nix,' over gules d'or on a stony field, which was sown to a harvest
of tares and oats, and embossed with a whirlwind rampant. As they
were in knightly honor bound to live up to the motto on their shield,
my ancestor were doomed to remain poor forever. At last they took
service with the free city of Hamburg, where they settled finally and
became honored citizens."

Happening to remember my mother's admonishment not to annoy people
with too much talk, I apologized to the young ladies. Smilingly, they
begged me to continue, for they seemed to enjoy my boyish prattle.

"Listen, now, girls," said Rose laughingly to her companions, "now, I
shall make him open his mother's closet and show us her choicest
family skeleton." "Oh, no, Miss Rose," I protested, "my mother has
indeed a great closet, but it is full of good things to eat and
contains no skeletons." "You little goosie-gander; you don't
understand," replied Miss Rose; "I was only joking. Of course your
mother kept the door carefully locked to keep you boys from
foraging?" "No madame," said I, "it was not necessary to lock the
door." "Did she keep a guard, then?" said Rose. "Oh, yes," I replied,
"and it was very hard to pass in without being knocked down." "Was it
a man?" she asked mischievously. "Why, yes; mamma kept a strong, old
Limburger right behind the door," I said.

When the girls had ceased laughing, Rose said, "What did your mother
tell you when you left for America?" "My mother," I answered,
"implored me with tearful eyes to ever remember how my father's
great-great-grandmother Brunhilde (who was exceedingly beautiful) was
enticed into the depths of a dark forest by a wily, old German King.
Indiscreetly and unsuspectingly she followed him. There clandestinely