CHAPTER VI 



MY FIRST CAPERCAILZIE 



DEEP among the dark fir-trees of the 

 splendid Black Forest lies an ideal 

 hunting lodge known as Kaltebronnen. 

 There we drove one fine spring day, my uncle 

 Max von Baden and I. Everything was 

 already blossoming and sprouting in the plain. 

 Laughing meadows, patterned all over with 

 purple violets and white snowdrops, green 

 bushes everywhere. But the farther we 

 journeyed towards the mountains the poorer 

 and more barren grew the country, with the 

 exception of the beautiful fir-trees which give 

 the Black Forest its name. 



By the time we reached the lodge it was 

 winter again and we were in deep snow. The 

 little house is built entirely of wood ; deliciously 

 comfortable with its little sitting-room looking 

 out on to the wonderful dark mountain forest ; 



E 2 51 



