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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1907)
11 Thft Minkter's Wife 141 17 By MRS. HENRY WOOD i CHAPTER II. (Continued.) Thb evening wai but another of those Mr. Baumgarten sometimes spent at Avon House feeding the flame of her ill starred passion. His manner to. women was naturally tender, and to Grace, with her fascinations unconsciously brought to bear upon him, dangerously warm. ' That he never for one moment had outstepped the bounds of friendly intercourse Grace attributed entirely to the self-restraint imposed by his inferior position ; but she did not doubt he loved her in secret. While at dinner he told them, jokingly, as he had told Edith, that the pariah wanted him to marry. Lady Avon re marked, in answer, that be could not do better; parsons and doctors should al ways be married men. "Yes, that's very right, very true,", he returned in the same jesting tone. "But suppose they have nothing to marry upon?" "But you have something, Mr. Baum garten." "Yes, I have two hundred a year; and no residence." "The rectory is rather bad, I believe." "Bad! Well, Lady Avon, you should see it. "Mr. Dane ought not to have allowed it to get into that state," she remarked, ana tue subject dropped. After dinner Mr. Itfuimrnrton stood on the lawn with Grace, watching the glories of the setting sun. Lady Avon, indoors. was beginning to doze; they knew-better than to disturb het ; this after-dinner sleep, which sometimes did not last more than ten minutes, was of great moment to her, the doctor said. Mr. Baumgarten had held out his arm to Lady Grace in courtesy as they be gan to pace the paths, and she took it. They came to a halt near the entrance gate, both gazing at the beautiful sky. their hands partially shading their eyes from the blaze of sunset, "when a little man dressed In black with a white neck tie was seen approaching. "Why, here comes Moore" exclaimed Grace. He was the clerk at the Great Whitton church. Limping up to the gate, for he was lame with rheumatism, he stood there and looked at Mr. Baumgarten, as if his business lay with him. But'Grace withdrawing her arm from her com pan ion, was first at the gate. "I beg pardon, my lady. I thoueht it right to come up and inform the countess of the sad news and I'm glad I did, see ing you here, sir. Mr. Chester is gone, my lady." Gone:" exclaimed Grace. "Gone where?" "He is dead, my lady he is dead, sir, Departed to that bourne whence no trav eler returns," continued the clerk, wish Ing to be religiously impressive and be lieving he was quoting from Scripture. Surely it cannot be !" said Mr. Baum garten. Ay, but it is, sir, mores the pity And frightfully sudden. After getting home from afternoon service, he said he felt uncommonly tired, he conldn't think why, and that he'd not have his tea till later in the evening. He went up to his room and sat down in the easy chair there and dropped asleep. A sweet, tranquil sleep it was, to all appearance, and Mrs, Chester shut the door and left him. Bu i . i , aner au uour or iwo, wnen sne sent up to say he had better wake up for bis tea, they found him dead. The poor old lady is quite beside herself with the sud denness, and the maids be running about all sixes and sevens." i win go aown witn you at once, Moore," said Mr. Baumgarten. out you win come dbck and tell us and tell us how Mrs. Chester is?" said Lady Grace, as he was passing through tne gate. "les, certainly, if you wish it," he answered, walking away with so fleet a tep that the clerk with difficulty kept up witn mm. "I fancy it must have been on his mind, sir," said he; "not direct, perhaps, but some Inkling like of what was about to happen. This afternoon, when I'd took off his surplice in the vestry I went and put things to rights a bit In the church, and when I got back into the vestry to lock up, I was surprised to see the rector still there, sitting opposite the outer door, which stood open to the churchyard, 'Don't you feel well.sir?' said I. 'Oh, yes, I'm well,' he answered, 'but I'm tired, We must all all get to feel tired when the end of our life is at hand, Moore, and mine has been a long one.' lea,. It has, sir, and a happy one, too,' I said, 'thank God.' With that he rose up from his chair, and lifted his hands towards Heaven looking up at the blue sky. 'Thanks be to my merciful God,' he repeated, sol emnly, in a hushed sort of tone. 'For , that, and all the other blessings of my past life on earth, thanks be unto Him !' With that, be took his hat and stick and walked out to the churchyard," concluded the clerk, "leaving me a bit dazed as 'twere, for I had never heard him talk like that before; he was not the sort man to do It." Within an hour Mr. Baumgarten was back at Avon House. Lady Grace was still lingering In the garden, In the sum mer twilight. He told her in a hushed voice all he had to tell; of the general state of things at the rectory, of poor Mrs, Chester's sad distress. "Mamma is expecting yOa," said Grace, "I broke the news to her but she wants to hear more particulars. They went into the drawing-room by the open doors of the window. Mr. Baum " garten gave the best account he could to Lady Avon ; and then drank a cup of tea. standing. Still asking questions, Grace passed out again with him to tbs open air, and strolled by his side along the smooth, broad path which led to the en trance gate. When they reached it he held out his hand to" bid her good evening. The opal sky was clear and beautiful ; a large star shone In it. "Great Whitton is In my brother's gift," she whispered, as her hand rested in his; I wish he would give it to you." A flush rose to the young clergyman s face. To exchange Little Whitton for Great Whitton had now and then made one of the flighty dreams of his amtiltion but never really cherished. Do not mock me with pleasant vis ions, Lady Grace. I can have no possi ble Interest with Lord Avon." "You can' marry then," she said, softly, in reference to the conversation at dinner, "and set the parish grumblers at defi ance " "Marry? Yes, I should I hope do so, was his reply. His voice was soft as her own : his speech hesitating : he was thinking of Edith Dane. But how was Lady Grace to divine that? She, alas! gave altogether a dif ferent interpretation to the words; and her heart beat with a tender throbbing, and ber lips parted with love and hope, and she gazed after Mm until he disap peared in the shadows of the sweet sum niei' night! CHAPTER III. The Countess of Avon, persuaded into it by her daughter badgered a promise from her son that he would bestow the living of Great Whitton upon the Rev. Ryle Baumgarten. The Earl did not give an immediate consent ; in fact, he demurred to give it at all ; and sundry letters passed to and fro between Avon House and Paris for his lordship happened just then to have taken a run over to the French capital. Great Whitton was too good a thing to be thrown away upon young Baumgarten, who was nobody, he told his mother, and he should like to give it to Elliotsen ; but Lady Avon, for peace s sake at home, urged her petition strongly, and the Earl at length granted it and gave the prom ise. The morning the letter arrived contain' Ing the promise, and also the information that his lordship was back at his house in London, Lady Avon was feeling un usually ill. Her head was aching vio lently, and she bade her maid put the let ter aside ; she would open it tater. This she did in the afternoon when she was sitting up in her dressing room and she then told Grace of the arrival of the un expected promise. "Oh, let me see it ! exclaimed Grace, in her incautious excitement, holding out her hand for the letter. She read it hungrily, with flushing cheeks and trembling fingers. Lady Avon could but note this. It somewhat puz zled her. "Grace," she said, "I cannot think why you should be so eager. What does it sig nify to you who gets the living whether Mr. Baumgarten or another?" In the evening, when Grace was saun tering listlessly in the rocky walk, won dering whether any one would call that night or not, she saw him. He was com ing along the path from the rectory. The old rector had been burled some days now "I have been sitting with Mrs Chester, and thought I would just ask, in passing, how Lady Avon is," he remark ed, swinging through the gate, as if he would offer an apology for calling. "The last time I was here she seemed so very poorly." "She is not any better, I am sorry to say; to-day she has not come downstairs at all," replied Grace, meeting his offered hand. "What will you give me for some news I can tell you?" she resumed, stand ing before him in the full blow of her beauty, her hand not yet withdrawn from him. He bent his sweet smile upon her, his deep, dark eyes speaking the admiration that he might not utter. Ryle Baum garten was no more insensible to the charms of a fascinating and beautiful girl than are other men despite his love for Editb Dane. She was awaiting an an swer. "What may I give?" he said. "Noth ing that I could give would be of value to you." "How do you know that, Mr. Baumgar ten?" With a burning blush, for she had spok en unguardedly, Grace laughed merrily, stepped a few steps backward, and drew a letter from her pocket. "II. is one that came to mamma this morning, and it has a secret in it. What will you give me to read you just one little sentence?" Mr. Baumgarten, but that Edith and his calling were in the way, would have said a shower of kisses; it is possible that he might in spite 'of both, had he dared, Whether his looks betrayed him cannot be known.- Lady Grace, blushing still, took refuge in the letter. Folding it so that only the signature was visible, she held it out to him. He read the name, "Henry." "Is it from Lord Avon?" he said, with hesitation. "It Is from Lord Avon, ne does not sign himself in any other 'way to us. 'Your affectionate son, Henry,' it .always runs to mamma ; and it is no unmean ing phrase; he Is very fond of her. But now for the secret. Listen." ' Mr. Baumgarten, suspecting nothing, listened with a smile. "I have been dunned with applications since I got home," read Grace, aloud, from Lord Avon's letter, "some of them from personal friends; but as you and Grace make so great a point of It, mother, 1 promise you that Mr, Baumgarten shall 'have Great Whitton." In reading she , had left out the words "and Grace." She closed the letter, and then stole a glance at bis face. It had turned pale to seri ousness. "I do not quite understand," he said "No? It means that you are appolntea to Great Whitton." "How can I ever sufficiently, thank Lord Avon?" he breathed forth. Now, Is not the knowing that worth something?" laughed she. 'Oh, Lady Grace ! It is worth far more than anything I have to give In re turn. But it is not a jest, is it? Can it be really true?" A jest! Is that likely? You will be publicly appointed In, a day or two, and will, of course, hear from my brother. I am not acquainted, myself, with the for mal routine of these thines. Mamma is rejoicing; she would rather have you here tjan any one." Lady Avon Is too kind," he murmured. abstractedly. And what do yon think mamma said? Shall I tell you? 'Mr. Baumgarten can marry now.' Those were her words." Grace spoke with sweet sauciness, se cure in the fact that he could not divine her feeling for him although she believ ed in his love for ber. His answer sur prised her. Yes, I can marry now," he assented. still half lost In his own thoughts. "I shall do so soon. I have only waited until, some preferment should justify it." lou are a bold man, Mr. Baumgarten, to make so sure of the lady's consent. Have you asked her?" No; where was the use, until I could speak to some purpose? But she has de tected my wishes, I am sure of that ; and there is no coquetry in Edith." hdith?" almost shrieked Lady Grace. "I beg your pardon ; I shall not fall." What have you done? You have hurt yourself ! They had been walking close to the min' iature rocks, and she had seemed to stum ble over a projecting corner. "I gave my ankle a twist. The pain was sham." Blie moaned. "Pray lean on me, Lady Grace : pray let me support you ; you are as white as death." He wound his arms gently round her, and laid her pallid face upon his shoul der; he thought she was going to faint. For one single moment she yielded to the fascination of the beloved resting place. Oh ! that it could be hers forever ! She shivered, raised her head, and drew away from him. "Thank you," she said, faintly; "the anguish has passed. I must go indoors now." Mr. Baumgarten held out bis arm, but she did not-take it, walking alone with rapid steps toward the house. At the en-tr-nce of the glass door she turned to him. 'I will wih you good evening now." He held out his hand, but she did not appear to see it. She ran in, and he turned away to depart, thinking she must be in great pain. Lady Grace shut herself In the drawing room. For a few moments she rushed 1 about like one possessed, in her torrent of anger. Then she sat down to her writ ing desk and dashed off a blotted and hasty note to Lord Avon which would just save the post. "Give the living to any one you please, narry, but not to Ryle Baumgarten ; be stow it where you will, but not to him. There are reasons why he would be ut terly unfit for it. Explanations when wa meet." During this, Mr. Baumgarten was hast ening home, the great news surging in his brain. Edith was at the gate, but not looking for him, of course ; merely en joying the air of the summer's night. That's what she said she was doing when he came up. He caught her by the waist and drew her between the trees and be gan to kiss her. She cried out, and gazed at him in wonder. "Edith, do you think I aim mad? I be lieve I am mad with joy, for the time has come that I may ask you to be my wife!" , "Your wife," she stammered, for In truth that prospect had seemed farther off lhau heaven. He drew her to him again in the plentl tude of his emotion. Her heart beat wild ly against his, and he laid her face upon his breast, more fondly than he had laid another's not long before. "You know how I have loved you ; you must have seen it, though I would not speak ; but I could not marry while my income wag so small. It would not have been right, Edith." "If you think so no." "But, oh, my dearest, I may Bpeak now. Will you be my wife?" "But what hag happened?" she asked. "Ah, what! Promotion has come to me, my dear one. I am presented to the living of Great Whitton." "Of Great Whitton, Ryle?" "It Is quite sure. Lord Avon's mother asked him to give it to me, it seems, and he generously complied., Edith, will you reject me, now I have 'Great Whitton?" . She hid her face. She felt him lovlngiy stroking her hair. "I would not have rejected -you when you had but Llttly Whitton, Ryle." "Yours is not the first fair face which has been there, this night, Edith," he said In a laughing whisper. "I had Lady Grace's there but an hour ago." A shiver seemed to dart through her heart. Her jealousy of Lady Grace had been almost as powerful as her love for Mr. Baumgarten. ' "Grace said, in a joking kind of way, that her mother had remarked I could marry, now 1 had Great Whitton. So I told Grace that I should do so one word lends to Another, vnn tnniu 1MlMi 1 that I had onlv waited for rreta'rmn, 10 marry you, my oen love, as I was speaking she managed somehow to twist her ankle. The piin rauat have been In tense, for she turned as white as death, and I had to hold her to me. But I did not pay myself for my trouble as I am doing now with kisses. Edith, my whol lovs is yours." (To bs continued.) Greerf II Germany con vulsed with lauajvter over bonus VjnrTOii .and hood winked Burgomaster and Town Treasurer If the verdict on Wllhelm Volgt, the ex-convlct cobbler who captured Koe- enlclt Town Hall and rifled, the mu nicipal treasury, could be deter mined by the votes of the Ger man people, there Is no oubt he would be allowed to go sco' free by a -large majority. Though a crim inal, as the au thor of e great est honx of the age, he Is acclaim ed a hero through out Germany. He holds the stage ns ) tlm world's cham pion bluffer. He has eclipsed the Kaiser at his best. Ho Uu3 conferred I m in o r t allty on the town which was the scene of WILLIAM VOIQT. his exploit. He has added a new verb to the dictionary to koepenlck. Ex cept in officialdom, which he so beauti fully fooled, the only regret felt In con nection with the Incident Is that he has been caught. Now that his personality hns been re vealed to the (world, the greater grows the admiration for the colossal audaci ty which eunbled him to carry his plot through successfully. It would be hard to find a man outwardly more ill suit ed to the role which he played. "Low class" is writ large all over him. It Is the fetish of the military uniform which made It possible for such a mnu to carry out his daring coup. Nowhere else but in Germany could he have succeeded. That Is one of the lessons which Germany is taking to heart Volgt fully realizes the fame that he hns achieved, and not even the pros pect of spending the rest of his life, in prison lessens his satisfaction. When the Idea of his coup first came to him Volgt frequented music halls and other places where military officers resort ' tlio ho mlr.if etiirlv thorn nnt tlmlr ways. The deference with . which he observed they were everywhere treat-id soon convinced him that the uniform counted for vastly more than the man Inside of It He' bad first thought of raiding one of the Berlin niunlclpall ties, but enme to the conclusion that In a place where there are so many of ficers about the risk was ft little too great. Then he selected Koepenlck, a thriving city of 75,000- Inhabitants on the outskirts of the capital, for bis ox ploit. After donning a discarded uniform of a captain In the First Regiment of In fantry guards, which he purchased In a second hand clothing shop, he stroll ed calmly along a street In the east of Berlin, awaiting the return of a detach ment of grenadier guards from the drilling ground to their barracks. True to his calculations, the detachment ap peared, consisting of twenty-four men, each carrying a rifle, "Your men must follow me," said Volgt accosting the corporal. "I have the Kaiser's orders to make an impor tant arrest and need your assistance." Grimy and bnttered though he was, and much too old for a captain, none of the soldiers thought for an Instant of challenging the seedy uniform of the first guards. They obeyed lilin like sheep. He marched them to the near- !est railway station, whence he took them by train to Koepenlck. Arrived at Koepenlck he ordered them to fix bayonets and march to the town hall. Halting at the telephone exchange, Volgt ordered the official In charge to rut off communications with the town hall for the next two hours under pen alty of Incurring the Kaiser's displeas ure. The uniform triumphed again. The trembling official promised implicit obedience. The chief of the Koepenlck police took orders from Volgt without ques tion. The uniform hypnotized him, as It did everybody else. By Volgt's di rections he placed a squad of police around the town hall to keep the crowd back, and as proof of his zeal, actually arrested five citizens whose curiosity got the better of their discretion. In his wildest extravaganzas Gilbert never ' conceived anything more ludicrous than a municipal police force helping a thief to loot the municipal treostiry iind arresting honest men to make Hilars easier for him. Now only red tr.po fettered oltt.'ln: (loin which hns been held up to ridi cule feels sore over the exploit. TV fetish of the military uniform bus re- The 11 IrfeM 11 I Mto'lVmA vm celved a deadly blow. The day mat come when Germany, freed from tb tyranny of a military bureaucracy, may recognize that it owes a debt of gratitude to the cobbler who made th3 whole world laugh. Volgt's case has called attention to another form of tyranny which needs reforming In Germany. It is the sys tem of police supervision of ex-cou-vlcts. Tbnt made it impossible for Volgt to make an honest living. It was, he says, because there was no way. open to him by which he could make a decent living honestly that he con ceived the Idea of effecting a coui which he fondly hoped would bring him enough money to enable him to live without any more work, either honest or dishonest, and wed an old sweet heart That the hoary sinner has some good stuff in him which hns survived a score of years spent In Jails Is shown by the fact, attested Jby the old folk In whose house he was lodging when caught, that he nursed there, with touching devotion, a young girl wb.3 was dying of consumption. DIFFERENCES OF DIARI8T8. How Two Pabllo Men Differed la Estimate of Bismarck. Public men who keep diaries shonld either see tbnt they are destroyed while there Is yet time, or get together fre quently to compare notes and agree In their versions of Incidents, soys the Boston Transcript Either course would save the hlHtcylun of the future a world of trouble, the nature of which Is Indi cated by the sharp d'.rTcrcnccH between the lnte Prince Iloheulohe's explanation of Bismarck's policy and that recorded by Crlspl. The former, who was ejie of Bismarck's successors as German chan cellor, wrote In his diary, on the au thority of the grand duke of Baden, un cle of the kaiser, that the Imperial dis trust of Bismarck was based qn a sus picion that he was secretly favoring; Russia and laboring to undermine t!i triple alliance. Crlspl, the Italian pre mier, left a diary, extracts from which the nephew has pplnted in facsimile to demonstrate that Bismarck was a zeal ous supporter, not qnly officially but personally, of the alliance. Crlspl wrote while Bismarck's words were fresh In his memory. Bismarck explained that he had endeavored to live in friendship with Russia, but had failed, iind urged that In extension qf the dreibund there should be a "grouping" of Austria, Italy and England. Whether we should ac cept the grand duke's statement, pre sumably based on tbe confidences 4f his nephew, or that of Crlspl, In estimating Bismarck, Is a puzzle that promises tq be prolific of literature. Bismarck Is still an Idol with a large proportion of the Germans, who, how ever, may be deferential enough tq tho kaiser to moderate the terms of their defense. Those who have studied him In "a neutral atmosphere" may recon cile the differences between diarists by saying that Bismarck talked one wny( with one man, and the opposite 'with another, ard that he was pulling wool over Crlspl's eyes as he bud pulled It over those of Napoleon III. Plsmnrckj was a llo,n with a great many fox trait In his make-up. Letters and diaries are of greut value to the historian, but their product Is often small as compared with the amount of labor necessary to reconcile contradictions and extract the residuum of fact Without them many historical Incidents would be cloudy and It cannot have escaped detection that some of the richest finds have been made In letters which their writers sol emnly pledged the recipients tq destroy. One of the most luminous documents In the Taston correspondence has a P. 8. reading "Burn this letter." IS MOST BEATJTimi WOMAN IN ENGLAND. This la Lady Beatrice Pole-Carew, the woman to whom King Edward haa awarded the palm of beauty of his realm. He recently referred to her aa "England's handsomest woman," and that title Is expected to cling to her for many years. Lady Beatrice Is the wife of General Tole-Carew and daughter of the Marquess of Ormonde. When a business man writes his ad vertisement on the back ot an old en velope, with an old indelible pencil, the printers swear.