The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-04-26

n am very old man." he vvhined.
II do" said he. with a great deal
more wit than | thought he possessed
II have been talking with the lady
this evening"" said |.
Yes, mein herr; know" said he.
oh. you do. eh? Well, will you be
good enough to tell me what is the
meaning of all this two faced. under
hand conduct on your part? I 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, by the Lord Harry, out you go to.
morrow-all of you"
II am a very old man." he whined
twisting his gnarled fingers, a 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 resoutely. "Oui
with it, mani / mean all that I say!
Tomorrow, mein herr. tomorrow
he mumbled in a final plea. l shooh
my head. "She will explain every
thing tomorrow" he went on eagerly
81 am sworn to reveal nothing. meir
herr. My wife, too, and my sons. We
may not speak until she gives the
word. Alas. we shall be turned out te
die in our
1--WE have been faithful servants t.
the Rothhoefens for sixty years" sob
bed his wife.
"And still are. 1 suspect" I cried
angrily.
Mr.. Poopendyke's common sens,
came in very handily at this critica.
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 oui
of Schmick before his stalwart son,
came tramping up the stairs to rescue
him. The old man gave us a touch oi
inside history concerning Schloss Roth
hoefen and its erstwhile powerful bar
ons.
About the middle of the nineteenth
century the last of the real barons-
the powerful, landowning, despotic
barons, mean-came to the end of hi,
fourscore years and ten and was laid
away with great pomp and glee by the
people of the town across the river
He was the last Of the Rothhoefens
for be left no male heir. His two
daughters had married Austrian noble
men. and neither Of them had a male
descendant. The estate, already in
state of financial as we'll as 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 Rothhoef
ems altogether and into the control OF
the father of the count from whom
purchased the property. The counts
father. 1t appears. was a distiller OF
great wealth in his day and a man OF
action. Unfortunately he died before
he had the chance to carry out bis
projects in connection with the reha
bilitation of Schloss Rothhoefen. even
then a deserted. ramshackle resort foi
paying tourists and q Mecca for an
tique and picture dealers.
The new count, my immediate pre-
decessor, was not long in dissipating
the great fortune left by his father
the worthy distiller. He had rur
through with the bulk of his patri
mony by the time he was twenty-five
and was pretty much run down at the
heel when lie married in the hope Of
recouping his lost fortune.
The Schmicks did not like him. They
did not approve of him as lord and
master, nor 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