New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-12-20
CHAPTER TX.
Old Adelhert.

his position. No longer, a sausage In
his pocket for refreshment, did he
leave his little room daily for the
opera. A young man, who made ogling
eyes at Olga, of the garde-robe, and
who was not careful to keep the lenses
clean, had taken his place.
He was hurt In his soldiers soul,
There was no longer a place in the
kingdom for those who had fought for
1t. The cry was for the young. And
even in the first t%wenty-fOur hours a
subtle change went IN In him. His
loyalty, on which he had built his
creed Of life, turned to bitterness.
The first day Of his idleness he wan
dered into the back room of the cob
bler's shop near by, where the butter
seller from the corner, the maker Of
artificial flowers for graves. and the
cobbler himself were gathered. and lis.
tened without protest to such talk as
would have reused him once to white
anger.
But the iron had not yet gone very
dCCPs NV II tLAA6 hC Wouio AOt pea
nit. 1t was when, in the conversation.
n Of them attacked the king. Then
indeed he was reused to fury.
Once upon q time a student named
Haeckel had occasionally backed him
up in his defense of the royal family.
But for some reason or other Haeckel
came no more, and old Adelbert missed
him. He had inquired for him fire.
quently.
where Is the boy Haeckel?" he had
asked one day. II have not seen him
lately"
No one had replied. But a sort Of
grim silence settled over the little
room. Old Adelbert. however, was not
discerning.
But, that first day Of idleness, when
he had left the c%obbler's, he resolved
not to return. They had not been
unfriendly, but he had seen at Once
there was a difference. He was no
longer old Adelbert Of the opera. He
was an old man only, and u of work.
He spent hours that first free after
noon repairing his frayed linen and
his shabby uniform, with his wooden
leg stretched out before him and his
pipe clutched firmly In his teeth.
Then, freshly shaved and brushed, he
on a painful search after work.
With no result. And, indeed, he was
hopeless before he began. He was old
md infirm. There was little that he
lad ven the courage to apply for.
True, he had his small pension, but
t came only twice a year, and was
sent, intact, to take care of an invalid
laughter In the country. That was
lot his. He never used a penny of
t. And he had saved a trife. by liv-
ng on air, as the concierge declared.
But misfortunes come In threes, like
Tres and other calamities. The after
loon Of that very day brought a let
er, saying that the daughter was
worse and must have an operation.
Did Adelbert went to church and
'urned a candle for her recovery, and
rom there to the bank to send by
egistered mail the surgeons fee.
He was bankrupt in twenty-four
ours.
That evening in his extremity he did
reckless thing. He wrote q letter to
he king. He spent hours over 1t, first
Imposing 1t in pencil and then copy
ng it with ink borrowed from the
oncierge. It began "Sire." as he had
earned was the form, and went on to
emind his majesty, first, Of the hos.
ital incident which, having been for
years ago. might have slipped the
oval memory. Then came the facts
his lost position. his daughter, the
andlcap of his wooden leg. 1t ended
nth . plea for reinstatement OF, fall
that, for any sort Of work.