. The counts nerves were cyl
IDENTIFY affected, so. not knowing d
else to do, the doctor gave him a d
tive. which put him to sleep.
A daughter of Hans Schlotter. going
downstairs after having carried up a
kettle of hot water for the invalid, no
ticed that the old clock had stopped.
Surprising that her father had let II run
down. she started the pendulum going;
but. noticing that the weights still
hung high. she refrained from winding
it. When the count awoke Hans was
standing by his bed. The invalid.
hearing the clock ticking, asked Hans
il he was aware that the clock had
stopped during the night. Hans said
he was not.
1T stopped to give me warning" re-