"There is none better hereabout," answered Johann, twirling his cap with noticeably white fingers.It was only in after days that the Englishman appreciated the full significance of this answer.
"Speak English?"
"No.Herr's German is excellent, however.""Humph!" The Englishman gave a final glance into the shining tubes of the gun, snapped the breach, and slipped it into the case."You'll do.Return to the office; I'll be down presently.""Will Herr hunt this morning?"
"No; what I wish this morning is to see the city of Bleiberg.""That is simple," said Johann.The fleeting, imperceptible smile did not convict his eyes of false keenness.
He bowed out.When the door closed the Englishman waited until the sound of retreating steps failed.Then he took the gun case which he had not yet opened, and thrust it under the mattress of the bed.
"Johann," he said, as he put on a soft hat and drew a cane from the straps of the traveling bag, "you will certainly precede me in our hunting expeditions.I do not like your eyes; they are not at home in your boyish face.Humph! what a country.Every one speaks a different tongue."The city of Bleiberg lay on a hill and in the valleys which fell away to the east and west.It was divided into two towns, the upper and the lower.The upper town and that part which lay on the shores of the Werter See was the modern and fashionable district.It was here that the king and the archbishop had their palaces and the wealthy their brick and stone.The public park skirted the lake, and was patterned after those fine gardens which add so much to the picturesqueness of Vienna and Berlin.
There were wide gravel paths and long avenues of lofty chestnuts and lindens, iron benches, fountains and winding flower beds.
The park, the palaces, and the Continental Hotel enclosed a public square, paved with asphalt, called the Hohenstaufenplatz, in the center of which rose a large marble fountain of several streams, guarded by huge bronze wolves.Here, too, were iron benches which were, for the most part, the meeting-place of the nursemaids.Carriages were allowed to make the circuit, but not to obstruct the way.
The Konigstrasse began at the Platz, divided the city, and wound away southward, merging into the highway which continued to the Thalian Alps, some thirty miles distant.The palaces were at the southeast corner of the Platz, first the king's, then the archbishop's.The private gardens of each ran into the lake.
Directly across from the palaces stood the cathedral, a relic of five centuries gone.On the northwest corner stood the Continental Hotel, with terrace and parapet at the water's edge, and a delightful open-air cafe facing the Platz.September and October were prosperous months in Bleiberg.Fashionable people who desired quiet made Bleiberg an objective point.The pheasants were plump, there were boars, gray wolves, and not infrequently Monsieur Fourpaws of the shaggy coat wandered across from the Carpathians.
As to the lower town, it was given over to the shops and markets, the barracks, the university, and the Rathhaus, which served as the house of the Diet.It was full of narrow streets and quaint dwellings.
Up the Konigstrasse the guide led the Englishman, who nodded whenever the voluble chatter of the German pleased him.When they began the descent of the hill, the vista which opened before them drew from the Englishman an ejaculation of delight.
There lay the lake, like a bright new coin in a green purse; the light of the sun broke on the white buildings and flashed from the windows; and the lawns twinkled like emeralds.
"It makes Vienna look to her laurels, eh, Herr?" said Johann.
"But it must have cost a pretty penny."
"Aye, that it did; and the king is being impressed with that fact every day.There are few such fine palaces outside of first-class kingdoms.The cathedral there was erected at the desire of a pope, born five hundred years ago.It is full of romance.
There is to be a grand wedding there on the twentieth of this month.That is why there are so many fashionable people at the hotels.The crown prince of Carnavia, which is the large kingdom just east of us, is to wed the Princess Alexia, the daughter of the king.""On the twentieth? That is strange."
"Strange?"
"), I meant nothing," said the Englishman, jerking back his shoulders; "I had in mind another affair."There was a flash in Johann's eyes, but he subdued it before the Englishman was aware of its presence."However," said Johann, "there is something strange.The prince was to have arrived a week ago to complete the final arrangements for the wedding.His suite has been here a week, but no sign of his Highness.He stopped over a train at Ehrenstein to visit for a few hours a friend of the king, his father.Since then nothing has been heard from him.
The king, it is said, fears that some accident has happened to him.
