WILL HE WIN HER ?

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 73, 22 September 1880, Page 3

WILL HE WIN HER ?

BT J_Vip;ai GEANT.

Omapim LIII.

with, a Dutch name,' "And they called, themselves tha _"*|aau4 Bs,r9.nes« ]_ll_mdberg P" " Nay, tqeiu t^err," rejoined tbe exgrenadier, with surprise ; "they called themselves, simjplj Y*."ft -Ni.»u.W- --• "'What was the IjdyV Vl-^nj P" " I cannot say, her major.'* " &_*,« ha,d a doctor^ of course fl" "J^Qt exactly j but tl\e Iferr Van Nieukerque brought her some draughts f,nd simples fron*, Moses. Adderfang, fi kind of doctor wlio lives iu ' t]\e vicinity of the Stubberneuk." " Moses Adderfang— a Jew— a most n-qmom quacl; in #*mlu-r§ ! v exclaimed, the major, angrily. " I have ke*rd of him before, and so I doubt 'ot have thf police." "This person, Van Nienkerque, was • tall, pale man?" said I. * "Yes, mein herr, a tall A ps,le man, fri^h a largo . ttf|cfc beard, and curling moustache?' " Excuse me A b^t are yon sure of these details P — f or when .' l s*w him yesterday, ho was; as usual, shaven from chin to eye/ 4 '<But a raapr. w/rold effect these changes." suggested Graves, for my who had hitherto been silent. " True," added the major ; " _md wslj inust have him shut up till his bear* grows, and. the likeness is restored." "la he he still in this country?" asked the miller, Rosing, in surprise; Sr he spoke of instantly departing for oUand or England."': How came they- to reside afc here at all Ulrik ?" " For the benefit of the lady's health. 5 was told that she was sick and ailing, poor thing." . . fiflA yon fcuow ftoti Qf vhg& |lie

died P" asked Graves, for my voice wai failing me, " Alas ! no, mein herr." "Unless it was of that ailment which few men believe in— a .broken heart," •aid the plump dame Gretobeu, striking suddenly into our conversation, " Yes, mein herr, if ever woman died of that sickness of the soul, it wag tbe unhappy Fraud Nieukerque," " Heavens ! de you iay io t" exclaimed the major, " Explain yomrielf, Gretchen." " Her husband was a horrible fellow who treated her cruelly, with cutting eoldness, contempt, and neglect, be» cause as she told me with tears, when one day her poor, aching head reclined on my shoulder — he had spent all her fortune at Rome, Naples, and elsewhere and she had nothing more in the world and that her sitter, her only living relation—the only being in the world who loved her-^-was far, far away. Oh how different they seemed from my Ulrik and me, for we loved one another, and we married for the love that is yet in our hearts. The Herr Van Menkerque was all day long, and often all the night in the city, and only came hither apparently to scowl upon and sneer at the poor lady, though she seemed to be blighted, and blasted, and slowly passing away — the very end to which doubt, he looked forward: And times there were, when Ulrik was at the mill when I heard sad and terrible things said to fte poor lady," " Take heed what you say, Gretchen, mein lieb," said the miller, who saw that I was much affected by these de r tails. "Remember what the pastor fold us onJSund^y, ' he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.' " " Halt, Ulrick, and let your wife alone," said the major. "Tell us, Gretohen, what were those sad and terrible things ?" " Oh, mein herr, I mean such monstrous pieces of unkindness as my Ulrik would rather die than do or say to vap." " Never mind Ulrik," said the major, testily. "To the point, Gretchen, to the point/' '' Qace I heard her say jn % moaning voice, with her poor head between two thin white hand's — " < Oh, what a luxury it w ou <ld he to die!' " < Would it ?' sneered her husband. "'Oh, yes; to be at everlasting peace. Yet I eannot take away my own life.' " ' It may be taken for you !' " ** Did he dare to say so to her face ?" asked Von Gordon, grasping my arm as I made an involuntary start. " Yes, mein b.err ; I am an honest woman, and tell you the truth. Qn mother occasion, one of two many such J heard her say— "'Oh, Shencke, have you no pity no remorse for all the misery and poverty you have brought upon me ?' " ' None,' he replied, hard as Hint *, '■ remorse is a word for a child. H ' But you are guilty qf — of crimes, and repent, them gqt.' '* •lf you call gambling and signing another man's name in lieu of my own, crimes, then I am guilty.' '■' «• And y.*>u do not regret them ?' " ' Because they are unpunished : and who but a fool would regret an unpunished crime ? ' " " Here, then, we have an inkling of swindling and forgery." said the piajor turn.-*.' to me. " All these th.in.gs set me thinking and wondering, and fearing to, mein herr ; resumed the miller's - wife, " I long to get rid of such hoarders, and felt no way indebted to the Countess of Klampenborg, -who brought them hither ; but I pittied the unhappy lady. At last she fell seriously ill, and died suddenly— -died in that very bed," she added, pointing to a little closet or chamber, the door of which stood open. "In this bed ?" said I, in a hoarse whisper, for J was deeply agitated, and stepped into the tiny room. The presence of Clarice seemed to pervade the place — to hover about the couch. I tquched the pillows tenderly and glanced round the humble walls and ceiling, on which her eyes must have rested for the last time ; and at the little open casement, through which tbe perfume qf the roses aud the murmur of the Alster came together. "And this," thought I, "was the chamber of death." 1 could alm os t imagine — so morbid had my feelings become— tbat the outline of a coffin could ha traced on the White coverlet still. " Has no relic been left of h.er ?" I asked. ■« None." "Not tveu a ribbon,^* glove— *a letter p" "Nothing, The Herr Van Nieukerque tool, awey or destroyed every- j thing. Not trace of her has been left here. "And he has interred her under another n^-ne. In all these proceeding there is some strange mystery," said Von Gordon, sternly. "There was no name on tb,e coffin plate ; to that I can swear, for the omission attracted my attention at the ' time," said Latiritz Balche*. "It wa« 9, cojfin brought by the herr himself from one of the ready-made shops in the alleys of£ tho Stublserneuk. I know the kin4 qf C-at man well enc-^gh. "It was brought by a boat up the Alster, and taken in at the bedroom window," said P_rik Rosing. " And when our part of the. business I came, the lady was in it, and the lid screwed down," added Lauritz Bal. chen. " A terrible burst of remorse and repentance seemed to. come upon the Herr Nieukerque," sa,id Gretchen.. '■ "■ He would permit no one, not even me, '. to touch the body, or see it after death. He remained, shut un, with it in the room and after it was removed he came hither no more. . "True," added Lanrits Balchen ; | " and hi* grief we<s to profounded thsjt ' he accompanied i,t to the grave in the public cemetery". He paid us all nobly : and after having her name duly recorded — though what that record was I never though of inquiring —he wen?) away with the air of a man who i was about to drown himself in the ■ El,be." 1 **'He seemed qaJ- enough op the day ' I saw him smoking his cigar, by the tomb, and the Countess of Klampenborg was there V?," said "£,

"And it vras the countess who brought those people hither, Gretchen ?', asked the major. "Yes, raein herr, in her own carriage. The whole Tillage turned out to see it." " I shall see the burgomaster about this business. Meanwhile, another glass of your beer, Ulrik, and then we shall march. Drink with me old comrade." "To you and tho old 75th, herr Major." "To the old 75th. and you, Ulrik." And it was pleasant to see the old comrades clink their glasses, while their eyes lit up with the memory of other days, as they drained their jugs of German beer, I begged the worthy Dame Gretchen to accept of a ring, which I drew from my finger, as a small reward for her kindness to Clarice ; and promising to visit her again, we left the cottage, and a few minutes more saw us driving back to Hamburg, between broad green meadow?, bordered by stately oak trees in the bright sunshine, wliieh seemed strange to mo, amid the blackness and gloom of my own heart, in which had now gathered, gradually and surely, the dread, the horror, that Clarice had perished the victim of some foul play. Major Von Gordon seemed to read my thoughts in my eye. " Patience yet awhile, my friend," said he. " Our next step is to discover this Dr. Moses Adderfang, who in Hamburg enjoys the reputation of being a conjuror as well as a quack ; and then we shall set the police on the track of the Herr Baron Elandberg.

Chapteb LIV,

What a sorrowful story of all these affairs would I have \':,o write Gerard Douglas, who was still on the staff to Jaipiica. Fa ny would have to aban4>n her gayet/ for a time ,* and then I I thought how strai-ge was destiny, j how unjust fate ! That she, the most heedless and u.nt'iinking, should have been twice married — and married each time happily — while poor Clarice, the most 'sensible and sensitive, she who had so much heart and gentlen ss in her disposition, should have been reserved for a fate so miserable and myserious, so terrible, and too probably so tragic. Her grave ! I would vitit it onoe again before leaving this hateful Hamburg rever to return, and havo the flow pa whio 1 1 know she loved best when at Wa .*ot in the old time planted round, it. But when that mute act of homage was performed. I had a sterner duty before me — to come face to face with his Shencke van Nieukerque. The long and protracted dinner at the table d'Jiote was over as usual, and lights were beginning to twinkle on the waters of the Alster Lake ere che des-_ sert was cleared away. " To-morrow," said the major, as he drew a candle towards him and lit hia pip.», " I shall be with my regiment at Altona } so to-night, gentlemen, if you choose, we shall look up this respectable medical practitioner — this Doctor Moses Adderfang." " Choose ! How could I else but choose it," said I ; •' with gratitude to you, herr major !" " Have you pistols ?" he asked, lowering his voice, " Yes j a brace pi six-chambered revolvers. Graves has pistols too," " Good, then bring them ; my sword •will do for me." " Will weapons be necessary ?" "Well, in the part of Hamburg we are about to visit — by night, too — one never knows whs,, niay happen, or whom we may meet." *' Bj Jove, a row, perhaps!" said Graves, his face brightening at the prospeet oi a little excitement of any 1 kind. We carefully loaded our pistols, slung them in our I elts, and buttoned our coats over tljem, and under the guidance of Von Gordon set forth. Once or twice the major had to inquire the way x and would ha,ve received but brief and surly rejoinders but for the occasional opening of his blue cloak, which revealed the Prussian uniform below. At last we found ourselves in a species of cul-dexsac, composed entirely of old timber-fronted houses } some of i which were"inhabited as the feehle rays of light that flickered through their broken casements seemed to indicate — casements in some instancos patched with paper, and stuffed with rags or straw. Other houses wero in partial ruin, and abandoned to rats and home-, lets beggars. ; At the lower end of this alley towered I a house of brick, having three elaborate wooden gables. By a broad flight of three steps we ascended to a massive arched doorway, furnished with a ponderous iron knocker. " This is the billet of Jthe fellew we are ip search of," said the major, as he replied his hand to the great ring of the antique knocker, tho echoes of which resounded hollowly within the house, and all around. A light flittered about from casement to casement of the house, and then one long ray shone brightly- out through the 1 great keyhole. We heard a heavy bolt withdrawn, and tha door was opened but still secured by a chain, to permit the servant, a damsel of decidedly Jowish type, to reconnoitre us. " Say that the gentleman wish to confer with Doctor Adderfang," said the ' major, ha uglily. "Is tho Doctor at home ?'• " Ya,,. mein herr, he is in his study reolied the girl," who undid the chain, and ushered us into what had once been a stately vestibule or hall now sorely dilapidated and blackened by damp and time. We were ushered into a handsome . spacious and well furnished apartment, Mt by a large tab.!e-lamp — a bronze Atlas, su* parting on his back a globe of light. One of those stoves peculiar to Hjamburg and .he north of Europe, an iron colu. nn or cylinder some two feet in diameter, and reaching from the flopr to the c.- -lingi gave warinjth from one corner. In another stood a kind of altar covered by a cloth, on which were : painted mystical characters, not unlike those we s_e on tea-chests, together j with dragons and Japanese looking monsters. On a tripod of carved and painted wood — a tripod of three entwined fig- ■ uret, so grotesque and uncouth in form as- to be beyond all description — a • human skull an<Ji crossbones were nUced*, and, on. each, «J4e. of t.hei&

stood three candles of yellow wax un lighted. On three sides of the room were lofty cases of shelves, well filled with ponderous folios and quartos, bound in old dark brown calf, or fine white Roman covers with scarlet edges; and at a writing table, which was littered with books, papers, pencils, and compasses half drawn horoscopes, phials and innumerable other things, sat Doctor Moses Adderfang, in a comfortable dressing-gown of soft shawl pattern, girt about, him by a silk cord and tassels. His face was pale — colorless, in fact — and he was decidedly a gentle-manly-looking Jew, of some fifty years of age. On our entrance he snatched up, and put hurriedly on, a pair of large green spectacles, as I thought to conceal his general expression of eye, and enable him to reconnoitre us, rather than to aid his vision, " I believe we have the pleasure, of seeing Doctor Adderfang ?" said the major, with freezing, mock politeness. '* Moses Adderfang, at your service, gentlemen," replied the Jew, rising and bowing politely, and pointing to three antique chairs. However, as we manifested no desire to sit in his presence, he was compelled to stand, and eyed us, rather euriously and uneasily. We have come in search of certain information, herr doctor, which you alone can gire us," said I, in an explanatory tone. "Oh, oh! I understand," said he, with an air of relief, while laying his hand on a pack of cards. " I do know something beyond the mere mortal power and science of medicine ; though to speak of such knowledge is too often to court the laughter of the scoffer, or the impertinent intervention of the gendarmes, even iq the free city of Hamburg." '* Ah, indeed 1 And what do you know ?" asked Von Gordon whose scornful bearing was the reverse of polite* ness. " Know, mein herr ! What caused the peasecution of Galileo P What brought the gifted Savonarola to the flames, and consigned Doctor Faustus to the infernal fiend ?" " Talking gibberish, in lieu of common tense, perhaps," suggested Graves. *' Excuse me, but if you know so much, through the medium of the occult sciences, perhaps you are already aware of the errand ou which we are oome?"