



Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive




Transcriber's notes:
1.  Page scan source:
      http://www.archive.org/details/gertrudesmarria00heimgoog
2.  The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].










                          GERTRUDE'S MARRIAGE


                              W. HEIMBURG

                       TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

                          BY MRS. J. W. DAVIS



                              ILLUSTRATED


                                NEW YORK
                     WORTHINGTON CO., 747 BROADWAY
                                  1889






                           COPYRIGHT 1889 BY
                          WORTHINGTON COMPANY






                          GERTRUDE'S MARRIAGE.


                               CHAPTER I.


"Really, Frank, if I were in your place I shouldn't know whether to
laugh or cry. It has always been the height of my ambition to have a
fortune left me, but as with everything in this earthly existence, I
should have my preferences.

"Upon my word, Frank, I am sorry for you. Here you are with an
inheritance fallen into your lap that you never even dreamed of, a sort
of an estate, a few hundred acres and meadows, a little woodland, a
garden run wild, a neglected dwelling-house, and for stock four
spavined Andalusians, six dried-up old cows, and above all an old aunt
who apparently unites the attributes of both horses and cows in her own
person. Boy, at least wring your hands or scold or do something of the
sort, but don't stand there the very picture of mute despair!"

Judge Weishaupt spoke thus in comic wrath to his friend Assessor
Linden, who sat opposite him. Before them on the table stood a bottle
of Rhine wine with glasses, and the eyes of the person thus addressed
rested on the empty bottle with a thoughtful expression, as if he could
read an answer on the label.

