The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1915-04-16

sooa enough to tell me what II the
meaning Of all this two faced. under
band conduct on your part! 1 want
the truth from you. Who is this wo-
man, and why are you SO Internally
set upon shielding her? What crime
has she committed? Tell me Mt once.
or. by the Lord Harry. out you 80 to-
morrOw-all Of your
Il am a very old man." he whined.
twisting his gnarled fingers. Il sugges-
ton OF tears in his voice. MY wife
Is old. mein' herr. You would not be
cruel. We have been here for sixty
years. The old baron
Enough" | cried resoIutely. "Out
with it. man! ! mean all that I say"
Tomorrow. mein herr. tomorrow"
lie mumbIed in a final plea. ! shook
my head. she will explain every
thing tomorrow" he went OH eagerly.
Il am worn to reveal nothing. mein
herr. My wife. too. and my sons. We
may not speak until she gives the
word. Alas. we shall be turned out to
die in our
1--WE have been faithful servants to
the Rothhoefens for sixty years." sob
bed his wife.
And still are. I suspect" l cried
angrily.
Mr.. Poopendyke's common sense
came in very handily at this critical
juncture. He counseled me to let the
matter rest until the next morning.
when it was reasonable to expect the
lady herself would explain everything.
However. we forced something out
OF Schmick before his staIwart stfs
came tramping up the stairs to rescue
him. The old man gave us ii touch of
inside history concerning SchloSS Roth
hOefen and it's %erstwhile powerful bar
II
About the middle of the nineteenth
century the last of the real harons-
the powerful. Ia%ndowning. deSI,nti,.
barons. | mean-came to the end Of his
fourscore years aud ten and was laid
away with great polnp and glee by the
people of the town across the rive
He was the last Of the R%othhoefens.
for he left no male heir. His two
daughters had married Austrian noble
men. and neither Of them had a male
descendant. The estate, already in a
state Of financial as well MS physical
disintegration. fell into the hands Of
women and went from bad to worse
so rapidly that long before the last
quarter Of the century was fairly be-
gun the castle and the reduced hold
ings slipped away from the RotbhOef
ems altogether and into the control of
the father OF the count from whom |
purchased the property. The counts
father. it appears, was Il distiller Of
great wealth in his day and u man Of
action. Unfortunately he died before
he had the chance to carry out his
projects in connection with the reha-
bilitation Of Schloss Rothhoefen. even
then u deserted. %ramshackle resort for
paying tourists and a Mecca for an
tique aud picture dealers,
The new count. my immediate pre-
decessOr. was not long in dissipating
LuC &lCul lOItUIC lC1t w liz tuluCI
the worthy distiller, He had run
through with the bulk Of his patri,
mony by the time he was twenty-five
and was pretty much run down ut the
heel when tie married in the hope Of
r%ecoupiLg his lost fortune.
The Schmicks did not like him. They
did not approve Of him us lord and
master, . was 1t possible for them to
resign themselves to the fate that had
put this young scapegrace into the
shoes. so to speak. of the grim old
barons RothhOefen. who. whatever else
they may have been In a high handed
sort of way, were men to the core.
This pretender. this creature without
brains Or blood. this s%ponging repro
bate. was not to their liking. If ] am
to quote Conrad. who became quite
forceful in his harangue against the
recent order Of things.
He, his wife and his n he assured
me. were full of rejoicing when they
learned that the castle had passed from
Count Hohendahl's hands into mine.
| at least would pay them their wages.
and I might. in a pinch. he depended
upon to pension them when they got
to- old to be OF any use about the cas-
tie.
All attempts o my part to connect
the lady in the east wing with the
history OF the extinct Rothhoefens
were futile. He would not commit
himself.
WELL" said !. yawning In helpless
collision with the sleepy Gretel. well
let It 90 yer till morning. Call me at
I. Britton."
| went to bed. but not to sleep. 1t
was very clear to me that my neigh.
Dor was a disturber in every n
Of the word. She wouldn't let me sleep.
For hours ] tried to get rid of her. but
she filtered into my brain and prOdded
my thoughts into the most violent ac-
tivity. She wouldn't stay put. But
finally I dropped off.