The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1915-04-01

the lady in the east winy?"
II do said he. with il great deal
more wit than / thought he possessed
Il have been talking with the lady
this evening" said |.
Yes. mein herr; know" said he.
"Oh. you do. ell? Well. will you be
good enough to tell me what is the
hand conduct on your part: ! 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 at once.
or. 10y the Lord Harry, out you go to-
morrow-all of YOU
Il am very old man." he whined.
twisting his gnarled fingers, Il sugges-
ton of tears in his voice. My wife
is old. mein herr. Yon would not be
cruel. We have been here for sixty
years. The old baron
"Enough" I cried resolutely. Out
with it. man. ] mean all that say
Tomorrow. mein herr. tomorrow"
he mumbled in a final plea. shook
my head. "She will explain every
thing tomorrow he went OH eagerly.
Il am sworn to reveal nothing. meln
herr. My wife. too. and my sons We
may not speak until she gives the
word. Alas. we shall be turned ont I"
die in our
I'VE have been faithful servants to
the Rothhoefans for sixty years. sob
bed his wife.
And still are. suspect" l cried
angrily.
Mr. Poopcudyke's common sense
iuncture. He counselcd 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 StalWart SONS
came tralnping up the stairs to rescue
him. The old man gave us a touch of
| inside history concerning Schloss Roth
| hocfen and it's erstwhiie powerful bar
onS.
About the middle of the nineteenth
century the last of the real !arons-
! the powerful. lundoWning. despntit'
| barOns. I mean-came to the end of his
| fourscore wears and ten and WAS laid
| away with great pomp and giee by the
people of the town across the river
Tie was the last of the nothhnefenS
for he left no male heir. His tive
daughters had married Austrian noble
men, and neither Of them had Il male
descendant. The estate. already in 4
state of financial as we'll us physic;,
disintegratiOn. fell into the hands OF
women and went from bad to worse
50 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 kothhoef
ems altogether and into the control OF
the father Of the count from whom
purchased the property. The count:
father. it appears, was distiller Of
great wealth in his day and man o.
action. Unfortunately he died before
he had the chance to carry out biz
projects in connection with the reha
Utilization of Schloss Rothhoefen. evei
then deserted, ramshackle resort fo
| paying tourists and Il Mecca for an
tiIue and picture dealers.
The new count. my immediate pre-
decessor. was not long in disslpatln:
the great fortune left by his father
the worthy distiller. He had rul
through With the bulk of his patr1
mony by the time he was twenty fiv
and was pretty much run down at tn
heel when lie married in the hope @
recoupiLg his lost fortune.
The Schmcks did not like him. The.
did not approve Of him as lord ant
master, nor was it possible for them t
resign themselves to the fate that Ea
put this young scapegrace into IN
shoes, so TO speak. OF the grim OIL
! barons Hothhoefcn, who, whatever els
they may have been in a high handle
sort of way, We're men to the core
This pretender this creature wthou
brains or blood, this sponging repro
bate. was not to their liking. If | al
to quote Conrad who became quit
forceful in his larangue against til
recent order OF things.
| lie. his wife and his sons, he assure
| me. We're full of rejoicing when the
learned that the castle had passed frol
Count Hohendahl's hands into MINI
| at least would pay them their wage:
and | might. in a pinch. be depende
upon to pension them when they &C
4 too old to be of any use about the ca'
Il tie.
All attempts OH my part to connet
\ the lady in the east wing with tn
II history of the extinct RothhoefeL
Il were futile He would not comm
Il himself.
II "Wcll," said |, yawnins in helples
i colIrsion with the sleepy Grctel, 1--WE
Il let it 90 over till morning Cali me /
Il ! Eritton.'