WILL HE WIN HER ?

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 68, 4 September 1880, Page 4

WILL HE WIN HER ?

BY JAMES. GRANT. .... _^__: —^_ Chaptuk li.' T '„; As the evening was beautiful, I had dc-cendocl lo tho portico of Hie hotel, and there wasHnsreririg over" a .pipe and a g'a*s iankard oE lager beer, when a funeral procession passed, arid the odd equipment bE the at.tefnd.au ls, led "mo to foll«w it, though it seemed to attractt|o attention from tli^T passers, ; w|io, of; course, wore claily used to siieh a sight. • . "/"'.'-"' Tiie funeral party tva* entirely compose I of public hired mourners, and not of the frienda of tho deceased. These men, sixteen m numbex\ are Tal ways dressed m black, after a very antique fas'iion. •Eon'n'd'-thetrueeks ivore/plaited« ruffs, and they wore wigs, the long curls of which were- profusely powdered. Their slashed? doublet*, iru.-ik hose, and short cloaks wew.a"llbf-"'lhje old/Spanish mole, and they wereai-mTd with long, slender, howl" billed raj wrs,. such- as Ferdinand of Toledo might have "w ni. , Those same sixteen most sombre looking persons, a? Jl aftenvards learned, attended when hiVed : , all marriage . -festivals, aud also formed the bodyguard oc U« innijistrates, th/r." places b^mg puriihascd'atahighp-.-ije in consequence of the many pt?rqui sites, fees, and privileges attached j.o them. , Eousrcl from niy growing, apathy by; « pi-occssion attvrid 1 so singularly, I wlinqu s'.ied myi^pvpe lfor -»= > cigar, and.trolled after it along the stately wcoded promenade of the Maiden JyValk, and through tho •Daimri .Gate till wo reached the public cemetery, which was like every other place of the same kind with its lieatfs&ries,'. ' - FJabs, and urns crosses, flowefoanoT wreaths .olyimmor telles, and other sorrowful- mementoes of those who are dead arid , gone. The body— that- ■.'• of a, child, J app^arentl}'—was committed to' thej dust. The-" service was read'by a jLutherati: /clergyman; 'who woro. a long black silk cassock and a^ru^ef/theTmiddle r ages. The hired mourners Were/lighting; their pi pcs m haste to be gone, * arid' 's/dppPs-J ing there was nothing more to fee seen, I, too,' wa3 turning away to quij; the place, when I experiericed so.mething Jike'ari electric shock on beholding, a man whose figure was put fob familiar to me loitering near a tomb^r-Mynheer Van Nicukerque \. ,,. '...'. ... Ay, „a , I shr ink ba'clcwith a *wild beating cf my heart, intending to watchi : Him''uriseori, even at the risk of being J locked forthe night m tliecepietery,.the agates,-. of which I knew.'/' would ; ■ J soon he, closed. / J A, '•" ■ . Ho was dressed m a faslupnable ; style with ariordinary black paletot;' a -g''"^^ plush hat, and/vjwpre v,paler lavender gioves. Ho had acigar-in his n."outh,and Wat reading, as I supposed, with apparent earnestness, the inscription „.o"n a newly-erected tomb: Atjiait'ho 'raised his head, and without seeriiing to .■'notice*, mo, walked from Mh.e parterre of -\ graves to a gravelled path, where a lady joined hiiri -ra tall and - elegant / woman* Awho } was magnificently dressed. She took his, arm with an air of pretty coquattisth -"impatienbe," and together; they proceeded towards the gate. She was not Clarice, for she was taller darkhair^d, and mpre- shoivy m appearance ; but who was she with whom he was lingering here, m a cemetery "m the evening, and where" was that other," of whom hehad robbedime P / - :> A chill came over my heart, and I sprang io Ilia tomb at which I had first observed liim. > . It was a plain pillar of gray -granite, destitute- of ornament or ii: sorption, consequently mynheer, of A the unhealthy: complexion could not have been read- ' ing, and ifc war very improbable that he was piraying, as a in&n would not likely be so employed, with' a cigar in] his mouth. : A recent /interment Jhad. taken place before the pillar. The "turf had been newly laid, and on it there lay a wreath; .of .white ; artificial, flowers." A^ " Who is buried here?" thought 1.. " What canjbe.the object JofNieukerquej m coming hither, and whatis his apparent interest in.thisjlurial plase ?." He might li'ave Jaskei exactly the same questions of me; but when I remembered the madness, the , strange jnania of which his /bi-pjther wa acbused and oUwrTstrango. , stories, I am Veak; enough to confess that a" gloomy foari a great horror; crept over me. "At all I shall question him !" : I/ eiplaimed, and rushed . after him just as the sixteen hired rriourners were/passing thrOjiigh, thejajc h.vay ; but JMynheer Yaii'l^ieiikerque 'arid his attractive companion li«*d." already both .reached the Damm Gate, and. wej;e lost amid.the crowds that were riowproiriena- J dingorithe^-Jungfe^nstieg. ; Already' the -gas lamps were being lighted, aud sending their long lines of tremulous r a ixnee across (he beautiful Binuen-AlsUrjJatheTciystal depths of Which the bridge .and; '■; spirbi;- 'the; Pavilion cafe, the shopi, the hotpls, and even the crowded and gigantic Sporvie husßes, which run oi lines of rails, were all reflected downward as m a mirror.^ ■■■,"':. ■-•"";..' ' ;:: . : J J J '■■'■-'" " : A fear crept over me -a fear that the grave beside which I had stood m; the, vast cemetery outside the Darniri Gate, was that, of he^; I/had ;loved so well. Oh, had it indeed' come to this that she had died m a foreign land, without a friend,, perhaps, beside her, without jier ; hands m mine, and without" tlie secret of her married life recorded J ;./ JEarly next moaning, when the Binnen Alster, and " all ' the TwiridowV^^lhri-clr; clocks,, and spires of. Hamburg,; < Were flittering m Uie rising ?un; when the irdsj were caVolling ' ariiid'the trees of the JMaiden Walk, and when the nurse* and servant girls, m that pretty and mo, dest dress, which" all, that class wear Ai that v\bf? were fl|ttin^ t<> 'and _f ro .;■ about t! p'r morriine work, JE Ztr\ad:& jny '■■ way to the, place of interment to prosecute inquiries, and on passing the tomb and the ."little grave IA riod seen 'last night, .1. ■'■trembled lest there* should _b signs that the solemn turf had been violated. „ . '■/■"•■■■■■ 'A: .' : -y- ■--.- i ( --/A-/ But the grean s >d« were v'■u '■ disturbed. ■<■ A black bird was carolling s'Vi'.etiy close by, and the diamond d*w Uy li"avy on the grass, the flowers, and the wreaths of \pimor!eH<x. Q/p* tlie grave of t' c U'fclc one sc^e

affcjtiouate.hand liad already placed a ehaplct of purple violets and camellias of snowy whiteness. "A ' : sa-A--.Tlie recorder of the names of those who filled this gloomy place, a. pleasant ai.icl polifce«old German, who., had indent !y been a soldier, informed me that tiie occupant of -the grave which interested meT ivas a frue— that is, ■& ■fo*P : TM.;.; yy. .AT /t" ■■. ■ i -" A lady," Irepeated. . . ." Ye.?, ..inein herri A foreigner, whe died suddenly of some dangerous ma- f , la°dyJn^a;.cQttegjß;'.sbme'.\miies f rotn this, ;on J the ' Alster ; and her /-"body." waiT; brouglit. here for a hasty .interment by her •iiusbniid, who seemed to love her so;---.muqh that he would riot trustj,/ the.t- r,emaiiis/to the hired niourners alone, but c'&ino liither withtheni himself j'* '-.: .;; "What like was tie?" ,1 asked with' a sinking-'heai't arid rdwiri'g'broAY, ... ." Tall.wpale, and very -gloomy) iv ap-?; pearance; but then the he.rr..Jwas,;,bf, 'cburse, plunged m prqfpund^grief.- He. was at her gVave yesterday." ' ''' •' " J " A "So lately V ■■■■AyyyAy.../Z,. A, " Yes; mein herr, last evening." . J*' It be he," JJJexclaimedT " Hisname —his name J arid 1 hers J!" I added, m ■.a'cji; cents' which ;made ; the' stolid old-.Ger-man open his gray eyes very wide take the tasselled meerschaum' from his inoustached i O th, and sari at mi A "Mein heir, is perhaps, a relation ?"'. ■ V • " No, jione." ./ • , a v -- . ; ./ : , .. "Then whence this interest ?" : "Hoi; name, I tell you, old "'man, if you would not drive rue mad P" : " She was named the Baroriess'-Eland-bei-g.'A -; .A .:,/■.•.;,'.:■" J " Elandberg," said I, greatlyyro■lieve.d. "Oh, she .w^S only German, k tlieri." J J TJ'* No, mein herr," replied'' the old re-i corder, smiling. "She and her hus- • band/were JEnglish people 1 of title." T "But the name yon have nleritioned is not ah /English ,name— ;it sounds quitc'Diitch." V T ' '„ ..'..' J J, Z And m memory - " "T ' rfe verted -to tte • beautiful chain of mountains called the;Elandber 6 , 1 inf ; • whero^ , many a/time and ..'• oft I had ... brougUt ' drown thecwhitea'hinoceros^the African . ,- bulfalo, jand Tjtlve, -eland. ? of the > pipe, ■ colonists, by' a single 'hair f.poni those ; rifle& of which ' Adrian Afi ; icaJrider : had robbed me. •• v • TheJ German shrugged his shoulders,, and said.that-.the.name and: title of the lady; Jyrould ;bo carved upon the » tone .next dey injfull, when mein .herr, could read them for himself,'if he Jclibse.' y v " TAAlijihat Jday* arid J the' most of the next I idled about Hamburg. I rambled to the fishing village of Blankeriese with its pretty and picturesque little houses scattered along, the slope.!^and. among theiirees, one over the other, row upon row. 1 1 took the Sporyie buss to Wandsb3ck, which is m JlPmssia; now,' where I saw 'thet observatory built.' hy Ty cc ( Jlahe audi 1 unc hefL^ an d hra wn. and lager beer i%a,j'opni that had.ohce been. r ttip stuHy of (JJlasidius and; got to JHaVn : fburg ju »t as the sun was setting. A droschki'sbon ;! set me' down -at J the gate;of;theJ cetriefeery, where a 'caTver* while whistling gayly a German walU, was just giving the /finishing touches with bis chisel to the brief inscription on tJie tpnab, arid it ran. simply thus. — •; : '"■'-' in-A-MsmoriaoH, sacram, O.JEC.,- theABaroitess JUlandbsrg •. . ... Died 25th^pj. May, 18 — J yAged. iwent^sevM^ears." And thisJwas ail. J '-J ' r' '.-'Ci'arice:- would now be nearly twenty seven," thought: l ; " But as she and / thisbaroness .could scarcely beTone, and arid the sama person, I ; turn;Bd t away, m perplexity.jp" leased-, l.ha.to ne doubt had been removed from my mind, ywtynevertheless determined vto: trace out Mynheer van jNieukerqiie, slnd 'disebver whether or not she was happy., .lowed thjscourre. I thouaflit, toj the memory of her good old f itlieiy kind Toby Hayi , wood, of "Walcot Tower, to her sister, the heedless Fanny, to my friend Doug-;.' las, and triostpf all'^tp herself ;»arid yet, while making J this» mentali^ow^nj J could 'riot'fdrget that she Jtwas aribther r man's ■"■wife,- with [wh^m JLjbad np-just or legal; iight to inierefere. ' ''■'. " ' But now JE^ijemeriibered with .astrapge: chill that whichj I had riot remarked particularly befbre--that Van JNieuker-/ que had round his hat' 'a very urimisi akable band of crape^-^that he was 'm half mourning; for some one. • ... ; "C.H.i What was her maiden naaie?" Ilasked: of the recprderv -; ' 'lam sorry, mein herr,J w that I ' ean- ' no fe te 1 1 y ou . It was thus given me, and ' C.JI.' may stand for C.harlotta llortarisia, Catherine Henrietta* JorTT know what not." . -T? -" Trtte \y perhaps. I thank -you. <Jbod-mornihg; , 'A J" ' "''' T; ;: - -''J As I walked slowly b"ack : to the JEIbT tel -dc I' Europe seeking its back porchin the Heji'mans.trasse.ia. shout; from se. veral psrs'ons roused me, froma. reverie andJ ßpringingiustinctively on one side, I narrowly escaped 5 being ridden down I by a horseman who came dashing along the the street at a most unwarrantable pace. , A ■;./ Asl looked tip' at him ITericountered' Ly tbei jiale^ face, cotdf gleaming '*yes,^ and firmly set mouth, of A. Yin ; JNieukerquej the man I wanted/,-/ ?> ; .:,a, s ;; w . ; I called m. haste to -two A t Prussian gendarme's to seize' hiiri, arid they drew ■Jthei r" : brass Lilted hangers^ 'to : cu t his bridle or capture liim not m obedience , io me, as I;spdke m Englishginjmy^Bonfusion, but with the interitipnJ'pfs arresting him for furious riding. J He^spurred v pas them J however, arid' galloping on by the Bourse, disappe*r"ed . in '■'th'ejdettsely crowded Adolphsalatz._ Being a total stranger m; Hamburg, I ' had no "one" to assist me v to adviseme, or to.Tconfor jwith } .- jkjjjjfc- I-'-felt aiiainperatiye, pbiigation Jupqiiilme to do someihing.'; With ' " tli<3*A indefinable' instinct of soriiethirig yetjto' obirie/'-and the strange conduct of this -tri'an j the very factjof his alriiost riding .me down under the hee|flb;Ofjhi|[, horse, and passing on without explanation or apology .seeuied;J;p wajrrapit me a, fresh JiioJ tracking him outr"""A _ ■ -- .■/."-" Z fM.bt^itiinuitA,)- A Tl R-y