Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1901 — OUR STORY TELLER [ARTICLE]

OUR STORY TELLER

•Dolly’s Fortune.-

©OLLY was seventeen; she was pretty, she was poor, and she was very superstitious, and fully believed in dreams and signs and all sorts of omens, and her belief in them made her at times very unhappy. If the old red rooster came to the back door and crowed, she at once began to prepare for a stranger’s visit; and If, while wiping the dishes, her towel fell to the floor, she was sure that some friend or relation was coming; If she dreamed of washing clothes, she was going to move; nnd if there enme a speck In the light it was a letter; and If a swallow flew Into the house she felt sure that It announced death In the family, and so on through so many signs and fancies that it seemed as If nothing could ever occur without Its having been foreshadowed. Dolly lived with her grandparents, ■who loved her with that absolute idolatry which grandparents lavish upon their grandchildren, and Fritz Muller, their head man about the farm, loved her, too. She liked Fritz very well. He was good nnd patient. Industrious and a fair musician, and he was also quite well educated; but Dolly did not think of such a thing as ever marrying Fritz, and, indeed, he had never hinted at any such thing, though he had been there over five years. But he thought of her and intended that she should be his wife, and at last he begnn to act more like a lover than pleased Dolly. One day when the hay wns ready for cutting, and the air was heavy with perfume of the flowers In the fields, and the bees hummed drowsily nmong them, nnd the birds fluttered down into the shade, all the men on the big farm went out to cut the hay with Fritz at their head, and old Mr. Martin and his wife went to the funeral of an old friend, Dolly was left alone In the old house. Something weighed upon her spirits. She had seen three black crows circle three times round the old well, nnd she accepted that as a sign of coming evil, and her little heart grew heavy as she Imagined all sorts of dangers that might menace them; aijd then a shadow fell across the doorway and she ruised her eyes, to see an old woman standing there. The old woman was in rags, and her gray hair hung down over a wrinkled and smoke-browned face, and this wus lighted by piercing black eyes. “Good-day to you, my pretty lady. Shall I tell your fortune? I have come all the way over the river to see you, for I rend of your destiny In the stars last night." "Oh, I think not,” said Dolly, half frightened. “Do let me tell you, for you have a wonderful lot in life. Your fortune will take you far, and I have come so far to tell you." "But,” said Dolly, “1 have no money of my own. I never need any, and never have any to spend.” “Well, my little one, perhaps you have an old brooch or pair of ear-rings, or something of that sort that you would give me. For such a fortune as I read last night In the stars for you, people would give handfuls of gold.” “I don’t know," said Dolly. "I think 1 have something like that, if you will sit down here and wait till I bring It,” and with a beating heart, the foolish child went to her room nnd took from a drawer a quaint old pair of earrings with yellow topaz stones. They were heavy and handsome, though oldfashioned, nnd the gipsy received them with gleaming eyes, for they suited her barbaric taste. Dolly did not know they were valuable. They had belonged to a greataunt, and they had lain year after year among her possessions, nnd she offered them fearing they would not be enough. “Now, my pretty dear, take hold of my hands nnd look me straight in the eyes, and never forget what I have said. You were born under a lucky ■tar. Y'our life lies before you a smooth and happy path. You will travel in strange countries und see wonders, and you will be u very rich woman. You will marry a nobleman; one of a long line of nobles, and you will be envied of all women. Your husband will adore you 10 your last dny and die of grief two days later. You will have two children—a son nnd daughter—and they will be both great and dlstingulshed, arid you will live to a good old age and be loved by every one. All this Is yet to come, but the stars say that your fate Is very near you.” Dolly listened In breathless silence. Could this be true? Then she asked, timidly, “hut hpw soon?” "Ah, my dear. I don’t control destiny. I only reveal what I read In the stars.” "But how am 1 to kuow?” ‘That I cannot tell either. It wjll be revealed to you In some way. Now, «o>i’t forget, and good-by,” and the

gipsy disappeared, leaving poor Dolly confounded. She believed every word the old woman told her. She believed In all sorts of supernatural things, and the fact that any one could read the stars was as patent to her as that they could reud a book, but she said nothing and went about her duties nowadays with the same Industry, but with a look of expeetuney in her eyes, as if watching for the enchanted prince to come. Poor Fritz! In vain he played sweet airs on his flute or violin; in vain he sang or talked. Dolly’s little heart was now closed to his voice, and he sighed in vain. He was not an ordinary man, nnd she knew It, though he held a mediocre position in Mr. Martin’s farm, and the old folks liked him so well, and trusted him so thoroughly: that they would gladly have had him for a grandson-in-law, and felt happy in leaving Dolly so well provided for. for with the farm nnd a good husband Dolly would have been envied. But Dolly grew colder and colder, and Fritz sadder and sadder, and do what he could, Dolly seemed slowly freezing into ice before him. He offered her presents, she scorped them; he brought rare wild flowers from field nnd mountain, she took them and looked at them, nnd let them wither and die; and Fritz was almost beside himself with fear nnd grief. As yet the old folks noticed nothing. One morning Fritz tried to kiss Dolly’s hand, and she, angered beyond measure by his presumption, and also by a curious throb of sweet pain that agitated her wicked little heart, drew hack her hand and dealt him a staging box on his ears. Hjs eyes filled with tears, partly pain and partly grief, and Dolly fled from their piteous

appeal, and went upstairs, angrily declaring that it served him just right. How dare he aspire to one whose destiny wns to he so wonderful! But she could not get rid of the sad eyes, and she cried a little to prove to herself that she wasn’t a bit sorry and hated him terribly. A little before noon one of the men came hurriedly up to the house to say that the herses attached to the reaper had been frightened, and run away, throwing Fritz off among the knives; that he was badly hurt, and asking where he should be taken. Dolly got very white for a few minutes, and looked at her little right hand, as If It had wielded every one of those glittering knives, and ought to he cut off. , "Why, bring him here as soon as you can, und send one of the men off for the doctor.” said her grandfather. “Wife, you and Doly get the spare room ready and bandages, and so forth;” and he went out to help bring poor Fritz In. The cruel knives had cut and gashed terribly, and Fritz was awfully mangled; but he did not die. As soon as Dolly could see him she glided up to his side, and while great tears chased each other adown her face, sb» stooped and kissed him on his forehead, and then somehow the poor bandaged arms got around her neck, and It would not be possible to tell who klsesd the other next or last. In that moment the gypsy’s fortune faded Into a fur-nwny vision, and Dolly was happy with a new-found Joy; and, in fact, the whole household rejoiced, though they pitied Fritz for his terrible injuries. “He will be well soon,” said the doctor; “but he will never be a strong naan again. He will always lack the use of his right arm, for the muscles are so cut that he can never use It again.” “I don’t care,” said Dolly; “I can work, and I have two that shall replace his one;” and she laid her trembling lips up<?n the poor inulmed hand. “I don’t think we will have to work, Dolly,” said Fritz. “I am rich now, through the death of my uncle, and now we can go to Dresden, where my little Dallie will be u countess.” Astonishment and dismay seized upon Dolly at this Juncture; but it was true. The poor young lad had been too Independent to live upon the charity of hla miserly old uncle, had found a home with these kind old people, and, as he afterward said, he fell In love with Dolly the day she gave the stranger a drink of water when he was searching for work. Of what use to speak of his family, as long as he could not uphold his name? And bet%veen Fritz Mueller and the Count Von Muhlenbach rolled a wide sea. Well, It wns all over now. The young Count nnd Countess did live happily, did travel, did see many wonderful things, and had seven children, all boys hut one. But the gypsy had known all the Count’s history In bis own couutry, and knowing, as they have the faculty of finding out. Fritz’s love for Dolly, bad easily predicted Dolly's fortune.