An American Baby Abroad How He Played Cupid to a Kentucky Beauty By Mrs. Charles N. Crewdson
Drawing* by Modest Stein
VI. The Rev. Cyril Hamilton FEW hoars after Captain Hamilton's de- parture Mary md Fraulein Lechner, with A the American Baby and Roxie, drove from Oberammergau over the winding mountain road on their way to N'eueschwanstein, the celebrated castle built by Ludwig II It was such a day as makes the autumn in this region a season ofrare delight; a day when earth and air and sky seem one ina rapturous mingling <>t hie. light, and beauty. The joyousness of such :i morning was needed to restore to" Mary her usual buoyant mood. For hours she had been experiencing the deepest chagrin of her life. She had early that m<>rn- ing heard of the hurried flight of Captain Hamilton. Wilhelm, the long haired young Passion Play actor of the pension, proved his kinship to the ordinary small boy by disappearing regularly at traintimes. On this particular morning Fraulein Leehner by judicious questioning, had gleaned from Wilhelm's early reaping of news that a tall Englishman had [eft by Munich and, strangely, was not the train for Led Hu Fl..c!t coming back Sunday to the play. The Oli MajorJonao Mary was too maidenly to grasp at Fraulein Le> li- of Si«ht«ccr» ftom S«»ry C> St. r\ ner's sentimental solution of the young officer's con- for '" ' duct. She was too humiliate! at the unlocked : : : operas, delighted Mary with the:-r perfect harmony the train, to .• their short ibsence result of her iniux-ent little comedy on l-eint; with the noble architecture and the magnificent clearly. She burned with shame to think that it the thought of lefi alone rith »ti \u25a0 of the castle. reason meeting words shecould not comprehend. Mary vent mountain environment the Englishman might have avoided another anyone his employ treatment of him at to the host to inquire if he had in with her on account of Paul's who »poke English. Mine h.»>t took an affable inter- md the clergyman chance. i to :>e together Versailles. He must, on second thought, have seen • *• : MARY indulgent guide, after ilong \u25a0 : her that his book- just as the tour of through ridiculous assumption of being .. : hei 'ie^. and assured her cousin's \u25a0 tongue's castle, led his company into the spacious Min- of Paul's close relationship had the Engbsh speech it his end. the her husband. Unaware He excused himseli and came back conducting to strel's Hall. The keen eyed Englishman smiled at to her, and of her utter helplessness before his rail- rapt expression in the girl's face as looked md M iry ilarge, good natured blond German youth the lery, he had doubtless thought her undignified -> the gleaming, spacious length of this modern prompted her cousin's actions. Phis Rentleman speaks English good i> w down bold and that she had his hands with i<>v He knew that in this poetic, artistic no attempt to sneak to her at the : ihm in." he -viii.rubbing t'»t Walhalla. He had made I.--•\u25a0 the English quat \u25a0••ci!" supplemented the splendor, the romance loving Southern girl found her Grotto ye she had forgotten herself so far as to of kingly state \u25a0 >mm< >i i*ing youth. idealization smile at" him. After ill that had happened, how- ther, might! The gleaming oak mosaic 1 Inher hurry to follow the party that w t. just And well she could he think well of her • floor, the thousand wax candles in the immense sil- turn her inn for the istle Mary had no time I Finding no pal of pleasantness at any of ver candelabra, the long mirror panel- of the golden memory nkkeeper \u25a0\u25a0 ersatkinal powers. She thoughts, she abandoned the^e haunted by one walls, and the pictured scenes from Parsifal in never to thought to ithhimin here Roxie sat ways, determining give another colors on the gold, give i blended, un- Englishman Surely there was enough of inter- s in the inn fimien. luminous the gentleman. speaks English talks tarnished splendor to this chamber that has not its est and enchantment in this picturesque region to This R.»\i«-. .-.,\u25a0 | will be sitting near it equal in any modern palace. minister to a girl'> very gently aching heart' . you I \u25a0'.\u25a0'\u25a0 He ; you can him while ire are gone, and The party pissed from the Minstrel's Hall into the rhere see Room, String imagina- .•huiv,' you can tell him. Win y»>: Throne celebrate! as the costliest luring her stay at Munich. Mary's chamber of any existing palace. With it> lofty EARLYtion had been rlrel by the romantic story of the rords to her." Mary in- ' \u25a0 •..:•. to bookkeeper she \u25a0• :!? under- firmament ceiling, its azure stone pillars and golden art loving, illfated Mad Monarch of Bavaria' She the " balconies, of this •!t .t y .•-. speak English ? it impressed Mary more deeply than any therefore eagerly availed herself opportunity feet, room she had ever seen. So rich and dazzling was it. visit the famous mountain palace he built in the The young German shifted his to throat, aid, English t long with an oriental magnificence, that it might not far from Oberammergau. The story of and I >pik the since such Tyrol \u25a0 of haunting mystery- and its have been the royal audience chamber a Solomon. King Ludwig. with all its suggested to he- al! the lark she had heard eloquently ami feelingly The Minstrels Hall— had tragedy, f. golden harps by who. like most Bavarians, IyfARY : Prauleii Lechi lade lowly the glamour of poesy. and :r:-:>:red trou- told Frauleii Lechner. • chanting before courts, -bat the a for the memory oi fa mile I i the massive port badors splendid cherished romantic veneration • that !. She in her teens, seen King \,\u25a0\u25a0!«• \r old man clad in the blue md Throne Room was »o overpoweringly unique its King idv ig 11. had. House, felt, that :t mys- Ludwig when he was the newly crowned boy King v o| the Hi- uian Royal a former symbol eluded her. She however of Bavaria [{isbeauty ml charm had dazzled her retainer of K;hl; Ludwig in thi> castle, issei tically portrayed an idea!:st'> conception of kindly an of solemnity. 'youthful fancy. the tour with .iir power. : ince hal! he led them t'> iheap The guide, withreverential air. led the t mristsoot Mary recalled this story to-day as she drove ;'--.;; "; through the mountains over the King's Road toward May 1 '--.; :-- giicious' c nn- of the Throne Room and down the great marble \u25a0 ><•> - ac- the Palace \u25a0if Xeueschwanstein. She and the fraulein ese i>\u25a0\u25a0 er their sh« in »rder stairway. At the entrance to the courty »r«£ he Baby, however, filled \u25a0 \u25a0 istly <>.ik rnosa '\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 !. cepted their tips with a look thai implied that they talkel little. The American him what had shows up the sik-iice of hi^ chaperons with his gurgling joy A^ Mary looked down I her slippe could not compensate for he \u25a0 Lechser over the fast trotting of the hor>e> and the jingling them. Mary, the clergyman, an !Fraalein 1 retr of the bells beneath their necks. The masculine iry ;c came down the mountain road together in the tastes 61Georg. the driver, who wore an eagle feather - \u25a0 of the other tourists. inhis cap, fittel r.<, remarkably with those of the em- Marj' turned impulsively to Frauleii Le hner :ir.i never, never believe tb i tnan who bryonic b:t '-: American masculinity. At the end of said. "'Ishall tt an- could build such a perfect palace as I ould be tlii- second hour ot driving. Georg solemnly • • nounced that, al •\u25a0>! !;:•- horses were tired, and with \u25a0.\u25a0 . insane!" \u25a0 >nis. Let the gracious permission he would let them "Mary, you ire lovely in your entfc friulein's however, ' '•-:i!t this rest. Wall the trink&tJ handed him by the com- us not talk about it. H->.'. prehending fraulein, he disappeared into the way- steep' road is" How gl< (rious i-that g<>l«ier .:!\u25a0 »w fron \u25a0 tavern; iight which made his horses tired, the sinking >un on the purple rir tops \u25a0 c '".ere' side the of Lech- to drink a mug \u25a0\u25a0:' beer. The American Baby, upon Am . porl The conversation, thus diverted by Fr •. tlein the stopping of the carnage. >et up his milk cry. and ner. glanced amid lighter subjects as :c trio took his protectors to hurry after jolting steps down trie steep incline. The lergyaxan thereby compelled \u25a0 Georg into the ta\ em in <>i milk. - very pleasantly expressed his pleasure ." rr.eetic.; search ; .. . • . Despite the bibulous tastes of Georg and the fellow traveler's who spoke his own lan.: tage. He American Baby however, .... t the >Uecl urbanely begged to take the liberty •\u25a0:'introducing \u25a0 \u25a0 > Hohenswangau; village, which himself. The card he with t Fraii- reached the pretty presented • lies .a the base ot the ... crag on which is situ- Ifear Ai lein Ltvhner bore the inscription of the k . Richard ate iXeueschwanstein. Georg 'hove to the littleInn \u25a0 Cyril Hamilton. Fruulein Lechr.er :r. i : :. •\u25a0vn her \u25a0 of the Alpine Rose. Mary could see the castle far 4>wn and M.try's name. above the village, pure, white, and graceful withmin- I aret like towers, built m •\u25a0'\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0•\u25a0 rest ofa mountain spur. \u25a0 AS they reache«l a curve in the mount i:a r adway "It make me very sorry, alas! said Georg, mbled him •**\u25a0 thai was just above the inn. they he ir1 ascend- mournfully nodding his eagle feather, that Imust \u25a0 tng from thegarden fierce, demoniac shrieks. Hamil- \u25a0 \u25a0 sen- beg the gracious fraulein to walk to the castle. >ne • • :ilyI<*lhi.So ton paused wonderingly in his weD need has built a perfect highway to the entrance; but the i iry \u25a0>t this masterpiece >: K.i::_: tences. His bewilderment increased when, after an alas! is too .steep'for the horse-.. When the very Luilwijj's genius; for thi^ castle, i^.ill of hi> other instant of anxious listening. Mary tv S wildly way. i\ n gracious fraulein willbe so good, alas"'" es. Fraulein Lechner had impressed nr>- \u25ba:\u25a0. down the mountain. looking like a dying nymph After the luncheon in the inn. Fraulein Lechner M I--. inder King Ludwig's personal