Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Scales would pitch into her case, as if to protest at being so cruelly assaulted while defenseless. It was pathetic.

"Bob Fink shed tears while he pictured to the jury, in his opening, the agony of this beautiful girl set off from her kind of life. as the preponderance-the clear preponderance of the evidence showed she would be, by dumbness-'an affliction, gentlemen of the jury, which seals her lips forever as to the real facts, and stops the reply she could otherwise make to the dastardly attack of my honorable and learned friend, the attorney for this public service corporation, which seems to think it has been clothed with the power to run over our busses, and to maim and injure our ladies, and bring them before juries of their peers, who, unless I mistake, will administer a stinging rebuke to this corporation-in damages.'

"Bob was good until the other side had the reporter begin to take his speech down, so as to show appeals to passion and prejudice and then he hugged the record close. The plaintiff sobbed convulsively. Bob stopped and swallowed, knowing that the reporter couldn't get the sobs and swallows into the record. The jurors blew their noses and glared at Scales and the claim agent. I went over to the plaintiff and gave her a drink of water, and would have liked to take her in my arms and comfort her, but didn't."

"Too bad!" remarked Jim Bullock.

A

"Well," went on Colonel Baggs, "the jury found for us in about three hours for the full amount, $10,000. They would have agreed earlier, only they waited so the state would have to pay for their suppers. judgment was rendered on the verdict, and the railroad appealed. All this time Bob was getting more and more tender toward the plaintiff. I didn't think much about it until cards came for their wedding. I sent Bob an assignment of my share in the verdict for a wedding present-if we ever get it. Amelia promised to love, honor and cherish by nodding her head, and walked away from the altar with her most graceful physical culture gait, while the boys outside with their charivari instruments ready for the evening, sang in unison: 'Here comes the bride! Get on to her stride!'

It was a recherche affair-but excessively quiet nuptials on the bride's side.

"That evening Absalom Scales got in the finest piece of work that was ever pulled off in any law suit in Nebraska. The bridal party went away over the C. & S. W. Omaha limited, and Amelia and Bob were there looking as fine as fiddles-Amelia a picture, they said, in her going-away gown. Scales had fixed up for a crowd of hoodlums to charivari them as they went.

"Mighty mean trick, I should say," said Jim Bullock, "for any one but a corporation attorney."

"Wait, son," protested the colonel, "until you are so far advised in the premises as to be able to judge whether the end didn't justify the means; and there may be hopes for your being a corporation attorney yourself some day. In addition to the horsefiddle and bells and horns, Absalom had arranged some private theatricals. He had plugged up a deal by which Bill Williams, the bus man-who'd sold out and was going to Oregon anyway-come bursting into the waiting room while they were waiting for the train-which was held at the water tank by Scales' procurement and covin-and presented a bill for damages to his bus by the accident which had hurt Amelia's oratorical powers. You see, he'd never been settled with, being clearly negligent. They tried to get off in Amelia's case on the doctrine of imputed negligence, but it wouldn't stick.

"Well, Bill comes in with his claim against Amelia and Bob for two or three hundred dollars for his bus. They disdainfully gave him the ha-ha!

[ocr errors]

'Then,' says Bill Williams, 'I will tell all, woman!'

"Amelia flushed, and looked inquiringly at Bob. Bob walked up to Bill and hissed: 'What do you mean, you hound, by insulting my wife in this way?'

""She knows what I mean,' yelled Bill, turning on Amelia. ‘Ask your wife what she an' I was talkin' about when we was a-crossing the track that time. Ask her if she didn't say to me that I was a perfectly proportioned physical man, an' whether I didn't think that men an' women of sech proportions should mate; an' if she didn't make goo-goo eyes at me, ontil I stuck back

my head to kiss her, an' whether she wasn't a-kissin' me when that freight came a-piroutin' down an' run over her talkin' apparatus! Ask her if she didn't say she would die a-kissin' me, an' if she didn't come danged near doin' it!'

"Well, Bob Fink was, from all accounts, perfectly flabbergasted. There stood Bill Williams in his old dogskin coat and a cap that reeked of the stables, and there stood the fair plaintiff, turning redder and redder, and panting louder and louder as the enormity of the thing grew upon her. And then she turned loose.

"She began doubling up her fists and stamping her feet, and finally she burst forth into oratory of the most impassioned character.

"Robert Fink!' she said, as quoted in the motion for a re-opening of the case that Scales filed-'Robert Fink, will you stand by like a coward and see me insulted? That miserable tramp-a perfect. you don't kill him, I will. I kiss him? I ask him such a thing? Bob Fink, do you expect me to go with you and leave such an insult unavenged? No, no, no, no!'

If

"I guess she'd have gone on stringing negatives together as long as the depot would have held 'em, if Bob hadn't noticed Ike Witherspoon, the short-hand reporter, diligently taking down her speech and the names of those present. Then he twigged, and, hastily knocking Bill down, he boarded the train with Amelia. He wired me from Fremont that it was all off with the judgment, as they'd tormented Mrs. Fink into

making a public speech. I answered, collect, bidding him be as happy as he could in view of the new-found liberty of speech and of the press, and I'd look after the judgment and the appeal."

"Well," said Bullock, "of course you got licked in the Supreme Court. It was clear proof that she'd been shamming."

"You're about as near right on that as you are on the case at bar," retorted the colonel. "Just about. The law is the perfection of human reason. The jury had found that Amelia Whinnery couldn't speak, and never would be able to. A jury had rendered a verdict to that effect, and judgment for $10,000 had been entered upon it. I merely pointed out to the Supreme Court that they could consider errors in the record only, and that it was the grossest sort of pettifogging and ignorance of the law for Absalom Scales to come in and introduce such an impertinence as evidenceafter the evidence was closed-that the fair plaintiff had been shamming and was, in fact, a very free-spoken lady. The bench saw the overpowering logic of this, and read my authorities, and Bob and Amelia will henceforth live in the best house in their town, built out of the C. & S. W. surplus-and Amelia talking sixteen hours a day. It's locally regarded as a good joke on the railroad. And now the rattling of the bones of that skeleton and the tapping of the bailiff on the door admonish us that I must resume the herculean struggle to prevent my client from being mulcted by your infernal machinations. Come on back to the court room."

The Necessities.

Just a little bit o' tater,
Just a little bit o' bread,

Just a little bit o' piller

Where to lay yer sleepy head. When the workin' day is ended, Just a rooftree's shelter, too,

Also just a little lovin'

When the clouds are crowdin' you.

Oh, it's just the bit o' lovin'

Makes the world seem green and glad; Just a little bit o' baby

With her arms held out to dad; Just a little baby's mother

Workin' 'round you with a songOh, the world is never gloomy,

And the day is never long.

Oh, I wouldn't trade places

With old Russell Sage at all! With no baby's kiss to greet him, And no baby's voice to call Out in joy at his home-comin', And to run to him in gleeUncle Russ, with all his millions, Couldn't trade jobs with me. Just a little care-free cottage

With the vines about the door, Just a laughing, giggling baby

You can tussle on the floor When the workin' day is ended, Just a roof to shelter you, Also just a little lovin',

An' a babe to holler, "Boo!"

-Houston Post.

PART VIII.

BY MADELINE HUGHES MENAUGH.

(Continued from December)

THE GLOW OF THE MORNING STAR.

Sweet thoughts of Rudolph linger there
Above the valley's toil and care.

It was there-the morning star! white, lustrous, quivering, gleaming in opalescent splendor, emitting the pearly flashes, the eloquent, white sparklings of which it alone is capable that great pile of snowy fire, hanging over the wind-swept summits of the Fraulein mountain with a dazzling beauty that suggested a gem fallen from the jewel-studded roadways of the world supernal.

Sweet, radiant star of morning! Gilda had been watching and waiting for it, and lo, there it was, alone with her while its other starry associates had melted into the ethereal blue!

She was standing at the little gate after weeping through the long lonely hours of the night.

They could tell her nothing of the Prince; they had busied themselves restoring her to consciousness, and when they looked at the mountain again he was not there!

She held the miniature pressed against her heart and looked at the Fraulein with yearning gaze. Ah, how weak she had been to have swooned when she should have called to him and hasten toward him with outstretched arms.

She was standing thus when a man began descending one of the lower paths of the Fraulein, and she could discern his plumed hat and jaunty jacket of velvet, but his walk was shambling, and the plumes in the hat were draggled and torn.

Gilda knew him, even at that distance. It was Casper.

He made his way toward her, and she saw he was holding up a purse. Herman, the old gray cat, was also coming toward her with long strides, and glad purring sounds, after his rambles through dell and gorge, and night birds were sleepily floating overhead.

"It is for thee, 'for the Lady,' he said

thou art the lady since Gilda died!" Thus spoke Casper as she opened the gate to let him enter.

And he extended the purse.

Again did Gilda cry out in surprise and joy, for she recognized the purse as one she had seen with Rudolph.

"Tell her it is from the Prince-from Rudolph-and that he will come to her some day!"

Casper was talking like one in a dream. "Ah, thou didst see him, thou dost bear a message. What said my darling, my love, my Rudolph ?"

And Gilda caught the two rough hands in a detaining clasp. "Speak, speak, Casper!" He pushed back the disorderly hair and plumed hat.

"Gilda is dead," he whispered. "Thou art the lady."

"What did Rudolph say to thee?" entreated Gilda. She never heeded his talk about her death.

"Give this purse to her, say 'I will come."" Casper was trying hard to remember.

"Ah, it is the money he was in search of the terrible night he met the demons. Was he alone, Casper, was he the prisoner yet of the wehr-wolves that carried him from me?"

"I saw-one-big-old man." Ah, how painful were Casper's efforts to recall or relate the incidents of his meeting with Rudolph.

"He sent me gold; he bade me hope for his coming! Ah, I will be brave!"

Gilda was talking cheerfully; she lifted her pale face toward the star of dawn and her lips moved as if in prayer.

Her aunt, busy with the first duties of the day, came out to open the doors of the little prison pens of Sigismund and Egbert; and Gilda turned from her rapt gaze of the dawn-tinted sky, to exhibit the purse, and repeat the message given her by Casper.

"I am happy!" Gilda cried. "I saw him, and he sent me a message!"

"Think most of the gold in this purse," said Gretchen tersely, as she drew out the

heavy coins. "It is wise of the Rudolph to send this to the Princess. It will help to maintain her in the position to which her rank entitles her. It is one virtue to be met with in man-he is very liberal with money."

And she flung open the coop doors with an almost vicious vigor. Meanwhile poor Casper, idly stretching on his humble pallet in the loft, said nothing about the coin being for his care and comfort.

"Give this to Gilda-say it is from the Prince-from Rudolph; that I will come to her,'" Gilda was sweetly whispering.

"Am I ever to be free from the vision of my niece's love rapture?" Gretchen asked herself as she noticed Gilda's clasped hands and uplifted orbs. "She loves that mysterious Prince more and more every day. Away Sigismund, you bold darling, you picked my finger-this love is so very tiresome when a man is the object."

And she tried to give Egbert a loving greeting, but with husky screech and extended neck, he fled away.

A note fell out of her apron pocket, and she cautiously picked it up.

"Why do I save the letter that Count Waldemar dropped that night?" she said, secreting it again. "Some time I'll let Gilda see it."

It promised to be a bleak day; mists hung low, and the vines swung listlessly from tree and casement, while the Fraulein loomed dimly through the shadows of the dawning day; Gretchen sneered at the hated mountain.

"It is joy now for a moment, Gilda,” said she, trying to bring the young woman indoors, "but it will not be so all the time; you will grieve to death, for no young little heart could bear up under such a weight; you must endeavor to forget the experience of that terrible night on the mountain."

[blocks in formation]

it not done for weak woman? Eyes are all the darker, voices all the sweeter, vows all the more alluring under the light of the moon. Eliminate the moon from the plan of creation and the whole fortune of the human family will be changed for the better. I don't believe in folk-lore, but, really, I am willing to place credence in any story that calls the moon a witch censor, that brings down folly, indifference and every other kind of remissness!"

But Gilda shook her head wilfully against her aun't gospel of no moonlight. She had loved the orb of night all through her life, and she would not waver in her allegiance, let come what would.

And while Gilda was standing under the light of breaking day, his grace of Verleinstern Sigmaringen was journeying back from the eastern boundary of his domain. His thoughts were busy and his brow was clouded, and she was the innocent cause.

"I do not like the idea of the woman being at large," he was thinking. "She is sure to hear of the Prince having gone to Denmark, and may follow him. Yet how am I to prevent her doing so?"

When he reached his grand ducal court he gave himself up to gloomy cogitation. It had long been known all over Germany that the Court of Verleinstern-Sigmaringen was a very dull, stupid assembly, but in a short while the idea was abroad that it was the lonliest place on the conti

nent.

The tradespeople in the Spielhaupt did not find their business increase in any remarkable degree, owing to the proximity of the court and they cared little when it would be moved away.

It came into the mind of Hugo to go up on the Fraulein one fine night, when spring was robing the forest in her dainty designs. It seemed, to his way of thinking, that he would be nearer Rudolph there. It had been the scene of a great happiness in the young man's life, and in visiting the place he might come into closer communion with his absent son. He heard regularly from Rudolph; he was winning military renown on the field of battle, but there was a yearning for his presence that nothing could quiet. Accompanied by his steward and Schluers

burg only, the Grand Duke ascended the mountain. He must have intruded on some one's grief, for, as he neared the magic spring, a young woman who had been sitting on a boulder near it ceased her soft sobbing, and ere he could speak to her, turned swiftly out of sight.

Where had he seen that lithe, lissome, willowy form? There was something familiar about it, something familiar.

Then he turned to his steward and they walked out on the projection that was closest to the mill.

"This is the place, your Grand Ducal Highness," the old servitor whispered.

"The mill that was largely the cause of the feuds between the families, yet stands, as it has been repaired from time to time. This mountain and all to the south and east was the Von Bergen land, until the Von Verleinstern and Koenigsfeld families-"

"Let us not discuss it, Henry." The Grand Duke was nervous. "I know, of course, how the two families united and how the land was divided between them. What I wish to know is whether former grand dukes for you, your father and his forefathers were in the Verleinstern service and enjoyed the confidence of the ruler; what I want to ask, Henry, is: Did any of the other grand dukes believe in the prophecy?"

"They used to watch for the shadow on the mill," Henry said, slowly.

"Ah! did they believe the shadow foretold disaster?" Hugo was glancing at the picturesque mill and the great black stain that lowered there.

"The shadow is there now!" he said, looking keenly at Henry.

"It has been there a number of months, your grace. When the court came to the Schloss in September, I heard of the shadow and rode into Spielhaupt to make sure. The villagers believe it is an omen of bad luck to the miller."

Hugo was silent for some moments; then he said: "I spoke to you about searching for the papers that record the story of that combat when a Verleinstern and Koenigsfeld, standing over the dead body of a Von Bergen, whom they had pursued into the mill, were confronted by his daughter, the Lady Gilda, who in tears and wrath de

nounced them and gave out the prophecy. I thought over it for many months ere I spoke to you. Have you made the search, Henry?"

"Grand Ducal Highness, I found the manuscript, and it can be briefly told. It is in rhyme. I can repeat it."

The Grand Duke gathered his light cloak closer around him and continued his scrutiny of the mill. Presently he said:

"Repeat the rhyme, Henry. Threats and prophecies are robbed of half their horror, when put into versification."

And in a cooing, moaning manner the steward of the Verleinstern-Sigmaringen estate complied:

A shadow on the mill shall fall,
And hold Verleinstern in its thrall;

And Koenigsfeld shall rue!

But wedded love shall right the wrong,
The weak will triumph o'er the strong!
Though tears fall as the dew!
Verleinstern shall his brother craze,
And Koenigsfeld shall end his days,
Beneath the madman's hand.
And then Von Bergen of my name
Shall mill and stream and forest claim,
And rule throughout the land!

His voice died away in a gasp, and he wiped his brow.

Hugo turned suddenly; his face was very pale, his eyes were wide open with sudden fright.

"Verleinstern shall his brother craze!'" he repeated. "My god! has that portion come true? Casper is my natural son. I overheard Rudolph saying: 'I deprived thee of thy reason.' He never suspected the relationship; it is one event in my life that I have very carefully concealed."

He was speaking so softly that the partly deaf old servitor did not hear his words.

"And Koenigsfeld is to be killed by Casper according to the rhyme. Perhaps by warning Waldemar, the tragedy may be averted-yet where to find the Count is not known to me. I promised Rudolph to look after Casper while he was away-Henry!" and Hugo spoke in his old brusque way: "Who rents the mill holdings?"

"Julius Meinblume. A very honest, worthy tenant, Grand Ducal Highness. Casper Steinwasser is married to his daughter."

"Good! make out an acknowledgement of

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »