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I


A Castle To Let
By Mrs. BAILLIE REYNOLDS
AUTHOR OF
“The Danghter Pays," "The Lonely Stronghold"
"The Kings Widow," etc.

A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers
New York
Published by arrangement with GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY


SYX
PR6035
E 7 C3
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917,
BY GBORGE H. DORAN COUPAYI
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF ANTHRICA


CONTENTS
CBAPTIR
PAGE
I HER OWN MISTRESS
9
II A CHANGE OF PLAN
20
III NEVILLE MAKES A MISTAKE
33
41
IV THE MEDIEVAL CITY
V A CASTLE TO LET
53
VI ESLER MAKES A BANG
62
VII THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
72
85
VIII THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY
IX TAKING POSSESSION
X “CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME"
92
101
.
XI THE GARDEN CAVE
111
124
135
147
.
XII THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER
XIII CONRAD'S EXPLOIT
XIV TOKENS IN THE SAND
XV THE BARON'S HINT, AND A DREAM
XVI GAURA DRACULUJ
XVII THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
XVIII A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
157
168
.
179
193
XIX THE PROPHECY OF EPHROBINE
206
.
216
230
Ai XX THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
XXI BETTY'S ACCIDENT .
XXII THE MYSTERIOUS CRY
XXIII THE BLACK DBAGON
XXIV ESLER HOLDS OUT .
it
240
251
265


vi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
XXV RED BROCADE
279
.
291
.
XXVI THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
XXVII THE WILD SWANS
XXVIII THE SECRET INTERVIEW
302
310
.
.
.
XXIX GRAVE SUSPICIONS .
320
XXX THE DRAGON SLAYER
328
XXXI COMING HOME
342
.


A CASTLE TO LET


5


A CASTLE
TO LET
CHAPTER I
HER OWN MISTRESS
South KENSINGTON may perhaps be described as pre-
eminently the home of the British domesticities. All that
most indicates the rectitude, the stability, the refinement
of English family life at its best flourishes here, where
we have neither the oppressive wealth of Belgravia nor
the mediocrity of the suburbs.
Had you opened the street door of Number 3 Truro
Gardens, one evening in the late June of the year before
the war, you would have been greeted by that mingled
odour of clear soup, green peas, hot fruit, and stuffing,
which indicates that a dinner-party is in progress.
The hall of the house was spacious, as halls in London
go. It was tiled with coloured encaustics, and dadoed
with some kind of papier mâché which, when painted
dark brown, was supposed to resemble oak panelling.
Above this, the wallpaper was of a rather violent shade
of what used to be called peacock blue.
Engravings after Alma Tadema, Sant, and even Edwin
Long loudly gave out the date at which this hall had
been furnished.
Men-servants and maid-servants were scurrying to and
fro, and from the dining-room came a subdued hum of
decorous talk and properly moderated laughter.
The iced pudding had just been carried out, and the
butler was entrusting to a colleague, hired for the coca-
9


10
A CASTLE TO LET
.
sion, a dish of tempting prawn savouries—with a face
imbued with the solemnity befitting such an important
festival. He himself excelled as an entertainer, and he
was looking forward to the moment, an hour later, when
he would take his place at the table in the servants' hall
and press some of his young mistress's champagne upon
the hired waiter's willing acceptance. Forbes looked for-
ward to a series of such dinners as the present one-with
perhaps a somewhat gayer company, for choice, than the
one now assembled—in the future, which stretched before
him in rosy colours, since his young mistress was cele-
brating her coming of age to-night.
She sat at the head of her table in a dining-room which
was an echo of the hall. The sideboard had been bought
in the Tottenham Court Road thirty years previously,
and was of walnut, with an overmantel and suite to cor-
respond.
On the long wall opposite the fireplace hung two oil-
paintings in heavy gold frames. They represented a
middle-aged man, who still clung to the short, straight
side-whiskers of the 'eighties, and a youngish woman, in
dowdy evening dress, with a gold locket and chain.
Their faces were both pleasing rather than otherwise:
the man in particular had what one might call an inter-
esting face, an expression which suggested possibilities.
His mouth was sensitive as well as firm. One felt that
both had been people with a strong sense of duty, and not
without culture.
Their orphan daughter sat beneath their portraits,
gravely fronting the relatives who graced her board that
night.
George France was a man who succeeded comparatively
late in life. His success—at the bar-came to him quite
suddenly and unexpectedly. There had not seemed a
chance that his long engagement would ever crystalliso


HER OWN MISTRESS
11
into matrimony, and then, as the result of one cleverly
defended case, he had more work than he could cope with.
At the time they married, his wife, who had been wait-
ing for him eight years, was thirty years old. She was
not a strong woman, and some physical defect was found
to exist, which made the doctors think it impossible that
she should ever be the mother of a living child.
Five or six times her hopes of motherhood were dis-
appointed, and then she was taken to see a new specialist
of great ability. The result was her daughter Camiola,
now seated pensive under the distressingly philistine pre-
sentment of the mother who had only lived to rejoice in
her for seven years.
Camiola's life had run in sevens, for when she was
fourteen her father succumbed to a sudden attack of
pneumonia following influenza. He died a fairly wealthy
man, and soon after his death his wife's only sister, rich
and childless, died also, and left the bulk of a large
fortune to Camiola.
Mrs. France's brother, John Thurlow, a solicitor, had
been appointed guardian of the orphan, in conjunction
with Arnold Bassett, a barrister whose friendship with
George France dated from boyhood.
To-night Mr. Thurlow sat upon his niece's right hand,
and Mr. Bassett upon her left. Next to Mr. Bassett was
Mrs. Thurlow, and as there was not a Mrs. Bassett, Mr.
Thurlow had for neighbour a young girl of Hungarian
extraction, a college friend of Camiola. Next to this
young lady sat Neville Thurlow, eldest son of John, and
Camiola's cousin. Next to him again was a maiden cousin
called Ellen Brocklebank, who always had to be asked to
family gatherings. Another married couple, slightly re-
lated, Archer by name, and the elder Miss Thurlow com-
pleted the assembly, with the exception of the vicar of the
parish who had baptised Miss France in infancy, as he


12
A CASTLE TO LET
was fond of telling her; and Miss Purdon, the lady who
had taken care of her for some years, and who sat facing
her, at the table's foot.
The savoury had been dealt with and carried away, and
Forbes and his assistants now deftly removed things from
the table, and then, standing at either end, raised the long
lace-bordered strips of embroidered linen and left the
glossy mahogany bare, in all the beauty of its wine-deep
polish. This was the only innovation upon which the
young mistress had insisted, and she could hear Aunt
Thurlow's sniff of contemptuous disapproval. Aunt
Thurlow did not love her niece by marriage. She thought
it very unjust that Aunt Meadow's money should go in
such great measure to a girl who already had quite
enough to make her an object for fortune-hunters. How-
ever, she curbed her displeasure, because she thought it
most probable that Camiola would marry Neville, her
son. When once the young lady was her daughter-in-
law, and the money safely in the family, she promised
herself some plain speaking.
The decanters had been circulated, the fruit handed,
and now Uncle Thurlow was rising to his feet. He was
a stout man, and after eating a large dinner he breathed
somewhat noisily. He was at no time a fluent speaker,
and the fact of having jotted down one or two things he
intended to say seemed to have the effect of almost para-
lysing his eloquence. He hummed and hawed over his
good wishes until every one present yearned for the mo-
ment of his sitting down, and his son Neville sat with
the face of an early Christian martyr listening to the
mixture of sentiment and business which came in some
confusion and after long intervals from the paternal lips.
The one thing which emerged most clearly from the
welter was the fact that the speaker thought it a pity
that George France's will made his daughter completely


14
To'l
A CASTLE TO LET
There was no hesitation in her clear voice, which car-
ried, without effort, to the admiring servants outside the
door in the hall.
"I thank you all for the kindness with which
you
have
drunk my health,” she said. "I have to thank particu-
larly my Uncle John and Mr. Bassett for the wholly sat-
isfactory way in which they have carried out their duty
of guardians-a duty full of difficulty and involving
much trouble. I was specially glad when Uncle John,
three years ago, yielded to my wish, allowed me to shut
up this house, and to go to Oxford. I am sure that my
education has made me better fitted to face the future and
take charge of my own fortune. It is with the greatest
pleasure that I welcome you all here this evening, though
the pleasure is mingled with some regret at the thought
that I shall never have the pleasure of seeing you here
again. The first act of my new reign is to be the sale
of this house and a great deal of the furniture in it, and
my departure from England for a time. I am going to
have a Wander Jahr. I think such an experience will
be useful to me, because when I come back I intend to
buy a place in the country and try and do some good
among my fellow-creatures. I expect to start in about
six weeks' time, taking with me Miss Purdon, if she will
come; and I should not be surprised if we go round the
world. In thanking you for drinking my health, I wish
to propose that of my two guardians, Uncle John and
Mr. Bassett, and to couple this toast with the name of the
celebrated K.C., Mr. Arnold Bassett."
She sat down. For a moment her guardians were so
amazed that there was a portentous silence. Then the
vicar, with a start, rose to his feet, and led the hearty
honouring of the toast of the two guardians.
The eminent K.C., when he rose to reply, seemed to
have had the wind taken out of his sails. He owned that
Ilu


HER OWN MISTRESS
15
the announcement of his late ward's intentions had been
a blow. He felt a personal regret at the thought that
this hospitable board, at which in the lifetime of his dear
friend George France he had so often sat, would know
him no more. No. 3 Truro Gardens had stood for him, for
many years, for the home of a friend. It was to be given
up. Well-as we all know-we are growing old, and
"the younger generation is knocking at the door." He
should have thought, in his ignorance the mere man,
a back number, as he knew himself to be-he would have
thought that a young lady who had just inherited such
a sumptuous fortune would have been more inclined to
try a London season than to go round the world. However,
nobody could question Miss France's right to do exactly
as she chose, and he would ask them all to join in drink-
ing most heartily with him another toast Success to
the Wander Jahr!”
Mrs. Thurlow sat staring upon him with keen little
eyes which had a rather vindictive expression. Slowly
she turned to the vicar, who was her neighbour, and asked,
"What is a Vanderyar? I never heard of one."
The vicar explained. “German is such a horrid lan-
guage,” remarked the lady; "I never would learn it. I
suppose Camiola has caught it from that foreign girl
sitting opposite to us. I am told that she is not German
really, but Hungarian, and that her native language is
even more barbarous than German; but the Austrians
speak German, don't they? She was sent to Oxford, you
know-such an odd idea. What does a foreigner want
with Oxford ? The Universities seem full of odd people
nowadays; I am glad we never sent our girls there! It
has filled my niece's head with the most ridiculous ideas.
You would think with two cousins so near her own age
as Phyllis and Betty she would not need to make a friend


HER OWN MISTRESS
17
a soft brown, contrasting strangely with her fair hair.
Her features were not regular, but she had the Honvéd
vividness and charm. The fashionable style of hairdress-
ing suited her, and she wore a fillet of turquoise and silver
which would have delighted the soul of an artist.
She was feeling sorry for Neville Thurlow, and he
would have had something like a shock had he realised
how far she saw into the depths of his being. He had
been entertaining her charmingly all dinner-time, and had
been full of plans for the summer vacation. She had not
dared to discount Camiola's forthcoming announcement
by telling him that his plans were foredoomed.
His mother was as completely upset as he was.
She
arose and followed the young hostess when she gave the
signal in a mood which boded ill for somebody.
In the hall her daughter Phyllis managed to give her
a hint.
"Mother, whatever happens, don't be fool enough to
offend Camiola,” she whispered. “Remember, she is per-
fectly independent, and if you upset her you will be cut-
ting off your nose to spite your face."
“What could have put this into her head ?” muttered
the irate lady. "Neville's chance is over completely
over! She is certain to be snapped up before she ever
sees England again.”
“Of course. But
you
can't help it. We are her nearest
kin, and she may be shipwrecked or killed or take enteric
or something before she comes home. Remember, she is
not married yet, and we are her natural heirs at present."
The young Thurlows were a good deal older than their
cousin, though Mrs. Thurlow had spoken of her girls as
"companions of Camiola's own age.” Neville was thirty-
one, and his sister only two years younger. Camiola's
memories of her cousins when she was a child were not
happy. They had ordered her about and been intolerant


18
A CASTLE TO LET
of her youth and inexperience. Her father had left in-
structions for her to receive an education of a kind which
Mr. Thurlow thought unfitting for a girl; and respecting
this Phyllis and Betty had been contemptuous.
The daughter's timely warning did, however, prevent
Mrs. Thurlow from making herself openly objectionable.
She bore as best she could with Cousin Ellen Brockle-
bank's raptures of admiration of dearest Camiola.
Poor Cousin Ellen! She was of those who are filled
with a great desire to help all the world, and a total in-
capacity to do the simplest thing sensibly. No doubt
her parents were more to blame than she herself. Early
training might have corrected the hopeless untidiness, the
lamentable want of method, the injudicious impulses
which brought to naught an her eager benevolence.
She was a perfectly sincere creature, her "gush” was
natural and not assumed. Camiola often wished she could
take her in hand and give her a course of lessons in neat-
She wore to-night a gown of some sickly tint of
pale mauve. Why do people with string-coloured hair
and complexion invariably desire to wear pale mauve ?
The garment looked as though she had last worn it about
four seasons previously, and had, in taking it off, screwed
it together and bundled it into the corner of a room never
swept, where it had remained until she picked it up to
wear this evening. Her boiled-gooseberry eyes were, how-
ever, alight with a joy and pride in her charming and
fortunate young kinswoman which was beautiful, if you
consider that she herself was poor and plain, and spent
her days in attendance upon a mother who suffered from
ness.
nerves.
"Such a charming plan-to travel !” she cried. “Every-
thing nowadays made so easy for you! How I wish I
were coming with you!"
Camiola felt a sudden
pang of compunction. This poor


HER OWN MISTRESS
19
Cousin Ellen, who hardly ever got an "evening off” such
as she was having to-night!
She said something regretful, trying not to be insin-
cere. Cousin Ellen laughed quite cheerily. “I can say
I wish I were coming without being thought to be giving
hints,” she replied, beaming, “because, you see, even if
you invited me, begged me, implored me to come, it would
be out of the question that I should leave mamma.'
Camiola felt a rush of compassion. “Ellen, you are a
brick," she cried impulsively, “I wish I could give you
a holiday! Do you think Cousin Sophie would go to
the Riviera for the winter if I gave you the money to pay
for it?”
Ellen started and coloured. “Oh, Camiola, please,”
she murmured, “I do assure you that I was not hinting
you make me feel so awkward.”
But Camiola gripped the skinny arm and hurried
Cousin Ellen into the back drawing-room. “My money
is my own, and I can do as I like,” she urged defiantly.
"If I like to think that you are having a good time while
I am away—if it will make me happier to think I am
giving somebody else a bit of pleasure--why, you couldn't
be so nasty as to deprive me of my satisfaction !”


A CHANGE OF PLAN
21
opinions of Miss Purdon, who was cousin of an impov-
erished Irish peer.
"Well,” she admitted reluctantly, “of course my niece
is really a great heiress.”
“I was surprised to know how wealthy she is,” an-
swered Miss Purdon.
“Her guardians have nursed her property well,” said
Mrs. Thurlow, with pardonable triumph. "I only trust
she won't destroy the labours of years in a few months.”
“Camiola has some sense and some ambition,” replied
Miss Purdon, knitting swiftly. “She is perhaps quixo-
tic, but she is no fool.”
“And she has you to advise her,” gushed Mrs. Thurlow.
“Oh, do try and prevent her marrying a fortune-hunter !”
"That”—with a little smile_“is the penalty to be suf-
fered by heiresses."
"It would break Neville's heart,” said Neville's mother
in a low voice.
"Has he told her so?” asked the other lady.
Mrs. Thurlow heaved a sigh. "Not yet. He thought
he ought to wait to speak until she was her own mistress.”
“I am afraid, then, that he had better hold his tongue
until this foreign tour is over," advised Miss Purdon.
“Camiola is thinking of nothing less than of marriage
just at present."
"But she is sure to be snapped up by the time she re-
turns,” gasped Mrs. Thurlow, speaking out in her despair.
Miss Purdon laid down the knitting completely, and
spoke as one who makes a confidence.
"I believe that Camiola, though she will leave England
at once, means to stay in Europe till the end of Septem-
ber. I think of suggesting to Mr. Bassett that he should
join our party some time during the long vacation. How
if Mr. Neville came too ?"
Mrs. Thurlow's eye lit up.
"That is an idea," she


A CASTLE TO LET
slowly said.
"I do feel that those two ought to marry."
“You have no prejudice against the marriage of first
cousins ?"
“Circumstances alter cases," primly observed the lady.
"The family health is excellent on both sides."
There was no reply. The flashing needles were again
busy.
“I suppose”—with carefully lowered voice "you have
no knowledge of the state of Camiola's affections? You
don't think she cares for Neville ?"
“My own opinion is that she is wholly fancy free; but
I never try to probe her confidence. Irmgard could proba-
bly tell you more of her feelings than I can."
“Yes, that girl! A foreigner! And she is to be taken
round the world, when Phyllis and Betty are both dying
to go! Why should Camiola take a Hungarian girl, of
all nationalities, about with her?”
“Why should not Camiola take whom she likes?” The
question was rather coldly put. Mrs. Thurlow stared.
She admired Miss Purdon, and Miss Purdon was always
very civil to her; but it did now occur to her to reflect
that Miss Purdon could have no interests to serve in serv-
ing those of Mrs. Thurlow.
“Your daughters are neither of them Camiola's con-
temporaries,” went on the cool, clear voice. “She is much
attached to Fräulein Maldovan, who has been her close
friend at Oxford during two years.”
“Who is the girl ?” asked Mrs. Thurlow fretfully.
"She is the daughter of General Maldovan, who com-
• mands a division of the Austrian army in a very out-of-
the-way spot-Transylvania.”
“Transylvania? What has the Austrian army to do
there! It is in the United States, is it not ?"
Miss Purdon repressed her smile. "It is on the east
of Hungary, and Irmgard's father commands the forces


A CHANGE OF PLAN
23
of a large district, the Ildenthal, which seems to be in the
mountains, leagues from civilisation."
"H’m! A General, and governs a province! I suppose
my niece thinks she would like to enter the aristocracy,"
remarked Mrs. Thurlow spitefully.
"She certainly has the means to marry well if she
choose to look high,” was the tranquil rejoinder. "She
is attractive, too, though a little shy at present; and, as I
told you, I think she is ambitious."
So saying, Miss Purdon rose and crossed the room to
talk to Mrs. Archer. She was thoroughly conversant with
the duties of her position. Mrs. Thurlow sat where she
was, sunk in reverie, wondering what she could do, how
to establish over Miss Purdon some hold which might in-
duce her to work the oracle.
Later, when the gentlemen came upstairs, she thought
she understood. Arnold Bassett was the first to come,
and he gravitated to the chaperon's side.
Miss Purdon, while abating no jot of her dignified self-
possession, was nevertheless exceedingly cordial; and Mrs.
Thurlow was not long in concluding that the lady, fore-
seeing the marriage of her charge in a year or two's time,
was manæuvring for a home of her own.
As she said to her husband that night when going to
bed, nobody but herself could have divined the little secret.
She had always thought of Bassett as a husband for
Phyllis, but as he had dined constantly at their house for
the last eight years and nothing had come of it, she had
reached the conclusion that it would be best to surrender
that idea, and do what she could to bring Arnold and
Hiss Purdon together, if only Miss Purdon, in return,
would promote Neville's interest.
"If Neville is such a blamed ass that he can't do his
own courting, he won't get far even with Miss Purdon to
push him," remarked Mr. Thurlow. "Nev's got no emo-


24
A CASTLE TO LET
tions. He's nothing but a stomach and an intelligence.
The first man who has the sentiments will chip in and
leave him badly beaten.”
This, his wife told him, was just like a man. They
little knew how much is done by indirect influence-by
the constant pressure of a strong will acting upon a young
and ardent nature.
"Is Camiola ardent? I should have thought her as cold
as Nev," was the answer. “At his
age
I should have pre
ferred something more juicy. But, of course, her for-
tune is worth giving up a good bit for.”
At Number 3 Camiola saw the door close upon the last
of her guests-Mr. Arnold Bassett—without a regret.
She was her own mistress at last. She had, so she
hoped, kissed both Uncle John and Uncle Arnold, as
she called him, though he was nothing of the kind, for
the last time. “To-morrow,” she cried joyfully, as she
caught Irmgard in her arms and hugged her, "we will
go and put this house in the auctioneer's hands, and the
day after we will fly to Cook's and take tickets to go
round the world !"
The first part of this intoxicating programme was duly
carried out next day. They went to the auctioneer's and
gave full directions for the warehousing of some bits
of furniture which were treasures, and the sale of all the
rest. The men were to come in and pack next Monday,
and the old and trusted servants, such as Forbes, were
to be sent into the country on board wages until such time
as their young mistress should have a use for them once
more.
The following morning, however, brought a check to the
eager progress of Camiola. There was a letter for Irm-
gard upon the breakfast table, and it brought bad news.
Her mother was ill, so seriously ill that her daughter's
presence was absolutely necessary, and, should the crisis


A CHANGE OF PLAN
25
pass and her life be prolonged, her father feared that
Irmgard would have to be at home at least for some
months to come, since her mother must of necessity be an
invalid for a considerable period.
This was a blow.
Permission for Irmgard to accompany her friend round
the world had been received from Ildestadt only with
difficulty. Now all was overthrown. The well-laid plans
were useless. To go voyaging without her friend would
be no pleasure to Camiola. She felt inclined to cancel
all orders and sit at home in Truro Gardens sulking.
Both the girls shed tears as they sat together in a some-
what dark morning-room, whose window was so over-
shadowed by projecting walls of mud-coloured brick that
it had to be made of cathedral glass to exclude the hideous
prospect. It was hardly to be wondered at that the mis-
tress of the house wanted to go elsewhere.
Miserably Camiola turned over the leaves of a conti-
nental time-table.
"I never saw such a place as Ildestadt,” she muttered;
"the man who compiled this book has apparently not yet
discovered it.”
“Only about two trains a day,” sighed Irmgard, busily
sewing buttons on her gloves. "It will be poked away in
a corner-Ildenthal branch of the Hungarian States Rail-
way.”
She looked very woebegone. Her mother's illness was
a real grief, for she feared her father considerably more
than she loved him. Her first thought was for the sick
woman, for her heart was simple and full of family affec-
tion; but mingled with it was a big dose of sorrow for
herself, suddenly deprived of what was to have been the
kind of treat you only read of in the “Arabian Nights."
She might have known, she supposed, that it was too
good to come true. Was it likely that she, Irmgard Mal-
$


26
A CASTLE TO LET
dovan, would ever go round the world? When her old
uncle, the Admiral, had given her father the money to
send her to England to complete her education, that had
seemed too good to be true. Then the unbelievable beauty
of Oxford, the delight of making friends with so excep-
tional a girl as Camiola, the prospect of such pleasure as
was to be hers in the projected travels—it all seemed part
of an incredible dream, from which she was now awak-
ened.
She found herself faced by the prospect of returning
to Szass Lona, her father's present home, to a solitude, an
isolation not to be conceived of by an English mind.
In Transylvania the aristocracy alone is Magyar, and
lives surrounded by a middle-class population of the so-
called “Saxons" and a Roumanian peasantry.
Railways in Transylvania are few and inefficient.
Camiola found it a hard task to track down Ildestadt in
her time-table.
"Here it is,” she said at last. "As you said-two trains
a day; and it takes about eight hours to get there from
Hermannstadt, which is the extreme end of civilisation.
Let me see-yes, this must be it. But why does it sav
Yndaia in brackets? Are there two stations at Ildestadt?"?
“Oh, no. But the proper name—the Roumanian name
is Yndaia. Ildestadt is only the Austrian name."
"I have it !” said Camiola suddenly. “We will only
take the train as far as Hermannstadt, and thence we will
go on to Ildestadt-or Yndaia, which is far more roman-
tic in the motor."
Irmgard raised her blond head, with two eyes as large
as tea-cups."
“We?" she repeated faintly. "You are not coming to
Ildestadt ?"
Camiola stretched herself languidly as she lounged upor
a dark blue velvet settee. The "Indicateur" slid froid


A CHANGE OF PLAN
27
her knees to the ground, and the Persian kitten darted at
it. “Why not ?" asked Camiola, peering under her lids
at Miss Purdon, who sat at work near the window heark-
ening attentively but without comment.
“Why not?” asked Irmgard vaguely. "Oh, well, be-
cause there is simply nothing to come for. I cannot de-
scribe to you how desolate the Ildenthal is. Nobody goes
there. It is all so primitive, so savage! Unless you went
there
you
could not realise."
"But I should like to realise. Why follow the beaten
track when there is such a place to be seen by the enter-
prising? Give me Murray-Baedeker fails here.” The
girl curled herself round in her chair, and began to read
with ever-increasing relish:
“The most beautiful and romantic spot in this wild
country, with the exception perhaps of the magnificent
gorge known as the Thorda Spalt, is no doubt the valley
known as the Ildenthal. The picturesque walled city of
Ildestadt-or Yndaia, to give it its proper name is prob-
ably unmatched in Europe. From the city the mountains
rise at an incredibly steep gradient, and perched upon the
very lap of the heights is the Castle of Yndaia, known
now as the Orenfels. As far up as the castle a mule path
has been hewn in the living rock, and will remind the
traveller strongly of the old mule path up the Grimsel
Pass in Switzerland.
"It is to be regretted that an attempt recently made to
throw open this interesting and most romantic spot to
tourists has lamentably failed.
"Some years ago mineral springs were discovered, of
great medicinal value. A hotel was built, baths were in
course of construction, and the thrifty Saxon population
of Ildestadt looked forward to a new era;
but terrible
accident put an end to their hopes. A party from the
hotel, accompanied by two guides, experienced mountain-


28
A CASTLE TO LET
oers, natives of the Ildenthal, disappeared upon the moun-
tain-side in the August of the year 19-, and no trace of
them was ever found. The newly-built hotel had to close
its doors the following season, and no attempt has been
made as yet to reopen it.”
"Why, this is too good to be true! I did not know
there was such a place in Europe !" cried Camiola joy-
fully. "A walled city! A castle on the rocks!! Preci-
pices! Caverns! Above all, a mystery! Why have you
never told me anything of all these thrilling stories ?”
Irmgard laughed scornfully. “The caverns and the
waterfalls are right up in the hills, miles from where we
live," said she discontentedly. "Szass Lona is below Ilde
stadt, and the river which flows down to us—the Ilden-
flussoverflows all its banks in winter, and the floods are
perfectly sickening. The castle is rather splendid. I
went up once to see it. It dates from the twelfth century,
I believe."
"Twelfth century castle!” murmured Camiola, en-
tranced. “And here have we-Mizpah and I-been ex-
isting all this time without even knowing of its existence,
still less that you lived next door! I suppose it is a ruin?
Oh, no; from what Murray has to say, it is nothing of
the kind. Just attend to this, if you please! “The cas
tle is a specimen of architecture absolutely unique in
Transylvania. A twelfth century fortress, it was the
property of almost the only noble Roumanian family still
existing in the country—the family of Vajda-Maros. This
house ruled the Vale of Yndaia from time immemorial;
and in the early sixteenth century they were so rich and
powerful that the then Count visited England, and ac-
quired a great admiration for English architecture. The
story goes that he persuaded an English architect to gn
back with him to Transylvania, and design an addition ter
the castle much in the style of Haddon Hall. This beau-


A CHANGE OF PLAN
29
tiful structure is still intact, and still in possession of the
Vajda-Maros. The tragic fact that the heir to the prop-
erty perished in the catastrophe, whatever it was, which
befell the tourist party upon the mountains, gives a ro-
mantic interest to the beautiful and ancient edifice.'"
There was a little silence. Camiola, seemingly ab-
sorbed in the guide-book, was glancing out of the tail of
her eye at Miss Purdon-or "Mizpah,” as the two girls
usually called her, the name being a contraction, or rather
a corruption of "Miss Pur.” After a pause, the oracle
spoke
“Are you thinking that it would be a nice beginning
of our travel, to escort Irmgard home, and make a little
tour in an almost unknown part of Europe ?” she asked
calmly.
Camiola looked up hopefully. “You don't think I'm a
lunatic, Mizpah, dear?"
Mizpah laid down her work, and gave the question her
full consideration.
"Well, my child,” said she, “I sympathise with you
very strongly. This morning's bad news has thrown out
your plans, but I think you feel a hope that they are only
postponed. Your impulse is to wait a little--not to start
off round the world until you have made certain either
that Irmgard can, or that she cannot, accompany you.
To stay in London is out of the question, and I think a
month in Transylvania would be very pleasant. I sup-
pose we could get there without too much discomfort;
and I am not yet too stricken in years to enjoy an adven-
ture.”
“Mizpah, you're a brick,” cried Camiola impulsively.
"I own that I feel quite absurdly attracted by this creepy
story. Tell us more about it, Irmgard. Do you remem-
ber its happening ?”
“We were not there at the time. Papa was appointed


30
A CASTLE TO LET
to the command the following spring. We had heard a
great deal about the new hotel, and people comforted
mamma, and said that Ildestadt was to become a second
Sinaia."
“A second what?"
“Sinaia. You know Ildestadt is not far from the Rou-
manian frontier, and there is a Roumanian watering-
place called Sinaia where the king has a palace, and the
court ladies go about dressed like Roumanian peasants.
Mamma was feeling rather depressed at being sent to
such an outlandish part of the world, but people said it
was to be quite fashionable, so we were much disappointed
when we arrived, to find that the Kur-haus was closed
and the whole place deserted."
"Do you know anything of this Roumanian family who
own the castle ?”' asked Camiola. “The Vajda-Maros ?"
“Yes, a little. They are very poor and very disagree-
able. They can't afford to live at Orenfels, so they have
a tiny house, like a prison, in Ildestadt. They are very
stiff, and think themselves too grand for the Magyar aris-
tocracy. Papa says that they were like kings in the olden
times. Even the Saxons respect them.”
“Oh, dear, do tell me what you mean by the Saxons ?”
cried her friend, bewildered. "There are Roumanians
and Magyars, and now you talk about Saxons! Saxons
in Transylvania ?”
Irmgard laughed. “It is queer, isn't it?” said she.
“You know what the Roumanians say about them? They
say that they are the descendants of the children that the
Pied Piper of Hamelin stole. They came up through the
Almescher Hole into Transylvania! But in reality they
are colonists who were invited by the Emperor to come in
the thirteenth century. They never intermarry with the
Roumanians, and they keep their Protestant religion, all
among the orthodox population. They are clean and in-


A CHANGE OF PLAN
31
say so.
dustrious and steady and ugly and unpleasant. The Rou-
manians are beautiful and charming, but somehow they
never rise. They are an unthrifty lot, papa says.”
"Well, it is a queer country!”
“You
may
well
But the fact that most of the
townspeople are Saxons is a good thing for you in a way,
because they speak German, and you could never under-
stand Roumanian."
"No, indeed! Well, Mizpah, every word increases my
desire to go. Picture to yourself a mediæval fortress to
which no tourist has ever penetrated! No paper bags nor
chocolate paper strewn upon the grass-no names cut
upon the hoary stones, no Bier-Halle awaiting you at
the 'Schönste Aussichts-Punkt!'”
“I feel drawn to it almost as strongly as you yourself.”
“It's settled,” announced Camiola, with an air of de-
cision. “We are going. Ah, but I forgot! Murray says
the hotel is closed !"
“Oh, that was the new Kur-haus, up in the woods.
There is the Blaue Vögel, in the market square. I should
think that would be all right."
Camiola once more appealed to the unerring guide-book.
“ 'Blaue Vögel, old-world, but comfortable,” she read.
“ 'R. 3—4. B. 1.50. D. 3. S. 2.' Well, it won't ruin
us. Supper, too! How nice and cosy and go-to-bed-at-
ten it sounds!”
“You ought to stay with us,” said Irmgard with a
sigh, “but if poor mamma is so ill"
"Why, of course! I never dreamt of such a thing!
We shan't worry your people a bit. But I shall be there
within call, just to help you to buck up, poor old thing.
Well, I am glad it is all settled. I'll telephone to the
garage for Reed and we will go to Cook's and get our
tickets. I suppose we must start to-morrow? What a
rush! Can you do it, Mizpah ?”


32
A CASTLE TO LET
I shall be very
“Oh, dear, yes, two or three hours will see me through
with my packing,” replied the capable woman.
Camiola flew to the telephone, and thence upstairs to
interview her maid.
“Marston,” said she, “I am starting for Central Eu-
rope to-morrow. It is very sudden, and I quite expect
you to say you won't come. All the same,
disappointed if you do say so."
Marston looked grave.
“Your things to pack and my own, miss?" she asked.
"In time to catch the boat-train to-morrow."
"I think I can do it, miss,” replied Marston, without
the flicker of an eyelid.
Camiola flung her arms round this indispensable per-
son's neck.
By lunch time, when she returned from Cook's with
the tickets, a great part of the preparation was already
made.
Meanwhile Miss Purdon had interviewed the down-
stairs servants, and made all arrangements for leaving
Forbes and Mrs. Blagg in charge until the sale should be
They did not linger over lunch, and were all hard
at work upstairs at about a quarter to four, when Forbes
came up with a doubtful face, and announced:
“Mr. Neville Thurlow in the drawing-room, miss. I
did not like to deny you to him.”
“Oh!” cried Camiola, sitting back upon her heels. She
had been kneeling by a trunk which she was helping to
pack. “Oh, I wish I had told you not to admit anybody!
Yet no, perhaps it is as well that he has come, it will save
my having to write to Uncle Thurlow.” She rose and
turned to the basin to wash her hands, while Marston
hastened to her with a comb. "Mind, Mizpah, you and
Irmgard are both to come down to tea in ten minutes
punctually,” said she authoritatively,
over.


CHAPTER III
NEVILLE MAKES A MISTAKE
NEVILLE TAURLOW was standing in the window, gaz-
ing out upon the gardens of the square, when his cousin
entered. He turned a pale face to her.
He was a tall man, of rather narrow build, with a face
which only just escaped being handsome. The fact that
his hair and eyebrows were drab, and his eyes cold and
expressionless, prevented one from realising how good his
features were
His hand, as he greeted Camiola, felt cool and limp in
hers, and as she sat down in a chair from which she
previously dislodged one of the cats, which she picked up
in her arms, she was thinking what a dreary kind of
person he was.
At the age of twenty-three poor Neville has been whole
somely and happily in love. The lady of his choice had,
however, not found favour in the parental eyes. It was
at that time quite impossible for Neville to assert him-
self. His whole future depended upon his father, who
made the fullest use of the lever of power he enjoyed.
Since that time Neville had winced away from emotional
experience.
A year ago he would have asked Camiola to marry
him without reluctance, though without any kind of en-
thusiasm. But to-day, unfortunately for him, the case
was otherwise. He did not himself as yet understand
why.
He looked at the door vaguely, as if expecting, or per-
haps hoping, that another girl would follow Carniola into
33


34
A CASTLE TO LET
the room.
He knew that he ought to be glad that they
two were alone. He had his opportunity. His mother
would be terribly upset if he did not make the most of it.
"Well,” he said, forcing a smile, "not overcome with
the effort of the birthday party ?"
“Why, I'm afraid I didn't realise that it was an ef-
fort,” replied the girl. “Miss Purdon takes the cares of
Martha
upon
her shoulders for me to an extent which is
perhaps unwise, as far as my moral training goes.”
“I find no fault with your moral training, Camiola,"
he put in with a smile, and an impression that he had
taken a chance creditably.
“That's awfully nice of you,” replied his cousin com-
posedly, “and it is also nice of you to come and pay your
visit of digestion so soon. In fact, if you had come one
day later it would have been too late.'
“Too late! What do you mean?” he asked hurriedly.
"Oh, we are all in such a rush and a bustle," she
laughed. “Poor little Irmgard—I should say my friend,
Fräulein Maldovan-had bad news this morning. Her
mother is ill, and she is summoned home at once.
The
result is that Mizpah and I have decided to take her home,
and stay in Transylvania for a while ourselves. We are
all off by the boat-train to-morrow."
“Transylvania ?” echoed the young man incredulously.
“My dear Camiola, you speak as calmly as if you were
going to Boulogne. Have you realised the difficulties, the
fatigues of such a journeym-or the lack of civilisation
when you get there ?"
She laughed. “You see, Irmgard lives out there, and
knows the ropes. Otherwise I might not venture.”
Neville sat still. Two ideas fought within him. The
first was, that this moment was his only chance to propose,
as it were, spontaneously. The second was a rush of pity
for a certain blond young girl who was in trouble.


NEVILLE MAKES A MISTAKE 35
He choked back the second feeling and spoke in blind
haste. “So you really are going? Leaving England ?
This is the last time that I shall see you? Oh, then,
Camiola, you cannot blame me if I am precipitate! I-
won't you let me tell you-ask you ?”
He was on his feet and approaching. Camiola leapt up
with a gasp, holding the grey cat before her as though for
a shield against this wholly unexpected. onslaught. Yet,
even as she rose, she told herself that she must let him say
a few words more. She would not fall into the error of
refusing a proposal that had not been made. At Oxford
she had received two offers of marriage one from a don,
and one from Mizpah's cousin, the penniless young
Irish
peer, who, much to Mizpah's annoyance, had prematurely
disclosed himself and been appropriately snubbed. She
was not, therefore, quite a novice at the game poor
Neville
was playing so inadequately.
He ventured quite near, and managed to say, after a
pause in which to summon up his
courage,
"I came here
to-day to ask
you my
wife.”
Camiola was divided between anger and pity. She
guessed that he had been egged on to make this deplorable
mistake, but it was one which could easily be remedied,
seeing that she felt sure his heart was not involved.
She put down the cat and held out both hands to him.
“Thank you, Neville, for paying me the highest honour
a man can pay a woman,” she said gravely, "but let me
say at once that what you suggest is wholly out of the
question. I don't care for you one little tiny bit in the
way you would want your wife to care; and it is a very
good thing I don't, for the marriage of first cousins is
always a mistake, and I am modern enough to feel strongly
on the subject."
He hardly knew whether what he felt was more relief
or mortification.
to be


36
A CASTLE TO LET
He held her two hands very tightly, remarking, as he
looked down at them, how daintily kept they were, how
softly they curled about his own. Perhaps he was nearer
to loving Camiola then than he had ever been.
“Is that final ?” he asked. “You can't expect me to
take 'No' without an effort to change it into 'Yes. I
would be good to you, I would do all I could to make you
happy. I-wewe have known each other all our lives.
Don't you think perhaps later on you might grow to care
-you might change your mind ?"
She shook her head, smiling at him with a cold, remote
little smile which seemed to tell him without words what
miles away he was from her mentally. He did not un-
derstand her, and in a way he was afraid of her. As he
let go her hands he knew how glad he was that after all
he had failed
"I don't want to rub it in, Nev," she said, “but you
have made a great mistake. I have never cared a bit for
you, and I am sure you cannot have thought I did. I
have not flirted, have I ?”
"Oh, no, no! A hundred times no! But one cannot
always tell,” he muttered confusedly. "Sometimes a girl
will say and do nothing at all to let you think she cares,
and when once you speak you find out that she is--that
she has been"
"Expecting it,” laughed Camiola.
I
assure you that I was not expecting your declaration. Let
us forget it, shall we? I hear Forbes and the teacups
approaching, and Mizpah and Irmgard are both anxious
to bid you good-bye. Don't go. You don't bear malice,
do
you
?"
“Indeed no. You have been very good to me,” he fal-
tered; and broke off abruptly as the door was opened and
tea came in.
Almost immediately after, Miss Purdon and Fräulein
“I dare say.


38
A CASTLE TO LET
“Why, what do they say?" asked Camiola. “It inter-
ests me.
“Oh, that he drank and ruined the family, and all kinds
of things.”
"Perhaps his disappearance was arranged-it must
have been very convenient for the survivors," laughed
Camiola. “What is the theory in the place as to what
became of the party ?"
"Oh, that they fell into some cavern without a bottom.
There is a place there known as the Gaura Draculuj.”
“The what ?” cried Camiola, in mock horror, adding
aside to Neville: "She understands Roumanian. Isn't it
awful ?”
“Gaura Draculuj means either the Devil's Hole or the
Dragon's Hole,” replied Irmgard. "Dragon and Devil are
the same word in Roumanian. I have never been to the
place, but I believe it is very horrible. If you roll a rock
in over the edge you hear it bump, bump, bump, each
time growing fainter and fainter, and the sound dies away
very gradually, as if it still went on bumping, but too far
off for you to hear.”
“Horrible!” said Camiola with a shudder, “but the
whole party could not have fallen into such a place, unless
they deliberately cast themselves in."
“Or were dragged in,” answered Irmgard in a low
voice.
"Dragged in! What, by the wicked young man who
drank ?"
“Oh, no.”
"Well, tell us by whom; tell us, Irmgard."
Irmgard grew rosy and was shy. "I will not. You
will only laugh at me."
"I shall not laugh, Fräulein Maldovan,” eagerly said
Neville.
“Tell us, don't be silly," urged Camiola less tenderly.


NEVILLE MAKES A MISTAKE 39
"Oh, they say on the mountain that there are things
creatures-monsters-I don't know. Like the things that
lived before the Flood. Monster lizards—what you call
dragons. They say one lives down there, and that if peo-
ple throw down rocks they make him angry.”
“Oh, Irmgard, how horrible!” cried Camiola, with a
real shudder.
Miss Purdon laid down her cup and looked incredulous.
“Such legends are not uncommon in wild districts,” said
she composedly. “Was any trace of the missing party
ever found ?"
"I never heard of it."
“I hope," remarked Neville, after a little silence, “that
Miss I mean, Fräulein Maldovan does not live very near
the abode of this prehistoric terror ?"
“Oh, no, miles away, in a not-romantic spot,” she told
him laughingly.
She had a dimple in both cheeks when she laughed.
Miss Purdon rose. "It is a very creepy legend, I own,"
said she. “But we must cut short the rest of it now. I
know you will forgive us," she went on, turning to
Neville with outstretched hand, "but these children have
their packing to finish, and must go early to bed. You
must positively come to Ildestadt yourself and collect the
legends of the dragon."
She knew that he could not come without Bassett, as he
had himself no knowledge of any foreign tongue, and in
such an outlandish place English would be of no use at
"I think that is a really good idea,” said Camiola hearti-
ly. “We will write to you, Neville, when we are there,
if the place fulfils our expectations, and we can then
reserve rooms for you in the inn. I suppose it would not
be before September ?"
"It shall be as soon as I can get away," replied the


40
A CASTLE TO LET
young man, with his eyes upon Irmgard's lowered lids.
He walked home in a curious state of mind. He de-
cided to tell his mother that to-day had not been auspi-
cious for pressing his suit, as Camiola was up to the neck
in a new plan; but that he had the best possible grounds
for hope, since he had received a pressing invitation to
spend part of his vacation with them in a wild, remote
spot, where it was most unlikely that Camiola would
come across anything resembling an eligible parti.
His father and mother, he feared, would be as strongly
against any affair between himself and Irmgard as they
had been against his youthful fancy. But times had
changed. He was now a man, and earning his own liv-
ing. Surely his marriage depended upon himself and
not upon his mother's scheming!


CHAPTER IV
THE MEDIÆVAL CITY
The motor slid smoothly along the good wide road
bearing Camiola France and Miss Purdon ever upward,
though by almost imperceptible degrees, from the hamlet
of Szass Lona to that walled city of Ildestadt described by
Murray as “probably unmatched in Europe.”
They had just left Irmgard in the bosom of her family,
and the shadow of the Maldovan anxieties still lingered
over Camiola and wrung her tender heart.
So far the scenery was disappointing. Irmgard had
spoken truly when she said that Szass Lona was not a spe-
cially beautiful place. It was a scattered village of the
Alpine type, and lay in a wide valley, traversed by a river
the waters of which were almost obliterated by the stoni-
ness of the bed over which one might almost say, under
which it flowed.
In the direction of Ildestadt the prospect facing them
as they travelled was bounded by a bare grassy hillside, in
appearance not unlike Carnedd Llewelyn, as one ap-
proaches the Nantfranggon Pass from Capel Curig. It
was only at the last moment that they had determined to
take Reed and the car with them. The transit had been
somewhat troublesome, but they were now rejoicing over
their decision, which had saved them six hours in the
journey between Hermannstadt and Szass Lona.
General Maldovan was deeply touched by the kindness
and generosity with which Camiola had brought him back
his daughter, and by her sympathetic entering into his
41


42
A CASTLE TO LET
trouble. His wife was by no means yet out of danger, and
the various children, of different ages, looked woebegone
and as if astray in a world where “Mütterchen" had al-
ways heretofore presided. Camiola promised them fre-
quent rides in the car. They had never seen one before
it seemed incredible!
The two ladies had been travelling since early morning,
it was now five o'clock, and the sun was beginning to de
cline westward. On that side the valley was quite open,
and the warm light poured upon the swelling slopes of
the big irregular grass hill.
Camiola was wondering how they were going to cross
it. There seemed to be no road ascending upon its bare
flank. Then, as they sped onward, she saw that they were
going to slip round it on the farther side, between it and a
huge rocky bastion which now slowly came into view. Ere
long they had swept with caution round a bend of the
road which doubled almost flat upon itself; and the
Ildenthal lay before them.
"A-a-ah !" ejaculated Miss France.
High above them, as if it looked down upon them with
aristocratic contempt, the little walled town lay like a
coronet upon the hillside. It sat, so to speak, in the lap
of the hills, which held protecting arms on either side.
Behind it, the pine woods went up as far as the tree limit;
above that one descried the bare bones of the mountain
range.
Far
up,
where the sun slanted across and touched them
with fire, Camiola saw white towers among the pines.
“Look! There is Orenfels," she whispered; why she
should whisper she could not tell. "Is it not like the
castle of the Sleeping Beauty ?”
Seen as Camiola saw it first, in that fair July afternoon,
the beauty of the scene could hardly be exaggerated. Be-
low the city the Ildenfluss made an almost sheer drop


THE MEDIÆ VAL CITY
43
down to where they now were; and the car shot to and fro
upon the windings of the road like a tiny shuttle drawing
a silver thread across a woof of green velvet, as the girl
thought fancifully—now leaving the torrent far behind,
now returning so close that the roar of the water thun-
dered in their ears-now flying off again among the rocks,
and presently crossing a mediæval bridge, where a rough-
looking toll-keeper took money with glances of interest
and suspicion at the dainty car.
Just outside the city gates Camiola called to Reed to
stop, that she might gaze down from the last bridge at the
leaping, roaring waters beneath.
Three separate cascades met and mingled here in an
everlasting turmoil of sound and motion. From shelf to
shelf the water leapt, flinging itself headlong with seeth-
ing and roaring. Lumps of spume were caught by the
light breeze and driven against the bushes that clung
hardily to the steep-torn and wafted away, gone as soon
as seen.
"Reed,” said his young mistress, “have you any idea
where the railway station can possibly be?”
“It's right down in the valley, miss,” replied the chauf-
feur. "I made it out on the map while you was at Miss
Maldovan's, since it's no good expecting a sensible word
out of the head of any of these savages. Miss Marston's
train is due in half an hour, miss, so I must be quick.”
“Yes, yes! Drive us straight to the Blaue Vögel, and
then be off as fast as you can.”
In a minute they had passed under an archway still
provided with spikes for the heads of criminals, and had
entered the walled city.
It was easy to see that the inhabitants of this remote
place were of a kind peculiar to themselves. There were
a good many people assembled in the streets, some of them
extraordinarily handsome, and wearing a distinctive na-


A CASTLE TO LET
tional costume. The paved street, without sidewalks, had
a dip in the centre, doubtless the ancient kennel wherein
the city drainage had flowed not so long ago. The min-
gled scent of coffee and cabbage water, inseparable from
all old Continental towns, met one at the very gate.
The buildings were fine. Grand old houses, with pro-
jecting gables and carved barge boards, houses which had
stood for three or more centuries, lined the route. It was
but a small place, and very soon they debouched upon the
market square, and it seemed like the culmination of the
increasing sense of age and mystery.
In the centre stood a tall thing like a signpost with
eaves, under the shadow of which was a dim dark paint-
ing. Below, on a shelf, burned a small lamp; and various
bunches of flowers, stuck into various pots and jugs, were
arranged as votive offerings. It was not market day, so
there were but few stalls. To their right was a Stadthaus,
its handsome solid masonry showing the industry and ca-
pacity of the Saxon townsfolk. To their left was the an-
cient hostelry known as the Blaue Vögel. The landlord
stood at the door, and there was quite a little crowd
around him awaiting the arrival of the foreign guests.
The appearance of the motor caused a mild sensation,
such as the passing of troops might do in London.
The very faces of the crowd seemed to Camiola's ex-
cited fancy unlike any she had seen elsewhere. One old
woman, with wide, fixed gaze, drow her attention espe-
cially. Their eyes met, and the girl felt her heart beat
in deep, slow throbs.
They had a glimpse of a slender church tower along a
side street, and heard the soft ringing of the “Angelus” as
they came to a standstill at the inn doorway.
Nothing could have been more cordial than their wel-
come. The place, though very old, was more comfortably
arranged than they had anticipated; for, at the time when


THE MEDIÆVAL CITY
45
it was hoped that Ildestadt was to become a Kur-Ort,
when the new hotel had been built, and the mineral
springs exploited, Herr Neumann, the Saxon host, had
added to his venerable hostelry such things as he was as-
sured were absolutely necessary to the comfort of the
English. The legend, "Warm und Kalt-wasser Bäder im
Hause," was painted up across the front of his inimitable
carved gable.
“Oh, might not this be the town of the Pied Piper, just
as it is!” cried Camiola. “Do you remember what Irm-
gard said of his coming up through a hole in a mountain
in Transylvania, leading the little German children, and
that they are the ancestors of these Saxon people? I
firmly believe that legend is true !"
The food, though very German, was exquisitely clean
and well cooked. “Anything for a change even stewed
apricot with roast veal,” said Camiola with resignation.
Their first care, on arrival, was to ask if any member
of the staff possessed a word of English. One waiter, Karl
by name, was produced, and the Wirth very good-naturedly
allowed him to get into the car and go down to the station
with Reed to help him with his orders about the luggage.
Karl's vocabulary was limited, but Reed and he just
managed to understand the matter in question, and Mar-
ston duly appeared, a couple of hours later, weary but
intact.
The moon was nearing the full that night; and later,
when alone in her wonderful old room, full of oaken
presses, and panels which suggested secret doors, Camiola
opened her casement to the silence and leaned forth.
The city lay wrapped in slumber, and the filmy white
light spread itself tenderly over it. She conld see right
across the market square, up a black height which she
knew would be pines by daylight, to where the radiance
softly shone upon the towers of Orenfels. In one window


46
A CASTLE TO LET
of one tower a light winked. The caretaker up there kept
later hours than the citizens below.
The outlines of the buildings which surrounded the
square were etched in deepest black against the light be
hind. She noted that, almost facing the hotel, but in the
corner of the square, on the left side of the Stadthaus,
there was what looked like a watch-tower. As far as she
could judge, by night, it was far older than any of the
other buildings which surrounded it.
Ah, what stories the old town could tell if it had a voice
that she could understand! How many travellers had lain
down to sleep within these glossy black walls which now
sheltered her! How many brides of the Vajda-Maros had
ridden in through the old stone gateway! How many
times had the passing bell tolled from the big church for
the soul of a dead overlord !
She shuddered with a nameless thrill, a vague stirring
of excitement that was almost like premonition. It
seemed to her that she was more at home here in this
old-world place, full of incredible legend, than she had
ever felt in Truro Gardens.
She watched a solitary figure--a woman's figure--flit-
ting noiseless from beneath her window, to the dense
black shadow on the farther side of the square. When
it had disappeared, swallowed in the darkness of the
watch-tower, nothing stirred.
Camiola turned reluctantly from the window; and,
leaving her casement open to the moon, she cuddled down
in her comfortable bed and fell asleep.
Presently she dreamed, and her dream was horrible.
She seemed to be once more standing at the window
overlooking the market square, when she saw a movement
in the old watch-tower which stood in the opposite cor-
ner. Something was emerging from the door which was
in the angle of the wall, and as it crawled out of the shadow


THE MEDIÆ VAL CITY
47
into the moonlight she saw that it was a creature like a
long glossy black snake, but with legs and wings. It
crept out into the centre of the square, and, pausing there,
raised its head and glared in at her window. Fascinated
she stared, and it stared back.
A voice behind her in the room said, “You had better
shut your window, hadn't you?" "I think not,” she re-
plied doubtfully, and the voice behind cried hopefully.
“Then you know how to break the spell ?" "I don't know
anything about a spell,” she answered, puzzled; and at the
same moment the glossy black monster slid swiftly along
the stones below till it reached the wall of the inn and
began to climb up. Now she tried to shut the window,
but in vain. It would not move, and in her dream she
never thought of running out of the room. She heard the
swish of the creature's body, pressed close to the wall as it
came up, and then the flat black head reared up in the
moonlit square of the window and laughed aloud.
The horror awoke her. She sprang up in bed, trem-
bling with fear, to find the summer dawn illuminating
the corners of the room, and the fresh, sweet air caressing
her face.
To reassure herself, she slipped from bed and ran to
the window. The square lay glimmering in the growing
light, and a man, wearing some kind of wooden sabots,
clattered past on the cobble stones. The old watch-tower
was now plainly to be seen, and as she gazed, the little
door, like a postern, from which, in her dream, the mon-
ster had emerged, opened, to disclose the bent form of an
aged woman, with a kerchief tied over her hair, who
swept some dust from the passage within out into the
square. She did not look up, but Camiola had a strange
fancy that she was conscious of her presence at the win-
dow. She was the old woman whose eyes had met her
own in the crowd the evening before. As she crept back


48
A CASTLE TO LET
to bed she made a mental memorandum to avoid apricots
and veal at supper time. She was so tired that she slept
again almost at once, and this time dreamlessly, awaken-
ing only when Marston stood at her bedside with a tray
of tea-real English tea—made by herself over a spirit
stove.
“Marston, you are a wonder! You must be so tired,”
said Camiola, rubbing her heavy eyes.
"I'm never one to sleep late, miss,” replied the maid,
"and they are early about in this hotel. A queer little
place, isn't it, miss? But the folks seem friendly, and
when I can say a few words I shall get along well enough.
Me and Reed, we got Karl to tell us, as we came up in
the car, what hot water is, and boot-cleaning, and what
time is it, and so on.”
The first day was spent in motoring down to Szass Lona
to make inquiries. The General's wife was decidedly
better, though far from being out of danger. Still, she
had recognised her daughter, and apparently the sight
of her had done real good.
Miss France carried off Conrad, a handsome boy of
fourteen, and Hilda, a pretty little girl of nine, for the
day. They lunched at the Blaue Vögel, to their own great
satisfaction, for they were evidently accustomed to a.
very monotonous life. Conrad was delightfully Anglo-
phobe, and Camiola enjoyed teasing him a little.
On the morrow the news was equally reassuring, and
Irmgard was urgent that they should not come at all the
following day, but make an excursion to Orenfels, which
she knew Camiola was longing to do. She promised to
send a bulletin up to Ildestadt by the evening postman, to
say exactly how her mother was, so that they might find a
message on their return.
The expedition had to be made either on foot or on


THE MEDIÆ VAL CITY
49
mule-back, so the landlord was instructed to hire mules.
Reed was to accompany the two ladies on foot.
They had to take provisions for the day with them, since
Herr Neumann assured them that they could obtain noth-
ing whatever, either to eat or to drink, upon their journey.
The day broke in cloudless beauty, and after breakfast
they found their steeds awaiting them. They were hand-
some mules, glossy and well fed, and the harness was so
elegant that Camiola remarked upon it.
“How unlike the creatures one gets in Switzerland,”
she remarked.
"These belong to the Graf von Orenfels, the Vajda-
Maros, who is overlord of Yndaia,” replied Herr Neu-
mann. “He goes up to the castle about once a week in the
good weather, so he keeps the mules for that purpose.
However, he is very glad to hire them out to me. There
have been but few visitors this suinmer. It is a difficult
journey, true but one is rewarded upon arrival, nicht
wahr, Fräulein." He waved his hand eloquently.
“If this place were in Switzerland people would go wild
over it !” said Camiola earnestly. “It is like a bit of
the Middle Ages.”
“Middle Ages! Very good,” said the Herr approv-
ingly. “Nothing changes here. Year after year we do not
change, and when we tried to change the Saints did not
approve. Will you believe, Fräulein, that during the sea-
son when the Kur-haus was opened not a single miracle
was performed by St. Ildemund at his holy well ?":
Camiola was surprised. “I thought all the Saxons in
Transylvania were Protestants ?”
The landlord looked embarrassed.
“Yes--but, yes, Fräulein, that is quite true. There is
a pastor and a Protestant Church now in Ildestadt. But
we who have lived for centuries in the Ildenthal are not
quite like the dwellers in any other valley. The overlord


50
A CASTLE TO LET
of Yndaia, which now they call Orenfels, ruled over us,
even after we joined ourselves to Austro-Hungary. He
dispensed the higher, lower and middle justice for cen-
turies. He willed that the old faith should be our faith.
Thus it is that in this valley, as nowhere else in all the
country, the Roumanians have intermarried with the
Saxons. It is not done now. No. But it was done.
Bertha Esler, who takes care of the castle of Orenfels, is
half Roumanian."
As he spoke he had mounted both the ladies, and Cami-
ola, deeply interested in his talk, begged to know where
the holy well was to be found.
It was explained that they would pass it upon the as-
cent, just above the abandoned Kur-haus.
They started in high spirits. Mizpah, who was any-
thing but fond of mule-riding as a rule, found herself
really almost comfortable upon her fine, sure-footed beast;
and Camiola could not contain her admiration of the
prettily coloured harness and fly-scarers fixed to her steed's
head.
The muleteer was a saturnine person, Erwald by name.
When introduced to the English ladies, with distinguished
courtesy, by the polite Herr Neumann, he had barely ac-
knowledged their kindly greeting. He set out in com-
plete silence, and after asking him two or three ques-
tions and obtaining the very shortest replies, Camiola left
him alone, and talked English with Reed.
Half an hour upon a good wide path lately made for the
purpose of conveying tourists and their luggage, brought
them to a small plateau upon which, against a background
of black woods, the barrack-like hotel had been erected.
The big announcements, in huge blue letters, across its
front of the wëlt-berühmte nature of the mineral springs,
and the quality of the air, had a pathetic look. Ilow-


THE MEDIÆ VAL CITY
51
ever widely famed, the advantages of the place had failed
to draw the crowd.
Just beyond, where the way once more began to ascend,
the path entering the woods, stood a tiny chapel. It was
open at its western end, and was large enough to allow
of perhaps three persons kneeling in it at once. Close to
it stood a stone shrine, with a very ancient carving above
it, representing, so far as could be deciphered, a warrior
saint, in the act of treading down a serpent, or dragon,
which he was vanquishing with the aid of a weapon more
nearly resembling a pickaxe than anything else. “Either
a pickaxe or an anchor,” said Camiola thoughtfully, hav-
ing dismounted, and gone near to examine.
The chapel was quite clean, and upon the shrine, hang-
ing over the little spring which flowed below it, was a
chaplet of honey-coloured banksia roses.
“This is St. Ildemund's Well?" asked Camiola of the
tacitur Erwald.
“Ach ja,” he responded gloomily.
"It is rather a spring than a well ?”.
“Ja eben. Eine Quelle.”
“Has the water medicinal properties ?”
"Das ist eine heilige Quelle," he replied reprovingly.
"Of course," admitted Camiola meekly. “Who keeps it
so beautifully and puts the garland on it?”
“It is Bertha Esler, who takes care of the castle, dort
oben.”
“She is a good woman,
,” said Camiola admiringly. So
saying, she passed into the little chapel and knelt a few
moments in prayer, as her habit was when the chance
offered. The muleteer followed her with his eyes, looking
surprised. The chauffeur, knowing his mistress's ways,
had turned his back and was gazing down the woodland
pathway in apparent absence of mind. Mizpah sat still
upon her mule, and Camiola made her prayer to the ac-
2


52
A CASTLE TO LET
companiment of the musical tinkle of St. Ildemund's well
in the silence.
When she arose and came out again, Erwald actually
volunteered a remark in the act of mounting her.
“Bertha prays daily for the soul of her young master
who died upon the mountain.”
Camiola longed to inquire the details of the tragedy,
but she knew and felt instinctively that the moment of the
man's first advance was the moment at which she must
not ask questions. She said sympathetically, “Indeed !”
and hoped for more; but the man strode on in silence.
They wound upwards through woods for an hour or
more, and then Erwald called a halt. They ate some cake,
and he brought them exquisite water from a "Wasser-
leitung" which flowed in the hollowed half-trunks of great
pines, and was, so he told them, the spring which supplied
the Blaue Vögel with drinking water.
Soon they went on once more, the way growing steeper
and stonier. They were out of the woods and upon the
bare mountain-side, the path they followed having been
hewn in the rocks and paved with large stones which made
anything but pleasant walking for Reed. The valley
grew narrow, the roar of the torrent drowned their voices,
and a great loneliness over-shadowed the mind of Camiola.
She had no wish to speak.
Then, turning a corner, they found themselves upon
what the Swiss would call an Alp.
Here, on the southern slope of the mountain-side, was
a level space of grass and flowers.
And here, desolate and impressive in the hot sunshine,
there lay before them the Castle of Orenfels.


CHAPTER V.
A CASTLE TO LET
THERE was a delicious perfume of new-mown hay,
and in the meadow just before them two or three peasants
were piling it into little haycocks, while in the shadow
of a big rock which cropped up in the middle of the field,
a sleeping baby was watched over by a dog, who also
guarded a big stone jar and a bundle of food. These
peasants all wore the national dress, and were as evidently
Roumanian as the gaunt Erwald, with his broad, flat face
and high cheek bones, was Saxon.
Everybody paused in their work and stared as if wholly
amazed at the appearance of the tourist party round the
winding of the path.
Erwald shouted something in Roumanian, and was an-
swered in apparent disgust by the labourers. He con-
tinued his remarks as he approached, and they continued
to argue. At last one of the party flung down his rake,
moved unwillingly to the place where the sleeping baby
lay, took up a coat, into which he wriggled his arms, and
turned from the field to walk at the muleteer's side. He
was a young man, not tall, but sturdy like all the peasants
of the district, and moving lightly on his feet. He had
the regular profile, the dignified bearing, the unconscious
aristocracy of his race. He looked at the English ladies
with a distinct scowl, which almost made Camiola laugh.
She said, however, politely, in her pretty, correct Ger-
man, “I am afraid we are interrupting your work.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn't much matter," he
replied indifferently.
53


54
A CASTLE TO LET
"Why have you called him from his work ?” asked
Camiola reprovingly of Erwald.
"It is young Esler, Bertha's nephew. It is his place
to show the castle,” replied Erwald.
“You do not have many visitors ?” asked the girl pret-
tily, anxious to conciliate.
"We do not,” replied young Esler, not at all as if he
regretted the fact. Camiola smiled to herself. There had
been a buxom maiden among the baymakers, and she
thought she could guess why he was sulky.
They walked their mules up a steepish approach, with
buildings upon their left, which looked like stabling and
a porter's lodge. Before them stood a huge gateway,
closed with formidable iron-studded portals, in one of
which had been cut a little door, just big enough to adinit
a man.
Upon the large gates appeared a notice printed in im-
mense black letters, “Zu vermiethen."
“To let!” cried Camiola suddenly. “Do they want to
let the castle ?" Erwald looked blank, and she corrected
herself, saying in German: "I was surprised. I did not
know that the Graf wanted to let the castle."
Erwald smiled a little grimly.
"I do not think that he will easily find a tenant,” he
replied, as he held his hand to dismount the young lady.
All this part of the castle was evidently far later than
twelfth century. In fact, it was like English Tudor archi-
tecture, and reminded Camiola vividly of Haddon Hall.
She remembered what she had read in "Murray,” of the
Vajda-Maros who imported an English architect.
Young Esler turned to the porter's lodge and rang an
old jangling bell which hung there. They waited, while
Erwald walked the mules a little way down the slope,
opened a stable door, and led them in.
The note of the bell died away upon the warm air, and


A CASTLE TO LET
55
nobody came. Young Esler did not, however, seem per-
turbed, neither did he ring again. He probably knew
that Bertha had some way to journey before she could
reach the spot. In her own good time she was heard,
pushing up a little sliding shutter, which bore the inscrip-
tion: “Eintritt, 1 Mark," and handing through a large
bunch of keys.
The young man said something to her, and after some
demur she seemed to assent. Then he closed the shutter
and preceded the two ladies to the little door, which he
unlocked, signing to them to enter, and adding a caution
to stoop.
They found themselves in a square courtyard paved
with big flags, in whose cracks the golden-green moss and
tiny seedling ferns found a refuge.
Pigeons with iridiscent necks were strutting about,
preening themselves in the sunshine. Two sides of this
court were Tudor, the other two certainly belonged to
the earlier date. On the right, with narrow loophole
windows, were the ancient servants' or men-at-arms' quar-
ters, and in the corner the rough, ancient, hoary keep.
Facing them was an early Gothic chapel and the build-
ings connected with it. To the left, approached by a
semi-circular flight of steps, low and shallow, was the
main door of entrance, leading evidently, under its Tudor
arch, to the great hall.
Climbing roses grew in the sunny, sheltered place, and
all was neat and well-cared-for.
“I will first show you the keep,” said their guide, un-
locking a tiny postern.
It was the first time that Camiola had ever been inside
a keep which was not a ruin. The interior of this place
had been modified, probably at the time the sixteenth
century portion was added, to provide accommodation for
a large household.


56
A CASTLE TO LET
The windows were unglazed, the walls bare stone, but
the floors were sound. The narrow wooden beds, if not
as old as the boards, were certainly venerable.
Camiola's eyes were everywhere, yet she felt that she
was having only a cursory survey. She intended to know
the old place far more intimately before she had done with
it. That magic legend, “Zu vermiethen," was dancing
before her eyes. Would they let for a short period? As
short as one summer, she wondered ?
The chapel was next seen, all as reverently kept as the
little woodland shrine had been. The brass candlesticks
were polished, the flowers bright, and the whole place was
gay with pictures a mass of soft, warm colouring, al-
most Oriental in effect. The visitors noticed more than
one representation of the Devil-dragon, or Dragon-devil,
of the legend woven into the profuse ornament.
Thence their guide led them out into the terraced gar-
dens, which lay upon the southwest open slope of the hill,
and were full of flowers. The honey-coloured banksia
rose, whence the garland that hung before St. Ildemund
had been made, smothered the wall under one oriel win-
dow, and Camiola pointed it out to Mizpah with a smile.
She felt, as she sat down to rest upon a carved stone
seat facing a rose-bordered bowling green, as though the
one thing she really desired was to have for her own the
room with the oriel that looked out upon this
“Why does the muleteer think that the Graf will not
find a tenant for this lovely place ?" she asked impetu-
ously.
“Because there is no road for motors,” replied Esler,
standing before her with his bunch of keys. Ildestadt
itself is much out of the way and hard to reach; and even
when you have got so far, to ascend hither on mule-back
takes many hours. We had an American millionaire, the
year before last, who declared he would make a road; but
scene.


A CASTLE TO LET
57
even he was daunted by the cost. His wife said it was
not worth it, to come and be buried in such a place. She
also feared ghosts.
As he added this information he smiled for the first
time, very faintly, showing even, short teeth.
Camiola smiled in response. “Of course, you have
ghosts here," she said,
He seemed to fold himself up again in a moment, and
replied conventionally, “So it is said. I have not seen
them."
"Where are they to be seen ?" asked Camiola.
"I shall in due course show you the haunted chamber,"
he replied primly.
They went indoors. The dining hall was fine, with a
minstreis' oaken gallery, and the ancient trestle tables at
which the retainers had probably sat at the time of the
first building of the castle. A wide oak stair led up to the
drawing-room;
and there Camiola just gave a
little
cry
and
ran to the window.
This was the oriel-big enough to hold a gate-leg table
and a semi-circular window-seat in carven wood-over-
looking the sunny gardens and away down the blue valley
to the towered walls of the medieval city.
Faded tapestries covered the walls, faded carpets the
oaken floor, the furniture was scanty and stately, the
carved chimney-piece bore the date 1561.
They put in a porcelain stove in the eighteenth cen-
tury,” said Esler, “but the late Graf had it taken away.
He thought it spoilt the room."
“Wise man!” cried Camiola.
“It is, nevertheless, very cold here in winter," was the
somewhat crushing comment of the young peasant.
The bedrooms were perhaps the weak point of the
house. They were mostly small and dark, and they
opened into each other in an inconvenient way. A large


58
A CASTLE TO LET
family could not have been installed unless one made use
of the rough accommodation of the keep.
There were, however, one or two state chambers of
better dimensions, and Camiola thought it would be pos-
sible to make Arnold Bassett and Neville comfortable.
She had gone so far upon the road of her new idea!
Hot water and lighting, she reflected, as she descended
the stairs, would be the main difficulties; but labour in
that part of the world was doubtless not dear.
As they re-entered the hall they saw that Bertha Esler
and Erwald were both there. Bertha had laid a clean
cloth upon one end of the trestle table, and was unpack-
ing from Erwald's basket the provisions that Frau Neu-
mann had provided.
“Oh, Mizpah, how nice !" was the girl's pleased excla-
mation. “You are very good to give yourself so much
trouble,” she added in German to Bertha.
“The Herrschaften are welcome,” replied Bertha very
gravely. "It is more wholesome to eat at table than
sitting upon the grass.'
Camiola was not sure that she agreed; but when it was
a question of eating in this wonderful old place, gazing
round at the antlers and weapons, and breathing, as it
were, the atmosphere of the past, there could be no idea
of her preferring to be elsewhere.
“What about Reed ?" asked Miss Purdon.
“Oh, give him his portion and let him go and eat it
outside,” replied Camiola, putting rolls and chicken and
ham together. “You would rather, wouldn't you, Reed?
Do you speak English ?" she went on, turning to young
Esler.
"No," he replied with a flash of resentment, much as
though she had asked him, “Do you steal or tell lies ?":
She laughed in much amusement. "Reed, you will
have to learn German, or perhaps Roumanian, and stand


A CASTLE TO LET
59
up for your country,” said she. “Here is an Anglophobe
for
you of the first quality. When you
drink
your wine,
lift your glass and cry: 'Es lebe das England! Hoch,
England! and see what he will say."
The retainers withdrew and left the two ladies to lunch
in silence.
Camiola's brain was so busy that she said nothing at
all for a long time, but gazed out across the courtyard
from the diamond-paned window, whose tops were glow-
ing with the heraldic blazoning of the Vajda-Maros. At
last she said:
"Mizpah, tell me truly, what impression does this place
make upon you ?”
“I think it most interesting. There is such a fascina-
tion about its being so deserted, so out of fashion, as you
may say,” replied Miss Purdon. “Even the American
millionaire sounded wrong. I resented his introduction,
though he has been so obliging as to take himself off. You
know what I mean.
"Exactly. That is the feeling one has. Of having dis-
covered Ildestadt, above all, of having discovered Oren-
fels,” replied Camiola. “I hardly dare to suggest it-it
sounds so wild—but I do feel as if I badly want to take
this place for a few weeks. I wonder if they would let
it for a short term, or if you think me stark mad to wish
to have it?"
Miss Purdon smiled. "Women are curious creatures,"
she replied, "and I have to own that a week ago I might
have thought you foolish to contemplate such a step. You
would never guess the reason which prompts me now to
think that I should like a move! It is because I do not
sleep at all comfortably at the Blaue Vögel.”
"Mizpah! But why did you not say so? My own bed
is most comfy; I will complain at once
"Oh, it isn't the bed. That, as you say, is most comfy.


60
A CASTLE TO LET
It is something in the atmosphere, either of the room, or
the house, or the town which is—which is--which is
well, not comfy at all.”
Camiola did not reply, but her parted lips and eager
eyes invited more.
“I have bad dreams," said Mizpah.
“That is the suppers, isn't it?” asked Camiola. “I
had a nightmare the first night, and put it down to the
menu."
"So did I,” replied her friend in a voice which clearly
meant that she thought this a mistaken verdict.
“What did you dream ?” asked Camiola, after an in-
terval.
“My dreams seem always connected with that queer
little old house that faces us across the market square
the house with a tower."
“I know,” replied Camiola quickly.
"I had a most horribly circumstantial dream of a witch-
burning the other night. I hardly know at this moment
· whether to call it a dream or a vision. There were things
in it that I do not think I could have invented. The stake
was planted just in front of that shrine, or whatever you
call it, where the people put flowers, and the woman was
brought on a flat cart. She was huddled together and
seemed half dead with fear. Four men held her while she
was tied up. It was indescribably awful, but I had to
look. When she was fast bound, a messenger ran to the
tower house, and there marched out in procession a whole
family-father, mother, sons, daughters and the old man
who seemed to be the head of the family had a lighted
torch handed to him, and actually set fire to the straw!
I woke up kicking, fighting, almost screaming out loud!”
The dignified lady coloured quite hotly as she admitted
how deeply a mere dream had had power to affect her.
"It is queer that my nightmare, too, was connected with


A CASTLE TO LET
61
“It was.
that house," remarked Camiola. "Mine was not so bad
as yours--it was too silly to be really bad. Yours is per-
fectly horrible.”
I bave dreamed, too, of somebody who went
into the tower house, and I was told, or found out, that he
was never seen to emerge. I dreamed that I stood out
there watching, to see whether he would come, and in the
darkest part of a very dark night I saw them carry out
a dead body. ... The curious part of it all is, that I
never remember taking any particular notice of that house
while I was awake. There is nothing very remarkable
about it."
"It is quite queer,” reflected Camiola. “Anyhow, it is
not pleasant to have bad dreams, because, if one goes to
sleep in the fear of them, they often come. Also it seems
to be setting in very hot, and Ildestadt is shut in there
is no garden to the inn, and the town sanitation is what
Uncle Remus would describe as powerful lackin'. I
feel as if we should breathe better
up here if
we can per-
suade them to let it for a short while.”
"You can hardly go away altogether and leave Irmgard
in such anxiety,” replied Mizpah. "Really, yesterday I
felt so perturbed in my mind that I was ready to suggest
deserting her. This would be a better plan. If we moved
up here, you would need to hire mules for us all, and I
dare say we might have to put up with minor inconveni-
But we should have the free air of heaven in
which to breathe, a garden full of roses in which to be
lazy, and we should be out of sight of the tower house,
which seems to me to be the centre of the baleful influ-
ence.”
ences.


CHAPTER VI
ESLER MAKES A BANG
HAVING finished their lunch, the two ladies made their
way out into the gardens once more, and Miss Purdon
sat down upon the stone seat, while Camiola stretched
her slim length upon the ground at her feet.
They talked seriously of the plan of becoming for a
time tenants of this wonderful placeassigning the bed-
rooms, discussing the advisability of sending to England
for their own servants, and facing the question of baths
and hot water.
“After all, hot water is a mere question of fires enough,
and kettles enough, and people enough to look after them,'
said Mizpah.
“And fuel enough-but I should think wood is cheap
hereabouts."
“Yes. The one master question, as to a sufficient water
supply, ought to be easily answered. There seem to be
springs everywhere."
“We shall have to leave the motor in the garage at the
Blaue Vögel and let Reed live here with us. IIe would
be too miserable down in the town by himself.”
“Yes. I am inclined to think we had better engage our
whole staff from hereabouts, except for him and Marston.
Mrs. Blagg would be worse than useless herem-pampered
London thing!”
"I agree with you," replied Mizpah. “We must have
a native cook who will keep house for us, if such a creature
is to be had. One would not know the sort of thing you
WA
62


ESLER MAKES A BANG
63
>>
can obtain in such a spot, and the language difficulty alone
would make an English cook impossible.”
As they talked it really seemed as if the idea, which had
first presented itself as a wild chimera, might become
practicable with a little study.
After a while the sunny sleepiness of the place made
Camiola drowsy. Her voice died away, and for a few
minutes she dropped into unconsciousness. She awoke
with the start which one sometimes experiences at the
idea that somebody is watching. Before her on the grass
stood the graceful, well-knit form of the young peasant,
Esler, his
gaze
bent seriously upon
her sleeping face. As
she sat up, brushing her eyes with her hand, she saw him
colour and lower his lids, as though he knew he had been
looking at her as a man may look upon a maiden, and not
as an inferior at his social superior. The idea rather
pleased her, for she had been sensible of a kind of smoth-
ered hostility in his former bearing. Her position w.
however, a trifle undignified, and, glancing at the be
she found that Mizpah had strolled away.
Leaping lightly to her feet, she asked, "Is it tin
return ?"
He looked surprised. "The Fräulein does not, t
desire to see the cavern ?"
“Oh!” cried Camiola with sparkling eyes, “I diú .
know that you had a cavern to show! By all means let
us see it. Do you know where the lady is?"
Aliss Purdon had not gone far-merely as far as the
Renaissance stone balustrade, upon which one could lean
elbows and gaze down upon the valley below.
She did not, however, take kindly to the cavern idea.
She thought, if Camiola would excuse, she would remain
upon the stone bench and read her book. The chauffeur
would look after his young mistress.
Camiola assented readily to this, for Mizpah was not


64
A CASTLE TO LET
active. Reed was summoned, and the three set out to-
gether, retracing their steps to the courtyard, and thence
to the postern door of the keep.
Here they found that three tin candlesticks with metal
backs, each containing a dirty tallow candle, had been
placed. Esler gathered them up, carried them with him
into the keep, and unlocked a little door in the wall of
the lowest room. This done, he lit the candles, handed
one to each of his companions, and bade them follow,
treading carefully lest the steps were damp.
"Then this rock-upon which the fortress was built-is
actually full of caves ?" asked the girl, as she carefully
descended.
"Full of them," replied Esler. “They made excellent
prisons in the early days of Yndaia."
They reached the foot of the stairs, and he unlocked
another door. This led them into the very heart of the
nountain. For some distance-perhaps three hundred
is, or more they were in a tunnel which had been
icially enlarged to enable a man to walk upright.
n they came out into a curious place. The candles
ved a tumbled mass of boulders all about them, a ver-
I wall of rock on their left, and to their right a black
y space, whose top the lights could not illumine.
“Blow out your lights, if you please," said young Esler
in his peculiarly gentle tones. “I will rekindle them for
you in a moment, but I want you to see a certain effect."
When they had obeyed, raising their eyes at his direc-
tion, they saw at a great height upon their right a far
blue glimmer, descending in slanting fashion towards
them. As their eyes grew used to it they saw that it
was a small filter of daylight, and that it entered high
above them, and shone down over a slope covered with
tumbled rocks and stones.
"That is where the water comes in,” went on the clear


ESLER MAKES A BANG
65
voice. "In the course of ages it has brought down all
these loose rocks that you see. On your left is a solid wall
of rock, with only a small outlet at its base. The water
finds a way through, but the stones are left behind.”
“There is no water now," remarked Camiola.
“Only after rain," he replied tranquilly.
So saying, he relit the candles and led the way on past
the great slope of stones.
“Can one go up it?" asked Camiola.
"If the Fräulein wishes, we will go out that way upon
our return," he answered, "and regain the castle by a
wood-path.
They went on down a tunnel where they had to stoop
from time to time. Esler called their attention to the nat-
ural archways which the water had hollowed for itself,
and the small circular domes in the roof formed by its
swirlings.
Presently a pretty, gentle, murmuring sound made itself
heard the soft singing of water flowing somewhere.
Turning a corner, they came upon it. It flowed in a
channel about six feet wide, leaving a narrow pathway
on one side along which they could walk dry-shod. At
the spot where they first saw it, it disappeared under a
very low arch into the rock,
“That,” said young Esler, “is the stream which sup-
plies the castle. From the place at which you stand
the point at which it emerges from the mountain wo
take you ten minutes to walk if you walked straight th
from here. We once put some colouring matter into
water at this point. It was an hour and a half before
came out at the other end."
Camiola, deeply interested, translated all the inform
tion to Reed. Esler warmed to his work. Evidently thi
cavern was the great interest of his life. He led them
along for about a quarter of a mile by the brink of the purl.


66
A CASTLE TO LET
ing stream. It seemed hard to believe that this subter-
ranean corridor was natural; but he assured them that it
was. Presently they reached the place whence it emerged
from the rock as mysteriously as it later disappeared
therein.
"You have now," said Esler, "three or four thousand
feet of rock above your heads. The echo of a sudden noise
just at this spot is very curious. If you will wait a mo-
ment, Ich will eine Erschütterung machen"-(make an
explosion or crash).
He lit a small piece of magnesium wire from the flame
of his candle, went a few paces, let it fall upon the ground,
and set his foot upon it. "A million horrible bellowing
echoes woke," and Camiola, for a moment, felt her heart
go into her mouth, though she knew in her inmost being
that the
young man must be well accustomed to the result
of such a proceeding.
She stood very still as the maker of the shattering noise
tranquilly, reapproached her.
"Was it here?" she asked tremulonsly, "that the ex-
ploring party was lost ?"
He turned away as if she had suddenly rebuffed him.
“Oh, no," he replied sulkily.
“Then—then the place you call the Gaura Draouluj is
not in this part of the mountain ?”
yole turned and looked at her.
“Who spoke to you,
julein, of the Gaura Draculuj ?"
tio The Fräulein Maldovan."
blí Ach so! The Fräulein is a friend of the Herr Gen-
thl's family?”
w"Yes. That is what brought me to Ildestadt."
alHe nodded, as if such a proceeding did indeed weed ex-
dianation, and was now plausibly accounted for. "The
Gaura Draculuj is a long way from here," he replied,
rimming the wick of his candle. Then he raised it above


ESLER MAKES A BANG
67
his head. “The height of this cavern, where we now
stand, has never been ascertained,” he said. "But, in
spite of its height, this place is very quickly flooded.
Several days' heavy rain fills all the tunnel, and it was
here that those whom the overlord wished to get rid of
quietly were confined. As we return-for we can get no
farther in this direction—I will show you the sliding door
by which the victim was shut in. It is not a door, but a
grating, so that the flood water could eventually escape,
but it had plenty of time to drown a man first.”
“What fiends they were in those days!” muttered the
girl passionately.
“We must remember," replied the young man thought-
fully, "that our modern apparatus of law was not avail-
able to them. They made their own justice, and often it
was better justice than the kind which is now dealt out
by the cartload from the hands of a government which
has no personal knowledge of the people's wants.”
There was an edge of bitterness in his voice. The girl
reflected that, even though he was as she supposed a Saxon,
yet he served the true, Roumanian owners of the country.
Naturally, her own connection with the Hungarian Gov-
ernment official would not endear her to him.
She smiled rather teasingly at him. "You defend the
feudal tyrannies ?" she inquired.
“The Eslers have served the overlords of Yndaia for
many generations,” he snapped, turning as if with a de-
termination to trifle no longer with this foreigner, and
striding back along the way they had come.
By the time they reached the large cavern with the
slope of loose stones he had regained his good tempor, and
he was very courteous and capable, holding the candle to
show the girl a kind of faint track, worn among the rough
fragments, which wound to and fro upon the difficult
ascent.


68
A CASTLE TO LET
Light and active, she made nothing of it, and, though
he did not presume to speak, she felt that he admired her
agility.
They crawled out through the low aperture which ad-
mitted the blue glimmer, and as they emerged Camiola
thought the world had never looked so glorious, so vividly
coloured, in all her life before. They were in a charm-
ing little wood upon the mountain-side, and the sun was
pouring through the light foliage of young larches, and
beginning to ripen into scarlet the glossy, slim berries of
the barberry bushes which grew here in profusion. The
sky seemed bluer than sky usually is, and Camiola sank
upon the moss with a long sigh, oddly blent with a smile
of delight, recalling to herself the “ballad of Reading
Jail.” For a moment the shadow of the prison grate “that
slurs the sunshine half a mile” lay upon her spirit, and
the prayer for all prisoners and captives took a new mean-
ing
“How beautiful everything looks,” said she slowly.
Reed, blinking at the daylight, grinned sympathetically.
"Does seem friendly," he remarked. “Nice lot these for-
eigners are, seemin'ly, shutting up prisoners to drown like
rats in a hole."
“Oh, but that was in the Middle Ages; and we were
every bit as bad in England then. Have you never seen
that black hole in the Curfew Tower at Windsor, where
you were shut up without light, food or air, and just left
to die?"
“Glad I wasn't born in those times, miss," was the
contented reply.
Esler suddenly knelt down in the moss at her feet, and,
with a murmured "Excuse me,” took a bit of her skirt in
his hand. Glancing down, she saw that she had allowed a
shower of grease from her candle to fall upon the tweed.
The young man drew a knife from his pocket and care-


ESLER MAKES A BANG
69
fully detached the dry tallow, she watching him the while
in a fascinated way, pondering his quiet self-possession,
which she found attractive. When he had removed the
last fragment, he produced a clothes-brush and removed
the dust from her hems.
She thanked him, smiling, as she rose from the ground,
but he was leading the way and seemed not to hear.
They soon made their way down the hillside, and their
guide admitted them into the castle through a tiny door
which led into the chapel sacristy.
They found that Erwald had saddled the mules and
that Mizpah was awaiting them, making somewhat la-
borious efforts to converse with Frau Esler, who seemed
extremely reserved.
Camiola, with a word of graceful thanks, put a gold
piece into the woman's hand, and gave another to young
Esler. He was standing, cap in hand, to see them depart,
and when she
gave
him the
money he looked at it, flushed,
and, glaring at her resentfully, tendered it back. “I have
no change,” he said; "the charge is five marksone apiece
for seeing over the castle, and one apiece for the Höhle."
Camiola felt uncomfortably hot. She had once previ-
ously found herself in a place where the natives were too
proud to accept tips, and she did not wish to hurt his
feelings. “The rest is a present for you to remember me
by,” said she pleasantly, "and I may give you more
trouble before you have done with me. I hope to come
here again this summer."
“Again?” he asked, as if much surprised. “There is
no more to see.” He spoke very earnestly. “No more
at all."
"But do
you think one can take in everything by just
seeing it once ?" she inquired. “I cannot. I have not
half satisfied my curiosity about this fine old place. No,
no,” she added, embarrassed, as he still made as though


A CASTLE TO LET
to reject her gift. “I have taken you from your work,
yes, and"-slyly—“from your friends also during all the
best part of the day. You must let me repay you for so
much time and trouble.”
He fell back and dropped his hand from her bridle;
but as she rode away she felt that he was not pleased, but,
on the contrary, really annoyed and humiliated. This
stung her, for she did not like having made a mistake.
She felt inclined to tease him, and as she rode away she
turned half round in her saddle, crying with much mean-
ing:
"Auf wiedersehen!”
His blue eyes flashed, and he answered without hesi-
tation:
"Leb'wohl, gnädiges, Fräulein!”
She was half laughing, half angry, as she turned the
corner into the wood, leaving the enchanted castle behind.
But the thorny nature of these peasants, so difficult of
access, so unapproachable by means of the appeal of the
pocket, pleased her. The natives seemed as much out of
the common as the house itself.
Herr Neumann was at the door when they rode, a cou-
ple of hours later, into the market square, and waved his
hand in cheery welcome. While helping them to dis-
mount, he made many inquiries as to what they thought
of the castle, the fine building, the prospect, and so on.
He seemed much gratified and a little astonished at the
fullness of their admiration.
"Have you any idea," asked Camiola, "of what rent
the landlord asks for the castle, and whether he would let
for a short period ?”
The landlord laughed comfortably. “What! The
hochwohlgeborene thinks of becoming his tenant? And
what then will she do with the so-convenient little auto-
mobile ?”


ESLER MAKES A BANG
71
“That will have to stay with you, Herr Neumann.
When I want to use it I must come here to fetch it, and
probably sleep a night in Ildestadt or elsewhere. I think
that would answer very well.”
“Oh, yes, yes, certainly that could be managed." He
looked as though the idea that she was speaking seriously
had only just occurred to him. “Well,” he went on, as if
reflecting, "and why not? The gracious one is doubtless
rich, as the English are known to be, and she will see that
it costs something to get provisions and fuel carried up
the mountain-side ?”
Camiola shrugged her shoulders. "I do not know about
being rich,” she replied, “but I am out for a holiday, and
if I choose to spend part of it in a baronial castle, I am
willing to pay a fair price for my pleasure."
"Well, then," replied the host, still turning over the
idea in his mind, "you had better call upon the Graf and
make your application to him in person.
"Certainly. Where does he live ?” asked Camiola
eagerly,
The man made a gesture with his hand. “Over there,
Fräulein, across the market square, in the house with the
watch tower."
Mizpah and Camiola looked at each other.


CHAPTER VII
THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
2
CAMIOLA let her eyes travel to where that ancient, al-
most sightless, huddled little tower squatted before her
eyes. Turning to Mizpah, she said rapidly under her
breath, "If we were to go inside it, I expect that would
break the spell.”
“It might,” replied Mizpah hurriedly, "but we will
wait for to-morrow morning, I think.”
“I will send word across to the Herr Graf by Erwald,”
suggested the Wirth, "that you would like to make an
appointment for to-morrow morning, if that is your wish.”
“Yes. At his convenience,” replied she. “But please
do not tell him any stories about my fabulous wealth, or
he
may
ask a rent which I cannot afford. I do not mean
to pay a fancy price. General Maldovan will help me
with my negotiations."
The landlord looked as though fully aware of the ad-
vantage which her friendship with the General would give
her when it came to bargaining. “I expect,” he said,
"that the Graf would accept any reasonable offer. He
is very poor."
“It seems sad-such a fine old family,” replied the girl
pensively. "Oh,” she added on the impulse of the mo-
ment, “perhaps you can tell us something about the saint
who has a chapel in the woods and is carved in his picture
in the act of killing a dragon? Frau Esler told me that
she knew of no legend of a dragon in these parts."
“Bertha told you that ?” cried the man sharply. He
72


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
73
checked himself, and smoothed the mule's nose, smiling,
before adding, “Bertha is a foolish woman. Certainly
there is a legend of the slaying of a dragon by St. Ilde
mund. But it is, of course, mythical, legendary, as the
Herrschaften will readily believe.”
Camiola regarded him critically. There seemed to be
a discrepancy between his almost modern attitude with
regard to the dragon and the simplicity of his belief in
miracles, so artlessly expressed that morning. It looked
as though he did not wish them to believe in the dragon
—and the only conceivable reason for that must be that
he himself did believe in it and feared it. She thought
of Irmgard's curious suggestion as to the disappearance
of the tourists on the mountain. With this she connected
instantly young Esler's obvious desire that she should not
see the Gaura Draculuj, and his aunt's denial of any
knowledge of a dragon legend. It seemed almost certain
that these medievally minded persons really did believe
in the existence of a prehistoric monster somewhere in
the fastnesses of the Ildengebirge. This was altogether
delightful. She could not have hoped that such a place
existed in Europe. As she glanced around, in the low
evening light, at the place in which they stood, she felt
the illusion creep over her too, until she could wellnigh
picture herself as having slipped back some half a dozen
centuries-until she could fancy the windows full of
eager faces, the bells ringing a glad chime, and the whole
city a-tiptoe to see some Dieudonné de Gozon ride through
the gates, dragging the corpse of the slain enemy by a
rope tied to its hideous neck.
“The dragon is the crest of the Vajda-Maros family,
I think ?” she asked. "I noticed it carved above the
gateway and over the mantel in the state apartments ?”
"Yes, it is their crest, and legend says that the saint
was a member of their family. He had a little hermitage


74
A CASTLE TO LET
“Yes.
on that spot where now his chapel stands, and, as I told
you, many miracles are worked at his shrine, though not
so many as formerly."
"It is all very interesting," mused the girl.
"The gracious ones should go to-morrow and see the
tombs of the family in our great church of St. Ildemund,
here in the Kirchen Strasse. They are truly magnificent.
Few families can show so many generations. The lords
of Yndaia ruled a whole province. It is the only part
of Transylvania in which the Saxons ever submitted to
Roumanian rule. The overlord would not have them in
his province but on his own terms: yet even he could not
stop the change of names when, in 1691, this country
joined herself to Austria !”
"It was called Yyndaia before that?”
The Vajda-Maros are. older even than their
castle. Before that was built the family dwelt here in
the city, in the watch tower opposite."
"It is a very old building," remarked Miss Purdon
with a shudder. She added abruptly, “Had you ever any
witch-burnings in this city, I wonder ?”.
"Ah, yes, indeed we had. Witchcraft was rife in this
unhappy place at one time. The stake used to be set up,
I have heard say, just there, where you see the fruit-stall
with the brown awning, below the shrine of the blessed
Ildemund. When I was born, a woman was living in
this town whose grandmother saw the last witch burnt."
Miss Purdon shivered. “Come in, Camiola; it grows
a little chilly."
As they went upstairs she remarked, “Those Orenfels
people are a little creepy, I think.”
"Perfectly delightful,” murmured Camiola, who was
rapt in the consideration of the curious circumstance of
her having dreamed of the dragon as issuing from the
door of the watch tower. Common sense caused her to


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
75
admit that, previous to her dream, she had heard the lint
or suggestion of such a creature from Irmgard; neverthe
less, she had known of no connection between the Vajda-
Maros and the ancient building in the square.
“Mizpah," said she, "would you like to sleep in my
room to-night or in Marston's? Hers is a nice room, and
does not look out upon the square. I am sure she has
not been disturbed.”
She made the suggestion, hardly expecting it to be
accepted, but to her surprise Miss Purdon jumped at it.
"Oh, don't think me a weak-minded idiot, but I really
think I will take Marston's room," said she. “You heard
what he said about the place where they put up the stake?
It was something more than an ordinary dream. I can
explain to Marston that the sounds of the town awaken
me too early in my own room."
The new arrangement was easily made, and proved
quite satisfactory. Miss Purdon slept soundly, and so
did Marston.
Camiola herself was more restless, for they had found
a message awaiting them upon their return to say that
Irmgard's mother was worse—had, in fact, experienced
a serious relapse.
No supernatural visitations broke the English girl's
rest, but the very natural anxiety which a real affection
will induce. She loved Irmgard dearly, and she had had
but little love in her life. She felt as if she were living
through each hour's suspense and strain with her friend.
She remembered with anguish the grief she had herself
endured, watching by her father during the never-to-be-
forgotten night whose morrow left her orphaned.
Next morning she told Herr Neumann that her inter-
view with the Graf von Orenfels must wait.
going in the motor to Szass Lona at once to obtain the
latest news
She was


76
A CASTLE TO LET
Miss Purdon accompanied her, and together they slipped
down the foldings of the road, leaving the mediæval city
far above them, and when they had rounded the curves
of the Trollberg, as the big grass hill at the foot of the
valley was called, she felt as though she were in a differ-
ent world.
The news that awaited them was very serious. The
doctors had given up hope, and it was feared that the end
was now merely a question of hours.
The children clung about Camiola, tearful and wretched.
Even Conrad, his Anglophobia forgotten, rested his curly
head upon her knee and broke into loud weeping.
Camiola, as she soothed them and sorrowed with them,
was inwardly facing the idea that Irmgard could not now,
in any case, leave these helpless creatures in order to go
round the world with her friend. The projected tour
faded into dim distance. For the present Camiola felt
tied to Ildestadt, to the neighbourhood of the girl to whom
she was so sincerely attached.
She could not speak of her new plans to any of the
Maldovan family—their trouble loomed too large for con-
sideration of anything else at the present time. She felt
that, as things stood, she could be of little use, since the
children might be summoned at any moment to take a
last leave of their mother, and Irmgard could not be
spared from the sick-room.
Camiola, therefore, took her departure, promising to
send down Reed with the car that evening, to hear the
latest account and to hold himself in readiness to go to
Hermannstadt or elsewhere, as the General might pos-
sibly require his services to drive his aide-de-camp upon
such business as should prove necessary.
They returned to the Blaue Vögel to lunch, and after-
wards a message was sent across the square to the watch


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
77
tower to ask if the Graf could see the English Fräulein
upon the question of letting the castle of Orenfels.
Miss France had a queer sensation of being in a dream
as she and Miss Purdon crossed the market square diag-
onally and made for the little arched entrance.
As the door slowly opened, it was without surprise that
Miss France encountered the wide, fixed gaze of the old
woman who had stared at her so eagerly on the evening
of her arrival. As their eyes met, she experienced a shud-
der, as though she peered down into the depths of dark
water. Without speaking a word, the old creature signed
to them to follow, and led the way along a narrow stone
passage. The door through which one now entered was
evidently only a postern. The main doorway had been
upon the upper floor, with a drawbridge or movable
ladder. The stair by which they ascended was spiral,
though not so narrow as the usual corkscrew staircase. It
was deeply worn by the treading of many feet, and not
very clean.
The stair terminated in a square space forming a kind
of ante-room. It occupied one-fourth of the area of the
square keep, and it was hung with arras, and sparsely
furnished in the style of the country, with sofas and little
tables with gilded legs. It had two doors besides the
narrow one in the corner by which they had entered.
Here they waited for several minutes--perhaps, as the
girl suggested, to make them realise the importance of
the nobleman with whom they had come to treat.
Presently the door at right angles to that by which
they had come was pushed open, and a little, bent,
shrivelled man entered. His hair was grey and thick,
standing up all over his head as though some fright had
left it permanently erect. He was shabbily dressed, and
bowed nervously, standing at some distance from the


78
A CASTLE TO LET
ladies, as though he feared they might insist upon shak-
ing hands in English fashion.
Camiola, in her somewhat slow but correct German,
presented Miss Purdon, and then, seating herself, avowed
her object without preamble. She had seen that the Castle
of Orenfels was to be let, and would like to take it for
the rest of the summer-Bay for three months as she
wished to remain within reach of her friend, the daughter
of General Maldovan.
The old man looked as though her appearance and
mannor were pleasing to him, but he raised a knobby,
skinny hand and cut her somewhat short.
Then, speaking in a curious harsh German, which was
evidently not his native tongue, he explained that he was
not prepared to let the castle for so sbort a term.
Camiola begged to know the shortest time for which he
would consider an offer, and he replied that he would,
under ordinary conditions, not let except to a permanent
tenant, upon
lease, for
seven,
fourteen or twenty-one years.
However, as summer was half over, and he had not this
season succeeded in letting, he was prepared to accept a
nine months' tenancy, if she would undertake to vacate
next May, at the commencement of the tourist season, or,
in the alternative, renew her tenancy for a longer term.
Not merely was his accent vile, but he was also not
well furnished with teeth, and as Camiola was but par-
tially acquainted with technical terms, it took them some
little time to understand each other.
When she clearly understood what he was asking,
Camiola declined the offer. He must see that she would
not wish to remain at Orenfels when the snow came. She
would go away for the entire winter, and to return for a
week or two in the spring would not be worth while. He
looked so arxious and disappointed upon this that she
thought she might as well ask what rent he demanded for
1
1


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
179
a year's tenancy. He replied that he asked five thousand
krone, but pointed out that he could not let to her for a
year from now, as this would spoil next summer too.
Camiola, utterly surprised at the smallness of the sum
asked, then made him an offer. She was willing to pay
two thousand five hundred krone-that is, six months'
rent-for three months, with the option of taking on the
castle at the end of that time for next season at an addi-
tional three thousand.
After some demur, he agreed to this. In fact, he
seemed to have some trouble in concealing his inward
satisfaction. He asked if she was prepared to pay down
a thousand krone upon the signing of the agreement, and
to this she willingly gave her assent, adding that General
Maldovan would gladly satisfy him of her eligibility as
a tenant, and would read over the agreement for her, as
she was not very conversant with German business idiom.
On this, he asked after the health of the Frau Gene-
ralin, and expressed concern upon hearing the serious
news. Then, after some hesitation, he went on: “I
pose you have realised that there are not many modern
conveniences at Orenfels ? I ought to say at once that
I am not prepared to spend any money upon it. If you
take it, you take it as it is.”
Miss France said that she thought she was prepared
to agree to that, but would let him know finally after a
further visit of inspection. If doors and windows had no
fastenings, she would have to ask him to make that right;
but if the place was thoroughly weatherproof, she would
not require more. He replied eagerly that it was to his
interest to have the place kept wind- and water-tight, as
he could not afford loss either by weather or burglary.
“Though there are no robbers here,” he added.
There was further hesitation, and he brought out some-
thing else.
"I sup-


80
A CASTLE TO LET
"I ought to have said before, at the beginning of our
so agreeable interview, that I must make one stipulation,
and that is that you retain the services of the Eslers. They
know how to make the place safe, and are responsible
people. I should, if you kept them to please me,
be
pre
pared to pay half their wages."
“We should wish to keep them,” said Camiola, "and
your offer is very fair. I think it will be best to engage
most of our staff from this place, as foreign servants
would perhaps not be comfortable. Then there is the
question of mules. I suppose we must have a couple to
go up and down with our provisions, as well as good ones
for ourselves to ride."
He thought that they would have no difficulty in hiring
mules or asses for the rough work in the town, and after
some deliberation he offered to allow them to hire the
two they had ridden the previous day on two conditions
-first, that they undertook not to use them as pack mules,
and, second, that Erwald should be engaged to look after
them.
Camiola was just in the act of agreeing to this arrange-
ment, most convenient to herself, when the curtain was
once more drawn aside, this time with impetuosity, and
there strode into the room a young man in full uniform,
booted and spurred, who was beginning to speak when he
stopped short upon seeing the ladies, looked apologetic,
and bowed low, bringing his heels together in the approved
foreign fashion.
"I did not mean to interrupt you, uncle," said he, half
laughing, half as if he expected a scolding.
He was certainly a fine young man, very tall and well
drilled. His hair was chestnut, bright chestnut, yet just
not incurring the charge of being red, and his eyes were
brown, of a warm shade that matched his locks. His


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
81
moustache was stiffened at the ends and his teeth white
and well kept.
“May I be permitted to present my nephew, the Herr
Captain von Courland ?” quavered the old Graf.
The introduction was made with proper ceremony on
both sides, and the splendid apparition remained standing
at Camiola's side, regarding her with a mixture of inter-
est and amusement, as if wondering that a lady of wealth
should be so simply arrayed. He could not know the
price one must needs pay for a coat and skirt cut and
made as was her simple white serge; nor that the ninon
blouse within, apparently so loose and comfortable, was
the work of a modiste of genius. He was able to decide
that neither the thread-like gold chain she wore, nor its
pendant of uncut turquoise, was costly. Her hands were
hidden in her rough gauntlets, and she wore no other
visible ornament. The delicately curved brim of her hat
--which also was studiously simple-hid part of her face
from him, but he thought what he could see was pleasing.
The elder lady was the first to speak, and she asked if
he resided in Ildestadt or was there on a visit.
He was delighted to inform her that he was only here
on leave, paying a visit to his uncle and aunt. He added
that it was really delightful to find visitors in the place;
it was usually so dull. He could not understand why it
was that people did not flock to Ildestadt, for really there
was scenery worth looking at up in the Ildegebirge. Had
they been as far as the summit? No? Merely as far as
Orenfels ? Oh, they had not seen any of the really beau-
He hoped they would not leave without
doing so.
Then Camiola joined in, and said that, so far from
leaving, they intended to explore the place to its utter-
most, and that, with that intention, they were about to
become the Graf's tenants for a time.
tiful part.


82
A CASTLE TO LET
He showed his pleasure at this news in a manner which
was almost boyish. He thought they proved their wis-
dom by coming to a place so wholly free from trippers.
If the weather continued fine, they would have a glorious
time up in the mountains. He wished that they had ar-
rived a month earlier, but although June in his opinion
was the best time to be at Orenfels, yet they had still the
greater part of July, and the whole of August would be
lovely.
He became eager to advise them upon all sorts of sub-
jects--where to get what they wanted, and so on. In a
quarter of an hour they were all talking fast, while the
old Graf sat in his chair and gazed at them.
The ladies were anxious to get a few rooms prepared
for themselves and their maid at the earliest possible mo-
ment, as they found the nights oppressively hot down in
the city. It was Miss France's intention to order her
butler to come out from England in order that Reed, the
chauffeur, might have a compatriot. He could bring out
silver and linen with him, but they must go and purchase
a small quantity of both in Hermannstadt, also those
baths to which the English are so notoriously addicted !
There was a merry light in Captain von Courland's eyes
as he implored them to believe that, among the upper
classes in Austria-Hungary, the views held upon that sub-
ject were as orthodox as they themselves could possibly
desire.
He was certainly a taking young man, and was ready
with suggestions for their household. He declared Bertha
Esler to be an excellent cook, and recommended them to
place the household arrangements under her care. She
would certainly know of girls to do the house and kitchen
work; he felt sure they might trust her for that.
Furthermore, he knew where they ought to order their
wood for fuel, and before they were aware he was offer-


THE OVERLORD OF YNDAIA
88
ing to ride up to Orenfels that very afternoon and warn
Bertha of their incoming.
“She won't be pleased,” smiled Camiola. "She is a
very exclusive lady, and both she and her nephew seem
to be anything but fond of strangers.
“Nephew !” said the captain, turning to his uncle.
"Has Bertha got a nephew up there ?”
“Yes.
Her husband died the winter before last, and
it was lonely for her by herself,” replied the Graf. “A
man is needed to do odd jobs, and this young man seems
capable.”
"I didn't know she had a nephew,” remarked the cap-
tain.
"Well, there are things that even an officer in the Aus-
trian Army doesn't know," observed the Graf with the
ghost of a smile.
"So it seems," admitted the young soldier with a laugh.
“It is too late," said Camiola, "to go up to Orenfels
this evening. It must be nearly four o'clock. You would
not be back much before nine. Besides, I think I must
go myself in order to run through the rooms and make
terms with Bertha. She may decline pointblank to work
for a stranger! How would it be if we rode up there
quite early to-morrow morning? That would leave time
to rush to Hermannstadt in the car during the afternoon
to buy things. We might start at seven o'clock and be
back by twelve. If the weather is good and the Herr
Graf will let me hire the mules, an early ride would be
delightful.”
“Oh, my dear child, I do not think I am equal to start-
ing at seven !" cried Miss Purdon reluctantly.
The captain's eyes sparkled. “Uncle, will you
with Miss France and myself to-morrow morning ?” he
cried eagerly.
The old Graf bit his lip, glanced at his nephew, and
ride up


84
A CASTLE TO LET
after a momentary hesitation said that he would. He
would order the mules for the time desired.
"Excellent!” said Camiola. “The Eslers will see that
I come with due authority to invade their solitudes! Per-
haps, also, Captain von Courland, you will have the great
kindness to accompany us to Hermannstadt in the after-
noon and show us the best shops?”
He was only too delighted, and when they had taken
leave of the uncle the nephew accompanied them across
the road, gaily accepting an invitation to come in and
drink tea, made English fashion, from English tea, by an
English maid.
His visit was terminated only by the return of Reed
with the car and the latest bulletin from Szass Lona.
Frau Maldovan had made a partial rally, and, though
the doctors were convinced that it could not be lasting,
the acute pressure of anxiety was for the moment removed.


CHAPTER VIII
THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY
The party which set out for Orenfels next morning, in
the early stillness, consisted only of Camiola and the cap-
tain. He brought profuse apologies from his uncle, who,
it seemed, was crippled by a very sudden attack of gout.
He hoped Miss Purdon would consider that Erwald was
chaperon enough for the two young people.
The solitude à deux was a far more thrilling circum-
stance to the young man than it was to Miss France,
daughter of a country where Mrs. Grundy is kept in her
place.
Otho von Courland had never ridden with a girl in
his life before, and the knowledge (which his early train-
ing caused him to recollect continually) that this was an
heiress contributed to make him feel curiously excited.
He had, however, the good breeding to suppress such
feeling
As they threaded the solemn aisles of the pines their
good beasts moving steadily upward, crushing the aromatic
pine twigs, amid the call of the birds and the murmur
of the torrent, sometimes muffled, sometimes close beside
their path, Camiola thought that the beauty and mystery
of the approach to Orenfels were even greater than she
had before supposed.
They had partaken of coffee and rolls before starting,
and Erwald carried only some sandwiches for their re-
freshment upon arrival, as they intended to lunch at the
inn upon their return.
85


86
A CASTLE TO LET
a race.
They talked all the way, the captain beginning by com-
plimenting Camiola
upon her German, and she retorting
by telling him how unwise it was of his countrymen not
to learn fluent English, since it is the language of so vast
Thence they proceeded to talk of the Vajda-
Maros family, and Camiola remarked upon the sadness
of the accident which had bereft the old Graf of his son.
“Not a son,” said von Courland, a little embarrassed.
"My uncle never had a son. Gaspard, who was lost, was
my brother.
Camiola begged his pardon hurriedly, feeling really
grieved at having touched too lightly upon such an inti-
mate subject.
“There is no need at all to apologise," replied the
young man cordially. “Our relationships are a little puz-
zling, as is the case with many old families. My uncle,
the present Graf, was an only son—at least, the only one
who lived to grow up and had two sisters. Of these,
Hélène, my mother, was the younger. She married an
Austrian officer, Colonel von Courland, somewhat to her
brother's indignation. He looks always upon Transylvania
as a province of Roumania unjustly enslaved by the dual
Empire. For many years Gaspard was my mother's only
child. He was fifteen when I was born, so I really knew
but little of my brother. By the time that I was old
enough to understand things he was grown up. He lived
here a great deal with my uncle, who looked upon him
as his heir; but I am sorry to say that he had a way of
running through money which was disastrous. It is, of
course, difficult for a young man with a prospective title,
in a crack regiment, to live economically; but poor Gas-
pard's debts were inexcusable. As you have heard, he
was killed in an accident, not far from here, and the
things which came to light afterwards made people sug-
gest that he might have put an end to himself intention-


THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY
87
ally. That is, of course, absurd, since even if he had
meditated suicide, he would not have been likely to drag
eight or nine other people after him."
"Oh, that is quite out of the question, of course!"
cried Camiola. “What a strange accident it seems to
have been. It sounds so wholly unaccountable. Would
it be indiscreet to ask if you have any theory about it?"
“My theory is," was the prompt reply, “that no ex-
haustive search was ever made, the reason for which is,
in my view, to be found in the incurable nature of the
local superstitions. Have you ever heard of the celo
brated Black Dragon of the Ildenthal ?”
“Yes, I have heard of it,” she replied with interest;
"but our good landlord seems inclined to pooh-pooh the
idea, and is very unwilling to speak of it.”
“You will always find that in every place in which the
folks have an inveterate belief in something of which
they are more than half ashamed. For all that, I guar-
antee that there are not more than a couple of dozen
inhabitants of Ildestadt--and not one in the surrounding
villages-who does not believe that the missing tourists
were devoured by the Black Dragon.”
"I fancy I was told that the Black Dragon inhabits a
certain cave or hole known as the Gaura Draculuj?"
“Yes, and that is what makes the whole story so foolish
and incredible. The Gaura Draculuj is a horrible, dan-
gerous fissure of unknown depth, which it was the fashion
for the guides to show to visitors. I may say at once that
the shape of it precludes any idea of there being a living
creature at the bottom of it. As it happens, however, the
place was not in the programme of the party which started
out that eventful morning, in charge of the two best guides
in the district. Their destination was the Kulm-the
summit of the pass, you know and thence they were
going to what is known as the Trolls Brücke, which would


88
A CASTLE TO LET
bring them back by a different route to the hotel, past the
Trollzähner Falls. The falls, by the way, are well worth
seeing."
“We will go there as soon as possible.”
“When they did not return that evening search parties
were sent out, first to the summit, and then to the Trolls-
brücke, which is a dangerous place on account of the
friable nature of the rocks. It was supposed that there
might have been a landslip, which precipiated the whole
party into the torrent. I must tell you that during the
preceding winter there had actually been a considerable
landslip on the road to the Kulm, and the guides were
always a bit nervous in the early summer, the whole place
being so riddled with caves."
"Is it known that they went as far as the Kulm ?"
“Yes; that is quite certain. We know that they ar-
rived, and in good time, because they had lunch there.
In that spot~the highest point of the route--the only
trace of their proceedings was found -some empty bottles
under a cairn and other remains of their meal. It was
thought that, tempted by the fact of having got so far so
easily, they might have gone on over the Pass down on
the southern side. Search was made there all the rest
day, as well as at the Trollsbrücke. Nothing at all was
found.”
"No signs of a landslip or avalanche ?”
"None at all. Then they examined the Gaura Draculuj,
thinking the party might have changed their plans, since
in gaining the Trollsbrücke one passes not so very far
from the entrance to the cave. On entering the cave it
was at once evident that nobody had been there. The rock
underfoot is covered with soft, fine, grey sand, and this
was absolutely undisturbed.”
“That is proof, is it not ?"
“Conclusive, even if it were not for the fact that it is


THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY
89
>>
quite absurd to suppose that a party of nine could pos-
sibly fall down that place accidentally. Even if you grant
that one or more of them may have done so, it is unthink-
able that all the rest could have followed. Supposing that
some of them got into difficulties—that others, going to
their assistance, were dragged in after them even then
they must have had the sense to despatch somebody for
help. They could not all have fallen down a crevasse
and left no trace; and even had they done so, they would
have left ropes, alpenstocks, or impedimenta of some kind
behind, would they not ?"
"It seems certain that they would.”
"No! They could not have disappeared like that, nor
yet at the Trollsbrücke. There are deep pools there, but
absolutely no sort of reason why a set of people in full
possession of their faculties should fall with one consent
into the torrent in broad daylight. Had they done so,
hats and so on would have floated some trace of them
would have come down to the town, would it not ?"
"Indeed, one would think so."
“The fact is that they never went near the Gaura Dra-
culuj nor the Trollsbrücke. They left the path somewhere
near the summit, and some projecting piece of rock broke
off with them, or some snow bridge gave way under them,
carrying them all down into the abyss.
“But surely some trace of such a thing would be
visible ?"
"Not necessarily, if they got up as far as the snow.
Gaspard was with them, and he was foolhardy. It was
early in the summer, and the snow was very rotten. That
very night fresh snow fell upon the heights. It is prob-
able that this new snow fall deluded the search parties.
The Trollzähner, as they call the jagged peaks up there,
are full of deep cracks—veritable death-traps. To my
mind, the giving way of something upon which they were


90
A CASTLE TO LET
all standing, and their precipitation, bag and baggage, into
some deep fissure is the only conceivable explanation.'
“That or the Black Dragon,” said Camiola pensively.
"But," cried Otho, "even if you grant that there exists
in this valley a prehistoric monster, capable of devouring
a man-you cannot concede the possibility of his wiping
out a whole party, not one of them, even the hindmost,
escaping to tell the tale!"
"The interesting detail in this story to me," "served
the girl, "is to ascertain what the creature lives upon
when there are no men to be devoured ?”
"Badgers and marmots, I suppose, with an occasional
sheep. I ought to tell you that they lowered a man on
a rope a good way down the fissure- and on a ledge of
rock they found the bones of a sheep. That helped to keep
up the idea of the monster's existence, though, clearly,
the sheep had fallen down accidentally. Poor old Hoff-
man, who had sunk all he possessed in the building of the
Kur-Haus, went out of his mind on the subject. He de-
clared, in face of all evidence, that the Dragon had de-
voured the tourists. The unhappy old man is now in the
asylum at Hermannstadt.”
Camiola made an exclamation of pity. “But you say
it was shown conclusively that the accident could not
have happened in the Gaura Draculuj ?”
"That matters nothing to our peasantry. They think
the dragon quite capable of sprinkling fresh sand over
his parlour floor."
The girl shuddered. "It is a horrible, melancholy
story,” she sighed.
He dropped his voice to a very confidential tone.
"Have you come to turn the tide? To change the luck
of the Vajda-Maros ?” he asked softly.
It was a daring thing to say, but he said it in just the
right way. His voice was singularly charming--you felt


THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY
91
>>
certain that he
sang
tenor. Camiola was keyed at that
moment to respond to the call of romance, for as he spoke
she lifted her eyes, and saw before her the grey majestic
pile of Orenfels lying mysterious and as though asleep in
the morning sunlight.
“For ten generations," went on the persuasive voice,
the succession has never been in the direct line. There
was a prophecy that this should be so. According to the
terms of the prediction, the curse should have worked.
itself out in me."
“Are you the only representative of your name ?" she
asked.
“So far as we know. There may be a half-English
member of the family, but I do not think there is. My
mother's elder sister made an unfortunate marriage. She
fell in love with an Englishman named Westonhaugh-a
Predikant: what you call clergyman. He was very poor.
She ran away with him to England, and it is not known
what became of her, for her family cast her off. If she
had a son, he would be heir before me. I hope, however,
that he does not exist."
“Oh, so do I!” cried Camiola impetuously, before she
had time to think. Then she blushed, and they both
smiled.
“The Fräulein is very kind,” said Otho, raising his hat.
Camiola looked around her at the newly mown pas-
ture, where she had seen the haymakers but two days pre-
viously, and where, among the stubble grass, the autumn
crocus was already beginning to show its beautiful lilac
hue. She smiled as she thought how speedily her “Auf
Wiedersehen" had come true!


CHAPTER IX
TAKING POSSESSION
It took Erwald quite a long time to summon Bertha
to the gate. He rang, knocked, and shouted for ten min-
utes, until, growing impatient, he pushed up the shutter,
leaned in as far as he could, succeeded in unlatching the
door of the porter's lodge from within, and admitted him-
self, disappearing into the interior, and leaving the two
young people unchaperoned in a fashion of which the
gentleman at least was acutely conscious.
Otho dismounted Camiola carefully, and together they
stood, contemplating the castle; only his eyes were fixed,
not upon the building but upon the young girl who so
enthusiastically admired it. She was prettier than he had
supposed-really quite pretty, he told himself. Pretty
enough to fall in love with-almost! And with all that
money! It seemed as if Fortune, which had always
treated him so ill, had suddenly turned and flung a gift
from the skies into his hands.
At last they heard the key grate in the little door which
was cut in the big gate, and Erwald, stepping out, went
to take the mules in charge.
Frau Esler, flushed and evidently much disturbed,
stood in the courtyard, and faced the two who entered
with a conspicuous lack of welcome. She gave the curtest
of recognitions to Camiola, and curtseyed to Otho with
an air of being anxious to box his ears.
Otho greeted her kindly, though negligently, and asked
if Erwald had told her that the Herr Graf had let the
92


TAKING POSSESSION
93
castle for a time to the English Fräulein. She answered
“Yes” between tightened lips, and, after a slight hesita-
tion, crushing a corner of her apron in her nervous hands,
she muttered that she could not think why any rich young
lady should want to come up there in such a lonely spot,
with nothing to amuse her, and an old house with no
modern conveniences.
Camiola smiled. “I think it the most beautiful place
I ever saw," she answered, "and you know you do also,
don't you, Bertha ?” It was mischievously said, and the
woman flushed as though furious at being so intimately
approached by an almost stranger.
"Please don't be unkind to me,” went on Camiola,
very gently, "for you will never have a tenant who will
be as anxious as I am that all the beautiful things here
should be kept carefully, and even better than they are
now.'
“Yes, mein Gott! Foreign servants !” cried the woman,
as if she could not control herself.
Her outcry, though strangled almost at birth, gave
Camiola her cue. She explained forthwith that she did
not contemplate the enormity of foreign servants, with
the exception of her own maid. She wanted to put the
arrangements into Bertha's own hands. They had been
told that she was an excellent cook, and while in Tran-
sylvania the English ladies wished to live according to
the customs of the country.
Would Bertha undertake
the duties of cook and housekeeper? She named the sum
which she considered appropriate for such service.
Bertha stood very still during her speech, and grew
quite pale. It was evidently wholly unexpected, and a
few tears slid suddenly from her eyes, to be hurriedly
wiped away. “I do not expect that I could please the
likes of you," she muttered ; "I am out of practice. Be-


A CASTLE TO LET
sides-besides, there is my boy~my nephew, Erio
must go with him."
Otho dashed in at this point, to explain that tho Graf
had stipulated for the employment of both hor and her
nephew.
"If you had waited a minute, instead of flying at the
gracious one like a wild-cat,” he said, in tones of annoy-
ance, “I would have handed you the Graf's letter. You
are a fool, Bertha; you don't know when you are well off.”
Bertha 'took the letter, and with a murmured "Excuse
me” read it carefully through. Her eyes, as she raised
them to Camiola when she had finished, showed that she
had surrendered. She was not pleased, but she was sub-
missive.
This accomplished, Camiola plunged into business. She
hurried off with Bertha to inspect blankets, glass, china,
and such-like commodities. She went through the bed-
rooms with the eye of the hausfrau who wishes to supply
deficiencies, and wrote down upon a list all the things
she thought it likely they might want. After a time,
during which the surprising news had had time to sink
into Bertha's mind, she reverted to the subject of service,
and found, as Otho had predicted, that the woman thought
she could easily find maidens to do most of the work.
“You will not, however, be able to converse with them,"
she explained. "They speak no Saxon. In Ildestadt most
of the tradespeople are Saxon; but here on this Alp all
are Roumanian, and I know not how you will manage
at table."
Camiola explained that she was writing to England for
her own butler.
She found that if she brought back a little bed linen,
some spoons and forks, and one or two other indispen-
sable things in the motor from Hermannstadt, they could
be sent up early the following morning upon pack-mules,


TAKING POSSESSION
95
with her own personal luggage; and if fires were lit at
once in the rooms they were to use, it would be possible
to sleep-actually to sleep-to-morrow night in her own
hired castle!
Bertha respectfully begged her not to ask to see the
kitchen that morning; by the time the Herrschaften
arrived it should all be cleaned up and ready. But, as
the gracious one would understand, it was at present her
living-room and in some disorder. She took her ntw
mistress along the wide passage which led to it, however
-the kitchen in use was in the Tudor wing--and showed
her a pleasant room which the maids could use as a ser-
vants' hall. Camiola also discovered, with relief, that
they were not quite so badly off for bedrooms as she had
supposed, not all the resources of the house being dis-
played to visitors.
Although she did not thaw at all in manner, there was
a sensible diminution of Bertha's hostility as they went
on, and she told where in Ildestadt the best sugar, fly
potatoes, soap, blacklead, and so on
on was to be h
Camiola asked her to make a list of such things as su
should immediately require, and she would take it dow
to Ildestadt and see that it was all forwarded at once;
the Graf himself was seeing about the pack-mules for her;
in fact, she believed that Erwald had already procured
them. Bertha said that eggs, milk, butter, poultry, and
even meat, were to be had from the peasants upon
the
small alp where Orenfels was situated. Paraffin for lamps
was the great thing required. The lamps themselves
could be better procured in Hermannstadt, but the oil
must come up at once on a mule from the town.
Never had Miss France felt so busineeslike and so in-
terested. The question of ways and means was one which
had not, so far, entered into her life. It was quite thrill-


96
A CASTLE TO LET
ing to fancy the changes she would work in the place in
the course of the next few days.
When all was arranged she went to the window of the
dining hall and called to the Captain, who was loafing,
with his cigar, in the courtyard. Bertha, as on the pre-
vious occasion, spread a cloth upon one end of the long
table, and set out their sandwiches, with a big jug of
milk.
“Oh!” cried Camiola, as von Courland entered, “is not
this fascinating? I look upon everything with such a
different eye to-day! On Monday I was a mere visitor,
now I feel like an owner.”
Her companion felt much inclined to ask whether she
would like to make such an arrangement as should secure
permanent ownership to her, but this he knew would be,
to put it mildly, premature. He contented himself with
assuming a sympathetic, though half bantering, attitude,
and addressing her as Madame la Châtelaine.
"How is Bertha behaving ?” he asked.
Wonderfully well. I am full of sympathy for her.
a you not feel how unwilling she must be to make such
complete change in her habit of life? Just think how
ilmly, how evenly her days must roll by. And what a
change is coming for her when I ask friends to come and
fill my empty chambers! When she is used to it I dare
say sho may enjoy it after a fashion, but at present it
must be a shock."
“You are going to give her far too much money,"
remarked.
"No more than I should give to a good cook in Eng-
land. I am making her responsible for the running of
the whole show, you must remember. By the way, I won-
der where her nephew is? Such a peppery youngster!
When he showed me over the place the other day I told
him I was coming again, and he earnestly advised me
he ܕܕ


TAKING POSSESSION
97
not!
I had been shown everything everything, he as-
sured me. I should like to see his face when he finds
that his aunt is saddled with me for an indefinite period !"
Her laugh rang gaily out.
Von Courland, seated on a corner of the table, laughed
with her. He felt absurdly ready to laugh and be gay.
He had often heard of the straightforward camaraderie
of English girls, and had always thought that he should
dislike it. Now he took back all such prejudices. Had
an Austrian girl been in his company under present cir-
cumstances they would by this time either have embarked
upon a serious flirtation, or been bored and constrained.
No such thing had now happened. He was, so it seemed,
at the outset of a most interesting friendship, with a com-
panion who could not be called lacking in feminine charm,
yet who gave him no openings; who, in fact, seemed with-
out an effort able to restrain him from becoming personal.
It was borne in upon him that the kind of conversation
which would appeal to the maidens of his own race would
seem an insult if offered to Camiola France.
"Have some more milk,” said his hostess encourag-
ingly. "I am glad to find that you can drink milk. I
always understood that Austrian officers had wine for
breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper.”
“One does get silly ideas into one's head about other
nations," he returned thoughtfully. "I always believed
that all English girls had projecting teeth and enormous
feet."
His eyes were fixed, pensively, upon the neat brown
shoes which were visible below his companion's skirt.
"I always heard that Austrian officers were so eaten
up with conceit that it was quite impossible to talk to
them."
"My mother always said that English women were the
worst housekeepers in the world, yet here are you arrang-


98
A CASTLE TO LET
ing to keep house in this wild spot as competently as if
you had the Army and Navy Stores round the corner and
electric light fitted all over the house.”
“We must become the pioneers of a better understand-
ing between the two nations,” began Camiola, and then
stopped short, uncomfortably conscious that this was some-
thing which might well be construed as an opening. “I
mean," she went on hurriedly, “that dislike is usually
based on misunderstanding."
"If you are going to found a Society for the Encour-
agement of Friendly Relations, please let me have the
honour of being the first member enrolled,” he said mer-
rily; and the friendliness of her glance told him that he
had taken the right tone, and scored a point with her.
“This notion of race hostility is so foolish," he was be-
ginning, when there came to their ears the sound of a
whistle, sweet and full--a very exceptional whistle. The
performer seemed to be approaching the half-open front
door from the courtyard, and was whistling the air of
the "Pilgrim's Chorus” from Tannhäuser.
Another moment and the door was pushed a little wider,
to admit of the entrance of young Esler. He wore a grey
flannel shirt, open at the throat, and a pair of corduroy
breeches. In one hand he carried a tray, upon which were
placed three vases, of different shapes, filled with flowers
artistically arranged. In the other hand, which hung at
his side, was a bird-cage containing a fine canary.
He was so amazed at the sight of the two who sat there
eating lunch that he stopped dead just inside the door,
and his whistling ceased as though a hand had been
clapped over his mouth. The colour flew to his brown
face, and he stood there confronting Camiola with an
expression so arresting that for a moment-just a passing
moment-she felt afraid. The mere fact that she was sen-


TAKING POSSESSION
99
sible of that curious quailing caused her to smile mock-
ingly as she said to him:
"Well, I told you it would be auf wiedersehen, did I
not?”
His whole manner and expression changed in one swift
second from something like a challenge to the polite in-
difference of the servant. So complete, so rapid was the
change that Camiola felt a fool, as though she had imag-
ined a totally different person from the young peasant
who said quietly:
"Good morning, gracious one.
That was all. Inclining his head in humble recognition
of the presence of the Captain, he walked across the room,
passed through the door leading to the kitchen wing, and,
setting down what he carried just without, closed the door
behind him and was gone.
Camiola sat staring at the oak panelling which had
shut him out.
"He has not forgiven the gold piece," she was saying
to herself. As if it mattered what he thought!
Is that Bertha's nephew ?” asked von Courland.
“Yes; he is a very competent guide to the place. Me
showed us over when we were here the other day, anqi if
we had time he should do it again to-day. But we r.qust
be off, if you are ready. We have not a minute to lose,
and must make the best of our way down if we wanî, to
lunch and do our shopping also.”
He was quite ready and full of alacrity. Together they
went out into the silent, sunny courtyard, and through
the little door, where Erwald and the mules awaited theny.
Neither Bertha nor her nephew was to be seen, and they
were quickly mounted and off, Camiola saying, in the
worried voice of one with the cares of a household upon
her shoulders: “Now, I wonder if I have forgotten any-
thing really important ?”


100
A CASTLE TO LET
As they came to the corner, previous to entering the
woods that lay below the Alp, the girl turned her head
backward and flashed a final glance at her Castle.
“When next I come it will be to stay!" she cried, as
if addressing the grey pile.
As she spokę a big white cloud eclipsed the sunlight
for a moment, producing a curious illusion, as though
the fortress frowned upon her. She took herself to task
for idle fantasy; but in some obscure way the passage of
young Esler through the dining hall had blunted the edge
of her satisfaction.


CHAPTER X
"CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME"
About four o'clock the following afternoon the mule
cavalcade, consisting of Miss Purdon, Miss France, Mars-
ton, Reed and Erwald, emerged from the wood and took
their way towards the Castle.
Marston was, as has been shown, a self-possessed per-
son, but she did hate muleback, and her English heart did
sink at sight of the remote spot in which her eccentric
young mistress had elected to pass her holiday.
Camiola, on the other hand, could not repress her de-
light. She felt as though, in achieving her purpose, she
had trampled down an opposition none the less real be-
cause impalpable. Her haste to leave the Blaue Vögel
was increased by the fact that Miss Purdon, although
sleeping in Marston's room, had been troubled last night.
with another affrighting vision, induced, as the girl sup-
posed, by their temerarious intrusion into the Watch
Tower itself.
They had duly accomplished much shopping in Her-
mannstadt the day before; had dined there, and, return-
ing between nine and ten o'clock at night, had stopped
the car at Szass Lona, Miss Purdon and the Captain wait-
ing while Camiola went in to make inquiries. Frau
Maldovan was still alive, and that was all that could be
said.
Camiola had her agreement with her, and the General,
who was sitting in his study, willingly read it for her.
He said it was a fair agreement, advised her to sign it,
and himself witnessed the signature.
101


102
A CASTLE TO LET
Irmgard, looking sadly wan, crept away from the sick-
room to give her friend one kiss, and her father informed
her that Camiola had taken Orenfels for the rest of the
summer.
Irmgard broke down into tears at this news.
“I have been dreading-dreading every day to hear
that you were going away,” she sobbed, clinging to
Camiola. “It has turned so hot, and I knew it must be
stuffy at the Blaue Vögel, and each time I saw you I
thought it would be the last. Now you are fixed at Oren-
fels, and though it is a good way off, still you are within
reach. We can have news of each other, and I feel that
you are near, which is such a big consolation.”
Camiola held her close, whispering words of sympathy
and comfort, mingled with assurances that she would
come whenever summoned, and do anything to help.
Then, as her friends were awaiting her, she said good-bye
and slipped away, cheered immensely by Irmgard's ap-
proval
“I thought,” she told Mizpah, as they sped towards
Ildestadt, “that she would think it too far off, but she
doesn't. If I were going to be here longer I would have
a telephone installed.
That would make things easy.
But it would be a business getting those wires up the hill."
At daybreak a whole string of pack-mules had gone up
to the Castle carrying luggage, bedding, and many other
things. Camiola was eager to see what Bertha had accom-
plished in the way of preparations. She had yesterday
selected the rooms they would occupy-the oriel for her-
self, a room adjoining for Mizpah, and a small one across
the
passage
for Marston.
This time there was no need to knock for admission.
The little door in the gate stood open, and within could
be glimpsed a litter of straw and empty cases. The legend,
“Zu Vermiethen” had been removed, and "Eintritt, 1


CHILDE ROLAND
103
Krone" no longer appeared above the little shutter in the
porter's lodge.
This trifling change was pleasing to Camiola, and it
was with light feet and heart that she stepped over the
bottom of the gate and entered her domain.
"I wonder,” said she aloud, "if we could get the big
gates to open ? They look as if they had not moved on
their hinges for centuries."
This matter was not, however, urgent. She hastened
forward up the curved steps and entered the dining hall.
She uttered an exclamation of keen pleasure.
The whole place had been, as it were, miraculously pol-
ished in one night. The old oak shone. Huge logs blazed
upon the hearth, and, hot as it had been in the town
below, the fire seemed pleasant here. Bertha had pro-
duced and laid down fine old faded Persians rugs, which
she usually kept rolled up in cupboards. There were
flowers upon the glossy table; and a huge tabby cat, find-
ing a soft rug and a warm hearth, had curled herself up
to sleep in a manner which suggested domesticity and
comfort.
Upstairs ran the happy, excited Camiola and peeped
into her drawing-room with the oriel. Here, too, was the
delicious, acrid odour of wood fire-here, too, the floor
had been covered with rugs, some Oriental, some of wolf-
skin and bearskin. Here, too, were flowers and cleanli-
ness.
In the bedrooms the same order prevailed. Things had
been unpacked and put in their places as if by the hand
of a good fairy. Miss Purdon could not believe her eyes:
and Marston heaved a sigh as she laid down her mistress's
travelling-bag with the remark:
“Well, miss, I will say as things might have been a deal
worse!”
Camiola, laughing, hardly waited to hear her, running


104
A CASTLE TO LET
down again fleetly to find Frau Esler and express her
satisfaction. Meeting on the wide oak stair a couple of
rosy girls in curious-looking frocks, she divined that these
were members of her new household, and gave them greet-
ing in a manner which caused them to blush and beam
and run away in an access of unbearable shyness.
Just as she entered the dining hall Frau Esler also
came in from the kitchen entrance. Camiola poured out
her pleasure and satisfaction with many prachtvolls and
reizends. The gloom upon the good woman's brow did
seem to lighten a little at this spontaneous tribute.
“I am glad if the hochwohlgeborene is pleased,” she
said primly. “I was coming to ask if I should send up
tea to the drawing-room ?”
“Yes, please,” Camiola agreed with satisfaction; "that
will do beautifully."
“I also wish to say,
went on Bertha, with the air of
much disliking her message, “that, as the young girls are
far too shy to wait upon you, and your own servant can-
not be here for several days, my nephew will bring in
your supper. I am aware,” she added hurriedly, "that
in future the Herrschaften will dine late in the English
fashion, but for to-day I have been so busy that I have
only been able to prepare supper for them.”
"You have worked wonders," replied this complaisant
mistress, "and supper will do quite well for to-night, until
our silver and things are here. I shall be much obliged
to your nephew if he will help as you suggest, and, of
course, I will pay him well.”
The final words seemed to wipe out the good effect
made by the rest of her speech. Bertha frowned heavily
as she turned away with a curtsey; and when she frowned
she was really a very forbidding-looking woman. She
turned back at the door to ask at what hour they would
like to have supper served. Then she went out.


CHILDE ROL AND
105
When they had explored upstairs a little, the two ladies
repaired to the drawing-room, where they found a small
table placed in the oriel with tea neatly set out.
Reed and Marston, both very uncomfortable and wholly
on the defensive, were despatched to the society of Erwald
and the new maids in the servants' hall.
“They will soon learn a few words, or insist upon teach-
ing the others a little English,” said Camiola. “It is
awfully good for them all. Oh, how glorious the sunshine
is here! What a prospect! Just look at Ildestadt! It
is like the enchanted city in a fairy tale, or a bit of the
Middle Ages cut clean out and put here for our joy and
satisfaction. See the old walls, zigzagging up and down
hill, and the darling little pepper-pot towers! I can just
descry the low, dumpy battlements of the Watch Tower,
Mizpah."
“Don't show it to me! I want to forget it," replied
the lady with a shudder. “I have just remembered what
it makes me think of. It is exactly like the Dark Tower
in 'Childe Roland.'”
Camiola, seated in the window with the westering sun
making a halo for her hair, clapped her hands gaily to-
gether. "Mizpah, you are clever,” she declared, and pro-
ceeded to quote:
.
“Burningly it came on me all at once!
This was the place!
What in the midst lay but the Tower itself?
The round squat turret, blind as the fool's heart,
Built of brown stone, without a counterpart
In the whole world!
“That's it, of course. Only this one is square, not round
-but blind and squat! Oh, yes, it is the place, and all
the brave adventurers of the ages have been lost there


106
A CASTLE TO LET
have gone in, yet never come out, as you saw in your
dream. But that has not been our fate, Mizpah! We
at last are the fairy prince! I wonder whether there is
a family prophecy about us! I must ask Captain von
Courland. He says they had a curse laid upon them that
nobody should inherit in the direct line for ten genera-
tions: and nobody has."
“Now don't, I beg of you, Camiola, go making me feel
creepy when I am just beginning to breathe more freely,”
said Mizpah, half laughing, half vexed.
“Creepy? It is not creepy It is just delightful!
Captain von Courland says I have come to turn the family
luck,” cried the girl. “It is simply fascinating. You
know how, in the old adventure stories, everything con-
spires to prevent the rescuer from approaching! Dogs
with eyes as big as mill-wheels guard the treasure, leaping
flames make a circle round the sleeping maiden, thickets
grow up on the hill-side and shut out the palace from view!
I feel as if that is so with me, and I can't just tell you
why. I have had no difficulties—I have secured my
castle with very little trouble; and yet I feel as if there
had been forces working against me, as if there were some-
body hostile, somebody who wanted the old place to stay
desolate, who is against me in an odd way which I cannot
yet discern."
She spoke dreamily, her eyes upon the rose-garden
below. “It is all so like a story,” she murmured. "I
cannot somehow believe it to be real. These gardens are
like the illustrations for 'Beauty and the Beast.' I could
fancy a horrible creature lurking behind the bushes, who
will approach when I pluck a rose and tell me that by my
simple action I have given myself into his power !
Heigho! I wish I wrote stories, Mizpah! What a place
this would be for a novelist, only perhaps he would say:
“Really, I think the local colour is laid on almost too


CHILDE ROLAND
107
thick. A modern audience wouldn't stand this-what ? »
Miss Purdon had to laugh at her swift mimicry of a
certain modern novelist who lived in terror of putting any-
thing into his work which would involve the use of his
readers' imagination.
"How you do run on, Camiola! And the other day
Mrs. Archer said to me, ‘Miss France seems a nice girl,
but she is very silent, is she not ?? ”
Camiola laughed contentedly. “Poor old Mizpah, you'll
never get any credit for all you have to endure. Now I
am going upstairs to insist that Marston forthwith pro-
duces writing materials, and I am going to write to Uncle
Arnold and to Neville to come at once.
I shall also
command Neville to bring Betty with him. I am sure
that she and Captain von Courland will get on well to-
gether, and she has quite a creditable dot into the bargain.
She can bring a maid; there are plenty of little funny
rooms where we can put maids. Oh, dear, these gardens
do beckon me, but I will be sternly virtuous and write my
letters first. The Briefträger starts off down the hill at
five o'clock these summer mornings, so they tell me, when
there are any letters to carry. He will be worked off
his feet during the next month or two, will be not, poor
soul ?”
She opened the door and left the room, singing to her-
self.
Stepping from the drawing-room door, one stood upon
a square landing; opposite was the door of the long gallery,
approached by a flight of four oak steps, curved, like the
stone ones in the courtyard.
The gallery was the pride of the castle, and was panelled
in its whole extent with finely carved wood. In the panels
were some family portraits, not of a high order of merit,
but good enough to be interesting.
Along this gallery walked the new mistress, humming


108
A CASTLE TO LET
softly to herself, and passed out into a farther landing,
whence opened her own room and Mizpah’s.
She found Marston at work unpacking-evidently the
difficulty of communication with the foreign maids had
cut short the coffee drinking.
Finding a charming table in black wood with elaborate
carving and claw feet, Miss France sat down and wrote
her letters. When she had done, and had superintended
Marston's arrangements, it was time to change her dress.
Marston had laid out a rose-coloured ninon, and though
she thought it rather full dress for the occasion, she would
not put her maid, who had had a hard day, to the trouble
of producing another. She sat down to have her hair
arranged before a glass in a frame of black carved wood-
a glass which had in all probability reflected the faces of
the ladies of the Vajda-Maros for two or three centuries.
Its merits were more of the artistic than the practical
order, and she had to consult her own hand-glass for de-
tails.
Nevertheless, she loved that mirror, and determined
that it should be brought from its seclusion upon the dark-
est wall of the room and placed before a part of the big
mullioned window upon the table which matched it. There
was another handsome table in red lacquer which she
could use for her writing.
She was charmed with her room, and was anticipating,
with shivers of delicious apprehension, how she would
feel when lying in that huge bed under that dignified
canopy. Miss Purdon had insisted upon a modern bed,
and the fine old four-poster from her room had been
moved into another: but Camiola felt as if, to taste the
full flavour of her castle, she must sleep in the appro-
priate bed.
At seven o'clock a horn blew, and the ladies, rightly
supposing that this was their dinner bell, looked at each


CHILDE ROL AND
109
other and laughed. “Childe Roland again,” said Camiola
mischievously.
As she descended the slippery oak stairs, the girl felt
rather incongruous—her soft, vaporous draperies were,
she felt, not the right thing. It ought to have been bro-
cade; that would stand alone when you stepped out of
it. Before the sideboard, exactly facing her, stood young
Esler, watching her advance. He was attired in the full
costume of the Ildenthal-and very becoming it was. The
snowy shirt, cut very full, served as a tunic, hanging in
folds to the knees, and held in at the waist by a broad
belt of scarlet leather. Below were tight trousers, or leg-
gings, of white cloth. The whole effect was extremely
picturesque.
As her eyes met his she encountered the resistance, the
challenge, of which she had before been sensible, and
because this vexed her she dashed into talk.
"How funny to have no doors at the foot of the stairs !
I think we must import a big screen, otherwise, when the
weather turns cold, we shall be blown away!" said she
to Miss Purdon in English. Then, in German, to Esler:
“What are these funny little low gates for at the foot of
the stairs ?" she asked.
“They were to prevent the dogs from going upstairs,"
replied the young man with a start. "Many dogs were
kept, and they used to be allowed in the dining-hall, but
Lo farther.”
They seated themselves, and he put before them clear
soup with tiny balls of potato in it. It was quite excellent.
This was followed by a plate of carefully sliced sau-
sage, garnished with delicious salad. Fried veal cutlet,
served with green peas, was far more delicate and better
cooked than at the Blaue Vögel. The sweet was a com-
pôte of mountain raspberries served on hot toast, and the


110
A CASTLE TO LET
coffee which brought the supper to an end was without
reproach.
The young man moved silent-footed and very deft.
They could hear a few smothered giggles from the girls
who were bringing things to the door for him and carry-
ing them away. Except for that, the whole meal, both as
regards cooking and serving, could hardly have been better.
Secure in the fact that the young man understood no
English, they talked freely, expressing their satisfaction
at their change, both of lodging and of cuisine, and
strolled out into the garden, in the twilight, feeling more
at home and far more comfortable than they had dared
to foresee.


CHAPTER XI
THE GARDEN CAVE
AFTER supper Mizpah put up her feet upon the cush-
iony window-seat of the oriel and prepared to be lazy
with a book.
There was a restlessness upon Camiola born of excite-
ment. She longed to savour to the very utmost the sen-
sation of being mistress of this castle.
Going to her bedroom, she fetched a cloak, in case the
mountain air should be sharp, and, opening the door which
led from outside the dining-hall to the terrace at the back,
she stepped out into the windless beauty of the early
summer night.
Night you could hardly call it. The west still glowed
with the fires of sunset, though in the east the stars were
appearing. The fragrance of the roses hung heavy over
everything, and in the stillness the sound of rushing water
could be heard distinctly, though not loudly, like an ac-
companiment to the evening hymn of creation.
Twice or thrice she strolled round the bowling green,
and then, encouraged by the warmth and dryness of the
air, she began to descend the winding paths of the slope
down into the lower parts of the gardens, where she had
not previously walked. It was not unlike the hill-side
terraces of the Villa d'Este at Tivoli. The same period
of taste had produced both. There were surprises as you
turned corners: grey stone fauns, their pedestals clustered
about with creepers or hidden by clumps of fuchsias, and
a delightful gold-fish pond, embroidered with water-lily
111


112
A CASTLE TO LET
leaves, and presided over by a marble nymph with a
renaissance smile-a charming bit of sculpture and de
sign.
At the garden end, not very far from the wall which
bordered the lowest part of the grounds, the rockwork
of the beds was curved aside, leaving room for a marble
seat with carved arms and a back which sloped most rest-
fully.
Here Camiola seated herself. Her back was towards
the valley, and she faced an almost vertical bit of rough
rock, over which the cistus or rock-rose clustered thickly
in all shades of lovely colour. The ivy-leaved toadflax
flung down fairy garlands to veil the boulders, and here
and there the fiery tropæolum made blazes of glory upon
the grey face of the rock. The path down which she
had come passed along the top of this steep bit and curved
sharply down on one side, in a loop, to the place where
she sat. She could hear the slow drip of some tiny run-
nel, falling rhythmically from the top, but she could not
see where it fell.
Ah, she was glad-glad from the bottom of her heart
to have left the close atmosphere of the mediæval city
and to be up here upon the free mountain side! She--
raised her eyes to the heights. Not much was visible
from her position, but she could see one or two of the
lower peaks, and she smiled at them as she whispered,
"I am going to climb, to come quite near you, perhaps to
stand upon your very summits!”
Lost in dreaming she sat there, no breath of wind reach-
ing the charmed spot. It was so full of fragrance, of
quiet, of beauty, that she thought it would be lovely to
bring out cushions and an eider-down quilt and sleep
here in the garden. By degrees, as she grew more and
more still, her ear, accustoming itself to the tinkle of the
dripping water, began to be conscious of another sound.


THE GARDEN CAVE
113
seen.
It was like a muffled rattling or shaking. It was inter-
mittent, sometimes being prolonged, sometimes in jerks.
It was so faint that had any other noise competed she
could not have heard it. In the present stillness it was
just audible. She supposed it to be made by some small
animal, scratching in the grass near, and amused herself
by trying to locate it. Then, while she was listening quite
eagerly—for it seemed to come now from this side, now
from that—it ceased, and was followed by a faint rever-
beration, as though some one let something drop a long
way off or from beyond some barrier.
Instinctively she looked behind, but nothing was to be
It occurred to her that she was perhaps hearing
some echo from the town so far below, carried up by a
trick of acoustics. She heard several more faint, booming
sounds, as of things being moved about, and was just going
to rise and go nearer to the wall behind her in order to
listen, when a movement in front of her caught her atten-
tion and made her jump horribly.
The creepers which veiled the rock at its base parted in
the midst, and young Esler came, apparently, out of the
rock itself.
He was in the shadow, and at first she could not see
who he was, for he wore a sheepskin coat over his white
costume. She
sprang
to her feet in a hurry. The young
man, on the contrary, could see her plainly-her dark
furs, rose-coloured robe, and sparkling shoe-buckles being
all plain in what light there was, and also in the rays of
a lantern which he carried, which shed a most brilliant
light.
"Oh, how you startled me! Where did you come from ?"
she cried, with a little laugh of relief, when he came for-
ward and she saw who it was.
"I am very sorry, gracious one. I did not know you


114
A CASTLE TO LET
“A
were there," he replied in his tones of most frigid dis-
approval.
As always, this attitude of his roused Camiola to assert
herself. Why should she not walk in her own garden?
“There is nothing very strange in my strolling in the
garden, I suppose,” she said sharply.
“Nothing, of course," he replied impassively, turning
away to walk up the path.
“Wait!” said Camiola with some sharpness. Then, as
he turned back, “What were you doing there? Is there
a cave?” she asked.
very small one, gracious one. I keep my gardening
tools there."
"Your tools! Do you keep these gardens in this beau-
tiful order ?" she asked, astonished.
"I have two men to work for me," he answered.
"Let me see your tool-cave," she demanded impulsively.
He glanced at her dress. “In those clothes ?” he asked
doubtfully.
She laughed. “That won't hurt!”
He made no further demur, but held aside the trails
of passion-flower, and, when they had fallen behind them,
she saw by the lantern's light a little door.
He put in a key, turned it, and admitted her to a small
It contained various flower-pots, a wheelbarrow,
and some gardening tools; hanks of bass and packets of
seed were ranged in orderly fashion upon shelves.
The space in the midst was not very great.
"Not much to see,” remarked Esler dryly.
Upon the wheelbarrow there rested a round sifter, such
as is used to sift ashes. The barrow was half full of
silver sand. On the ground beside it were a couple of
small sacks, evidently full of the same sand.
"What do you use the sand for?” she asked idly, for
the sake of saying something.
cave.


THE GARDEN CAVE
115
"To mix with soil which is too heavy,” he replied.
"You were sifting it just now-I could hear you, and
wondered what it was,” she laughed. He made no reply.
“You work late," she added.
“I have some potting to do to-morrow,” he answered.
"Well, thank you, for gratifying my curiosity,” she
said. “This is a very nice cave. It would be handy if I
were caught in the rain. Why do you keep it locked ?"
“My master's orders,” he replied shortly.
It was not until they were outside and had proceeded
some way up the hill towards the castle that she remem-
bered he had so held the lantern as to light up the imme
diate foreground only, and to give no idea of the extent
of the cave.
Her mind did not, however, dwell upon this, which was
only in keeping with the proud peasant's general air of
fixed resentment. She did find herself wishing that she
had not hurt his pride by insisting upon his accepting
her gratuity. But, after all, what did it matter? His
feelings were nothing to her.
It was all forgotten in the delight of disrobing and go-
ing to bed in her state chamber. The communicating
door between her own room and Mizpah's was left open,
in case the latter lady might sleep badly or feel nervous ;
but when the morrow dawned both of them had slept with-
out once rousing.
Camiola was in such spirits that she danced in and out
of Mizpah's room all the time she was dressing, with
chatter and nonsense. She opened her casement, hung
perilously out to gather roses from the wall, sang snatches
of songs, and declared herself ready to kiss the very stones
of the castle which she loved so dearly.
Captain von Courland rode up from Ildestadt in time
for lunch, and it was a very festive meal indeed. The
mountain mutton proved to be excellent, and there were


116
A CASTLE TO LET
some little birds to be caught by the dozen, rather like
sand-grouse, which Frau Esler dished up most temptingly.
The cream, the butter, the wild raspberries were all good,
and it seemed that whatever happened they would not be
starved at Orenfels.
Throughout the meal Esler waited upon them, sullenly
but efficiently.
It appeared that Captain von Courland had taken to
heart what Miss France had said to him about learning
English. He was most anxious to begin, but could find
nobody in Ildestadt competent to teach. Camiola volun-
teered to try. It was arranged that the young man should
come regularly twice a week for this purpose.
After lunch they had coffee upon the bowling green, and
Frau Esler produced a box of bowls, with which they
amused themselves very satisfactorily the whole after-
noon, winding up with an English lesson, in which the
pupil covered himself with distinction, and it appeared
that he had learned something at school which purported
to be English, but feared to venture upon experimenting
with his meagre knowledge.
Camiola promised to write to England for an advanced
primer, and when he left in the sunset to ride home he felt
that during that day he had made excellent progress.
Reed had spent the day in going down to Ildestadt,
getting out the car and running it to Szass Lona for news.
He returned about eight o'clock in the evening with the
news of Frau Maldovan's death.
They were, of course, not unprepared, but the last bul-
letin had not led them to expect the blow to fall quite so
soon. In fact, the final rally had been so surprising that
a faint hope had arisen that the patient's fine constitution
might triumph after all.
Camiola was plunged into deep grief. Loss of parents
was the trouble which she herself could most easily un-


THE GARDEN CAVE
117
derstand. Her reserved but sympathetic nature lived
over again the horrors of her own times of bereavement.
She passed a restless night, and awoke next morning in
deep depression.
She had her coffee and rolls in her own room, put on a
black frock, and ordered Erwald to be ready with her mule
early. As she came down the stairs, her heavy eyelids,
white face and mourning garb made her look a completely
different creature from the young girl who had run about
the gardens so merrily only yesterday.
Esler was standing at the bottom of the stairs as she
came down. She averted her eyes and would have hur-
ried past him, but his voice detained her. It was more
gentle than she had yet heard it.
"Pardon, gracious one, there are many white flowers in
the garden; I thought perhaps
She stopped short. “Oh!" she broke in, and she smiled,
though the tears sprang to her eyes afresh. “How good
of you, how kind of you, to think of that !”
She saw then that he carried a basket and a pair of
gardening scissors.
"I did not like to cut them without permission,” he
murmured deferentially, “but if you will come with me,
it would not take long. The lilies are just at their per-
fection."
He led the way to the terrace, along it, down some steps
at the far end, into a little square pleasance enclosed by
yew hedges, to which she had not hitherto penetrated.
All the flowers which
grew
there were white. The tall
Madonna lilies filled the air with perfume. He cut them
with a lavish hand, adding the drift-white Frau Karl
Druschki roses, white stock, pyrethrum, antirrhinum, jas-
mine. She was deeply touched, and, when her basket was
filled, she ventured, quite shyly, to ask whether he would


118
A CASTLE TO LET
make a wreath for the funeral, which was to be two days
later.
lle consented readily, though he said it would be his
first attempt, and that she must therefore forgive short-
comings. They parted more amicably than ever before.
When she returned that evening she brought Hilda and
Conrad with her. Conrad was a nervous, highly-strung
boy, and his unrestrained indulgence in his grief was do-
ing him harm. Death had not previously come near him,
and it was terrifying to his vivid imagination.
Camiola was beginning to love him, and it was sweet to
see how tender she was with both children. She sat by
Conrad's bed that night until he slept; and during the
whole of the next morning she kept them out of doors in
the garden quietly amused. She planned a picnic lunch-
eon on the bowling green, and found Esler not merely
ready but eager to carry the food out of doors and to do
all he could to contribute to the completeness of the ar-
rangements.
After lunch, with the new timidity which the knowl-
edge of his young mistress's sorrow seemed to have bred in
him, he suggested that perhaps the young Herrschaften
might like to go over the cave.
This was a very bright idea, and it had not occurred to
Camiola, whose mind was preoccupied with the thought
of what Irmgard was going through during these days.
The children were covered up in overalls, she exchanged
her black for a very short tweed skirt, and they plunged
into the old keep stairway in much excitement. Neither
child had ever been in the cave before, though they had
often heard of it. They chattered all the time about the
Black Dragon, on which subject Esler was not communi-
cative.
Conrad wanted to know all about it where it lived,


THE GARDEN CAVE
119
what were its habits, whether it was likely to appear in
the castle, and so on.
Camiola and Esler combined to pooh-pooh this last idea.
To begin with, said Camiola, there was no dragon; it was
only a foolish old story; but even if there had been it was
nowhere near the castle, nor had it ever been seen any-
where within miles of it, even in the old days when it was
supposed to appear.
“Tell us about Saint Ildemund, who killed the dragon,"
said Conrad, when they were all seated on a rock near
the subterranean stream, eating chocolate and drinking
the clear ice-cold water.
The boy was snuggled close against Camiola, whose arm
was round him, her cheek resting upon his curly hair.
Esler, seated upon his stone close by, replied: “Well, ac-
cording to the legend my aunt has told me, the old saint
went to work so sensibly that it really almost sounds as if
the story were true. He did not get any sword or spear,
or anything of the kind. You have seen his picture on the
shrine, and also on the window of the Frauenkirche in
Ildestadt. What has he in his hand ?”
“A thing that looks like an anchor," replied Hilda, who
was a very observant child.
“Yes, Fräulein, but it is not an anchor; it is just a pick-
axe,” replied Esler. “The story says that the people were
in great tribulation, because the dragon lay in wait for
sheep and oxen, and even men, and caught them. He in-
habited a certain cave, not so very far from the little cell
in which Ildemund himself lived. The saint's cave was
so small that he was quite safe when he was inside; the
monster could not enter, and it feared the daylight, and
only came out after dark. The saint made a practice of
keeping early hours, and was safe in consequence. But
the people came to him and implored him to get rid of
the dragon for them. So he thought and thought, and


120
A CASTLE TO LET
prayed and prayed, and at last he saw how he could do it.
He got a lantern and he went and hid, somewhere in the
bushes above the mouth of the dragon's cave; and when
the beast came out that night, he went in and made a thor-
ough search of the horrible place. He found plenty of
blood and bones and evil-smelling refuse, but he also found
out what he wanted to know, which was that there was no
way out of the cave except by its mouth.
“So he called some of the head men of the village, and
told them to drive a fat bullock up the mountain, and,
after the dragon had gone out at night to find food, they
led the poor bullock inside his cave, for him to find on his
return. That night the dragon searched everywhere and
could find nothing to eat. All the time he was away the
saint and his helpers were busy with their pickaxes, chip-
ping round and round a huge mass of rock which over-
hung the mouth of the hole. Just as dawn broke the in-
habitant of the cave came home, and he was roaring and
howling with hunger and rage. Inside he found his break-
fast, a very large breakfast, and they knew that he would
not come out again for at least three days. So they
worked and worked away until they loosened the huge crag,
and it fell and blocked up the cave mouth completely.
Then they called all the village in to help, and they piled
up rock after rock all over and around and about the
open-
ing, until nobody could tell that there ever had been an
opening there. They also brought cartloads of soil and
scattered it over and among the stones. The dragon was
very strong, but not nearly strong enough to shift all those
tons and tons of rock and earth. So he never came out
any more.”
"He was dead, I suppose ?” said Conrad.
“No doubt,” replied the young man gravely. His capa-
ble fingers had been at work all the time he was telling the
story cutting out the hull of a tiny boat, which he now


THE GARDEN CAVE
121
1
set to float
upon
the water of the stream. This was a new
thrill for Conrad, who insisted upon having it rigged.
The boy had some thread in his pocket, and Camiola pro-
duced some white paper. With matches for masts, Esler
contrived some rigging, and they all grew very friendly
over the business. Camiola thought the dragon was for-
gotten, and would be left to rest behind his impassable
barrier of rock; but before long, à propos of nothing,
Conrad inquired:
"Eric, have you ever seen the dragon ?”
“Why, Master Conrad, all that I have just told you
happened five hundred years ago!”
“Then you think the dragon really was dead ?”
“There cannot be a doubt of it."
“And
you
have never seen him ?”
"I have only lived up here for about seven months, lit-
tle Herr."
“Oh! Where did you live before that ?"
“A long way off. See this tiny whirlpool, how it sucks
in the boat; she ought to have a keel, I think-a bit of
lead. Perhaps I could find you a bit.”
“Oh, do, please. Who told
you about the dragon and all ?"
"My aunt, Frau Esler. She knows many tales. She
has lived here all her life, and her parents and grand-
parents before her."
“Then you think it is all nonsense to say the dragon is
alive now?"
“All nonsense! Certainly."
Conrad's sigh was a compound of relief and disappoint-
ment. It is sometimes difficult to say whether a child
most loves or fears horrors.
The following day Irmgard's mother was laid to rest
in the graveyard which lay below the great old church
of St. Ildemund.


122
A CASTLE TO LET
The service was very beautiful, and Camiola kept ever
after a vivid memory picture of the scene. It was a bois-
terous day, of brilliant sun, warm wind, and a sky of
rolling fleecy-white clouds and deep, vivid blue. The
scarlet cassocks of the acolytes stood out against the cy-
presses behind, to which the old town walls made a grey
background. The incense drifted upon the brisk air, and
the pathetic boy voices were tossed about fancifully by the
playful breeze.
Camiola, kneeling between Irmgard and Conrad in the
midst of the little heart-broken group of children, felt as
though she were one of them, and as though the glorious
prayers and anthems were for her, too, who had lost more
than these orphans.
The sorrow was drawing them all together in a way in
which even joy cannot do. It was making Camiola feel
that she had a share in their lives, and that Orenfels was,
in some subtle sense, her home.
The two children returned with her to the castle after
the service, as this allowed Irmgard more leisure for what
lay before her—the labours which seem the most cruel of
all: the tidying up and putting away of the possessions
of one who so lately had all these things in her own capa-
ble hands.
Conrad dried his tears as they left the city behind, and,
when they had climbed as high as the shrine of Saint Ilde-
mund, desired to be shown the traditional site of the
mouth of the dragon's cave.
Esler, who had attended the funeral, and was on foot,
lifted him from his mule, and then Hilda and Camiola
also desired to go. After a short climb they found them-
selves facing a bit of rocky hill-side, very quiet and solid-
looking. It was difficult to suppose that the boulders had
been heaped artificially to make it.
"If I were the lord of Orenfels, I would have it opened


THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER
125
She hastened to point out to them the turrets of her cas-
tle, which, seen against the dense black background of the
stone pines, looked like carven ivory.
“Are you all hungry?" she asked. “I hope so. I have
ordered lunch at the inn in Ildestadt, and I have asked a
young man to meet you. He is very handsome, and he is
the future owner of my castle-Captain von Courland."
“Hallo, Camiola!” said Bassett softly, glancing at his
late ward with raised eyebrows. Camiola did not mend
matters by blushing scarlet. Betty and Bassett exchanged
looks. Neville, though he heard, carefully averted his
head and seemed absorbed in the beauties of the road.
His heart had given a great upward leap. If there was
really somebody else in the way, his people could not
blame him much!
After a minute he leaned forward to Camiola and said
in a low voice:
“I suppose that Fräulein Maldovan is feeling her moth-
er's death very much."
“Yes, deeply. However, I am delighted to say that she
is coming to stay with me at Orenfels next week, so I hope
to be able to cheer her up. The children have been invited
to go, in charge of their governess, to stay with their grand-
mother, who lives somewhere on the Italian Riviera. The
General is going away for a three months' tour with a
friend; his health is very much shaken. The house at
Szass Lona is to be shut up, and I hope to have Irmgard
staying here all that time. Her little brother Conrad is
with me now—such a darling boy. The grandmamma
does not like boys, so he could not go there, and he is as
happy as the day is long at Orenfels. Oh, I do hope I
shall be able to make you all comfortable, but it is a
queer old place !"
They were now approaching the mediæval walls of
Ildestadt.


126
A CASTLE TO LET
"It looks like a fairy-tale town!” cried Betty. "It
makes me think of the Pied Piper. Oh, can't you fancy
the children pouring out through this gateway, towards
the bridge over the river!”
“Yes, exactly!” cried Camiola eagerly, feeling more
drawn towards Betty than ever before. "The whole place
never seems quite real somehow, and the legends are weird.
I must tell you some of them."
The car drew up at the Blaue Vögel, and there stood
Herr Neumann, with a beaming face of welcome, and
Otho von Courland in a distracting uniform.
He came forward with empressement to help out the
ladies, and Camiola at once presented him to her cousin.
Betty Thurlow was a fair girl, and certainly pretty.
She wore a pale-blue frieze travelling suit, with white
hat and shoes, and looked as dainty as though she had
never slept in a train in her life. Otho's English had
made steady progress during the last ten days, and he was
able to say, after a bow of which Betty had never seen
the like:
"How do you do? I hope you have made a pleasant
journey ?"
Greatly relieved, she replied that she had, but that the
last bit in the motor was much the most lovely.
“How well that you my country admire,” he answered,
greatly flattered. “The Fräulein France, she will not go
anywhere till you are come. She reserve all the expedi-
tions that you may also go."
Full justice was done by the hungry young people to
the abundant lunch provided for them. Bassett, good lin-
guist and seasoned traveller, soon gained the confidence
of Herr Neumann, and praised his wine in so discrimi-
nating a fashion that the innkeeper's heart went out to
him. The Transylvanian wines are of astonishing ex-
cellence, and of an exquisite amber hue like liquid topaz.


THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER 127
So overjoyed was the host to find an expert so appre-
ciative that he insisted upon decanting, at his own ex-
pense, a bottle of a very special white wine from the
far-famed vineyards of the Kokel Valley, in order that
everybody should drink the health of the young English
lady who was bringing trade and prosperity to the Ilden-
thal.
Camiola was somewhat taken aback at this proceeding,
but more so by the extreme significance of Herr Neu-
mann's words, and his meaning glances towards Otho.
"Hoch, Fräulein-Hoch, Rittmeister von Courland!” he
cried jovially, and added a fervent hope that this beautiful
Engländerin had come to restore the lost luck of Orenfels.
Camiola hardly knew where to look, and carefully
avoided Bassett's eye. She began to realise that Miss
Purdon had been wise when she shook her head over the
lessons in English. Of course, the thing was known all
over Ildestadt. She had been imprudent, and was vexed.
Otho, however, was learning tact so fast that he per-
ceived her vexation, and also that Herr Neumann must
be silenced. He said hastily:
“The luck of Orenfels is already restored, by the mere
fact of the Fräulein's presence there. We welcome also
her illustrious relatives from England! Hoch, Fräulein
Turlow! Hoch, Herren!”
Camiola was very grateful to him, and after a moment's
reflection, consoled herself by the thought that only Mr.
Bassett had understood the landlord's toast.
him eyeing von Courland narrowly, and was well pleased
that the captain showed no signs of ill-bred self-conscious-
ness. By his whole reception of the situation, he rose in
her estimation. For the first time she was thinking.
"He really is a very attractive fellow." And in her
heart she was adding: “And he has a very attractive
castle!”
She saw


128
A CASTLE TO LET
After a good rest and a comfortable smoke for the men,
Erwald brought round the mules, and Betty was in high
delight at their beauty, their fantastic harness, and the
strong, forbidding countenance of their guardian.
Camiola was greatly cheered by her pleasure. She had
been afraid that Betty was a young person for whom the
wilderness would have no joy.
The sight of the deserted hotel on the way up struck
Mr. Bassett forcibly, and Camiola thereupon told him
part of the story of the Great Disappearance.
“That's a most unlikely story," he remarked doubt-
fully, when he had heard it.
“Yes, isn't it? If it had not been in Murray, I don't
think I should have believed it,” she replied.
“You tell me that all these people vanished, leaving no
trace, and that no search was made ?”
"Oh, no, not so bad as that! Continual search for six
months, so I heard, and a special inquiry was held also.”
“Well, then, it seems incredible that nothing was found
out."
She told him something of the local superstition, and he
was so interested that the conversation lasted the whole
way up to Orenfels.
He had also much to ask concerning the curious Saxon
population of Ildestadt. Like most people, he was wholly
ignorant of social conditions in Transylvania, and was
astonished at finding German spoken. Camiola assured
him that, once outside the town gates, the language would
not
carry
him far.
The day had been cloudy and uncertain, but the sunset
was lovely, and Camiola watched with deep anxiety to see
the effect which her fortress would produce upon them.
She led them through the little door into her courtyard,
with a beating heart.
The doves, of which there were quantities in and about


THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER
129
the castle, were strutting upon the stones, the roses made
a glow of many-coloured brilliance on the walls; and Miz-
pah, stationed
upon
the semi-circular steps, the open
door
behind her, showing a gleam of the carved oak within,
was a picture of dignified welcome.
There was a chorus of praise as they entered. Forbes,
who was now installed, stood smiling in attendance, and
was greeted heartily as they passed through the hall. But
the outburst of admiration broke forth when they were
led out upon the terrace behind.
All was now in perfect order, both without and within.
Forbes had settled down wonderfully, considering the
shock which his first departure from his native land had
been to him, and the curious nature of the arrangements
with which he had to be content.
Conrad, in white flannel shirt and trousers, left the
game of bowls which Esler was playing with him, and
came running towards them.
“Well, Camiola, I confess that I think you were justi-
fied. This may be the other end of Nowhere,” said Mr.
Bassett, “but anything more magnificent than the prospect
from this terrace I never saw in all my various travels.”
This speech caused profound gratification to the girl.
Miss Purdon also was immensely relieved that the dictum
of the great man should be favourable. Conrad, with his
handsome face and curly head, made a good impression at
once. His Anglophobia notwithstanding, he spoke Eng-
lish well, since their uncle, that Admiral who had sent
Irmgard to Oxford, held strongly that a knowledge of
English was essential to all enlightened European peoples.
It was with high hopes of a delightful summer that the
young hostess, after tea upon the terrace, led her guests
to the rooms assigned to them. It seemed that each door
they passed admitted them to fresh beauties. The gal--


130
A CASTLE TO LET
lery, the drawing-room, and the State sleeping apartments
were all declared to be perfect of their kind.
When everybody had been disposed of, Camiola rushed
downstairs for half an hour's bowls with Conrad before it
was time to dress for dinner.
Esler and the boy had finished their game, and were
seated together upon the marble bench, Conrad intently
watching something which Esler was fashioning for him
out of wood. Camiola stood for a minute looking on, and
as she did so, Forbes came out of the house
upon
the ter-
race, saw her, and came to where she was standing.
“Excuse me, miss, but I should like a word with you
about the waiting.”
“I'll come,” said Camiola, moving.
"No need to walk a step, miss. The young feller can't
understand a word of what we say. It was only, miss,
that in view of the large number now sitting down to
table, I thought you might feel inclined to ask the young
feller to come and help me wait, as Miss Marston says he
used to do before I got here."
“No, no, Forbes,” replied Camiola, smiling, her eyes
fixed upon the movements of Esler's deft fingers. "I
can't ask any favours of him. It is not his place to wait
at table, and it was very kind of him to do it until you
came."
“I should have thought, miss," ventured Forbes, with
the persistence of an old servant, “that if you was to make
it worth his while-
She laughed, as she slowly shook her head. "No,
Forbes, it is out of the question. I offended him des-
perately the very first time I saw him by offering him à
tip. You know you wouldn't have been offended the least
bit by any tip that was offered you, would you ?”
“I hope I know my place better, miss.”
“Very well, then. You can't understand how he feels;


THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER
131
but he was furious. He has never forgiven me, and I
don't want to insult him again. He has more than enough
to do, keeping these lovely gardens in order."
“Plenty of time to play with the child, seemin'ly,” mut-
tered Forbes, not best pleased.
"I don't care whether there is any waiting or not,
Forbes; really I don't. We are holiday making, you
know. If you like, you may put the vegetable dishes on
the table, and let us pass them round. But I am not go-
ing to ask this man to help, so please understand.”
“Pass round the dishes yourselves! Not if I drops in
my tracks !” declared Forbes in wrath, turning and shuf-
fling off to the house at a great rate.
Camiola chuckled to herself, as she sat down beside the
boy on the bench, and rubbed her cheek against his curls.
“What a lovely boat Esler is making you,” she said, re-
lapsing into German.
“Yes, this is really a good one. It is to float on the
cave-stream, of course. I am going to send it down from
the place where the water comes out, to the place where
it goes in!”
"Is it going to be fine to-morrow, Esler ?" asked Cam-
iola, a little anxiously. The two previous days had been
wet.
“Almost certainly, gracious one.
The wind has shifted
to the fine quarter and the mercury is rising."
“Good! I hope you will have time to-morrow to come
with us to the summit. Captain von Courland is to be
with us by eight o'clock, and I think we ought to bave
you as well as Erwald.”
"I can do that very well. Heinrich is well able to do
weeding and watering, and I mowed the bowling green
this morning."
“Thank you! That is very satisfactory. Will you give
the necessary order for me?"


132
A CASTLE TO LET
“Gewiss, Gnädigste.”
“Come, then, Con! Only just time for our game be
fore I dress !".
They ran off together, while Esler rose from the bench
and walked away. The dressing-bell took them both by
surprise. They raced from the spot whence they stood
to the glass doors, and Conrad won by about a foot.
An hour later they all came down to dinner.
They made a nice-looking party, the incongruity of
their society toilettes being almost atoned for by its charm.
As Camiola came down upon Mr. Bassett’s arm, the first
thing she saw was Esler, upright and stiff beside Forbes
at the sideboard. His Ildenthaler costume looked so de-
lightful, and was so much admired by her guests, that she
felt a quick impulse of gratitude. But how dared Forbes
communicate the idea to him, when she had expressly
forbidden it? The hot colour rose in her face, as she
flashed a glance at the butler, who seemed wholly impeni-
tent; and then for a minute her look met that of young
Esler, and she experienced the extraordinary sense of sur-
prise-almost of fear-which she had felt when he came
in through the open door, carrying the canary, and found
her sitting upon the table in company with von Courland.
It was an extraordinary look, an extraordinary power
which this peasant possessed. It made her think of
primeval things—the strength of the hills, the silence of
dawn, the terrors of magic, the mysteries of sex.
Yes, that was it. As she took her seat at the head of
the table, facing the place where he stood, she knew that
her colour changed, and she resented it. He stood to her
for a new thing. He carried in him the suggestion of a
power which she had never hitherto felt. It was almost
a pity that such a man should mate with Rahula, the
hay-making girl, who would be just as content with any-
body else. Since the first day when she had disturbed the


THE QUEST OF MRS. COOPER
133
haymakers at their work, Camiola had made friends with
the inhabitants of some of the châlets near, though their
language made intercourse most difficult. Rahula often
came to the kitchen of the Castle with milk, butter, eggs
and other produce. ... It was perhaps better for young
Esler that he should marry some one quite simple, not
capable of being upset by his extraordinary moods. Yet
she felt it an injustice that the mountain man should not
be provided by nature with a mountain woman to under-
stand him.
She was so plunged in these thoughts that the beginnings
of conversation were unheeded by her. When she began
to attend, Neville was saying:
"By the
way,
Ι
suppose
there is a solicitor of sorts in
Ildestadt ??
"I imagine there must be,” replied Miss Purdon. “The
national equivalent for a lawyer must be essential; people
want to make wills and so on.'
"I want to combine a bit of business with my pleasure
here," went on Neville. "A client of ours is in search of
a runaway wife, and he is pretty certain that she came to
Transylvania.”
“But how unlikely! Why should she go to such a
place--where strangers are so scarce that she could be
easily traced ?"
"He has his reasons for the supposition,” rejoined her
cousin.
"Is it an interesting case ?” pursued Camiola.
“My client is anything but an interesting person,” re-
plied Neville, with a laugh. “What you might describe
as a curmudgeon-surly, ill-conditioned brute, named
Cooper. Any wife would have run from him, if she had
the power of locomotion, I should think. His wife is
partly a native of this country, I should tell you.”
"That makes her less easy to trace," opined the K.C.


134
A CASTLE TO LET
"She will change her name and be swallowed up among her
fellow countrymen.
I suppose she did not run alone?"
“As to that, I have no precise information. He does
not seem to want a divorce. She is a handsome woman,
judging by her photograph.”
"In any case, she would not come to a remote place like
this,” remarked Miss Purdon. “In Ildestadt everybody
knows his neighbour's business, and a stranger is marked
down instantly."
"Perhaps," suggested Camiola suddenly, "she was one
of the party that was eaten by the Black Dragon.”
“She didn't disappear as long ago as that," replied
Neville, amid laughter. "No," he added, more gravely,
"my chief hope of tracing her is that she almost certainly
has no money. It would be to nobody's interest to keep
her secret, and old Cooper would make it to somebody's
interest to give her away." There was a slight clatter of
plates at the sideboard, and Esler stooped with a red face,
to pick up the broken halves of a vegetable dish-cover.
He was usually so deft and silent, that Camiola looked
up in surprise and saw him scarlet with confusion and
annoyance. She pitied him, and sympathised with his
mortification, but it was not much noticed, for her intro-
duction of the Black Dragon into the conversation had
fastened the attention of everybody upon that fascinating
bogey. Camiola gave all the details with which Captain
von Courland had supplied her, and added that, as he
was to join the party next day, he would show them the
various points of interest.
Esler handing peas at the moment, she addressed him,
with marked kindness to atone for his slight mishap:
"We should not have time, should we, to go to the Gaura
Draculuj to-morrow as well as to the summit ?” she asked.
“You would do better to leave that for another day,
Gnädigste," was the deferential reply.


CHAPTER XIII
CONRAD'S EXPLOIT
EVERYBODY went to bed early that night, and declared
themselves ready for anything next morning.
Bassett, however, gave it as his opinion that the summit
should not be attempted that day. It was a hard four
hours' climb for seasoned mountaineers, and the mules
were of no service after the first hour. If they went, most
certainly Miss Purdon, and very probably Betty, would
have to turn back, which would spoil the day. They
therefore decided to go to the Trollzähner Falls instead, a
route, so Erwald informed them, of more magnificent
beauty, and only half the distance.
For an hour along this path the mules could go, for it
was here that the mineral springs, which were to have
supplied the Kurhaus, had been tapped, and the scheme
for carrying the water in pipes down to the hotel had
actually been begun. The difficulty was that the hot
spring, the most important of all, lost its heat in being
carried so far, and had to be reheated, a process in which
it parted with some of its medicinal properties--or so the
doctors said.
Nobody but Miss Purdon, however, availed themselves
of the offer of a mount. The suggestion of a pack-mule for
the provisions was also scouted. The men, including Esler
and Erwald, carried Rück-sacks, and were well able to
take all the food required, including to every man a half-
bottle of the topaz-coloured vin du pays, which made a
delicious drink mingled with mountain water.
135


136
A CASTLE TO LET
The Captain arrived in good time for breakfast à
l'anglaise. He was somewhat wonderfully arrayed, ac-
cording to English ideas, in a green hunting suit, and a
hat with a feather, like a Tyrolese peasant. However, his
good looks and his style carried off the dress, and Neville
thought, rather touchily, that the girls seemed to admire
it more than the Harris tweed worn by their own men,
which had no charm of novelty.
Neville was a bit out of it that day, since both Betty
and Camiola seemed to be attracted by the Captain, and
Miss Purdon and the K.C. forgathered persistently. He
longed for the arrival of Irmgard, and made use of the
time beforehand to court the favour of her young brother.
Conrad accepted his overtures very frankly. The good
English spoken by the boy made it easy for Neville to
talk to him. The gift, later on, of an electric torch from
Neville's pocket "for his very own,” cemented the friend-
ship with firmness.
Camiola took an early opportunity, after the start, to
say to young Esler:
“I hope you do not think that I expect you to help with
the waiting at table. I do not know how you came to do
it last night, but whoever asked you did so against my
express orders.”
He looked faintly surprised. “Nobody asked me, gra-
cious one.
I thought it would help your Mr. Forbes, so
I offered. He seemed pleased.'
“No doubt. But it gives you too much to do."
“There is a large part of the year during which I have
nothing to do,” he replied gravely. "If my health should
break down under the strain, I can rest then.”
She looked quickly at him, wondering a little at the
irony in his words. Surely never did anybody less look
like one who is likely to break down. Health itself
seemed to have lent the golden brown that tanned his fair


138
A CASTLE TO LET
treaties, and allowed her to have tea there in comfort.
Erwald, already accustomed to the tyranny of tea in the
English mind, had brought the paraphernalia of spirit
kettles and lamps, in whose use Marston had thoroughly
instructed him.
Every one, of course, had to taste the mineral-impreg-
nated water, and every one voted it nauseous, though Mr.
Bassett said it was nothing to Harrogate water.
After tea, Conrad ran off to follow the course of the
pipes as far as they had been laid. The party was in the
midst of an interesting discussion of future plans. They
were armed with the best ordnance survey, large scale
maps, and they were, under the generalship of Arnold
Bassett, deciding upon their next expedition, reference
being continually made to the two practised mountaineers,
Esler and Erwald.
Nobody noticed the slipping away of the boy. It was
not until the men had finished their cigarettes, and had
indulged, under Betty's leadership, in a thrilling game of
chucking pebbles, to hit a little stone set up on a large
boulder, that the signal to move was given.
Then, Conrad was nowhere to be found.
They tried shouting first. All the men in succession
exercised the power of their lungs, making the noise re-
verberate among the rocks. No answering cry or call
came to their strained ears.
Esler then ran off down the path as far as the bend, to
see if he could descry the boy from afar.
They followed his swiftly moving figure with their eyes
until it disappeared, and Bassett, holding his extinct cigar
between his fingers, remarked musingly: "How well that
chap runs !”
"I was just thinking,” remarked Neville, "that he runs
like an English public schoolboy. Did you notice the
action ?"


CONRAD'S EXPLOIT
139
>>
*
“Shows how right our system of training is, I suppose
-how near to nature. This chap, who has no training at
all"
“Oh, you must be
wrong
there. He has had his mili-
tary training, no doubt.”
“Ah, no doubt. Yes, you are right, I should think.”
Esler reappeared, shaking his head.
"He's found nothing," commented Bassett. "Come on,
Thurlow, we will go back, up the road, and see if we can
spot the youngster's trail."
They moved off together, leaving Camiola standing
tense until Esler rejoined her. He spoke at once.
“I
think I know where he must have gone,” he said.
"I will come with you,” she replied hastily, Together
they returned down the path a little way, then struck off
sharply to the right, downhill, along a scarcely perceptible:
track, among the trees.
"I think I know where he has made for. I can find
him. There is no need, Fräulein, for you to come, it is
a rough road,” he urged.
“Oh!” cried she impatiently, "you ought to know by
now that I don't mind rough road, all I want is to find the
boy. I would not have any harm come to him for worlds."
“I know it, Gnädigste," he replied meekly, turning to
help her down a steep bit.
Soon they were deep in the heart of the wood, far from
everybody. The way here was wide enough to admit of
their walking side by side, though Esler kept trying to
avoid this. “I am almost certain,” he explained, “that he
has found the quarry where they began to cut the baths.
They broke open a cave there, which is still accessible;
... and this afternoon the English Herr gave Conrad a
torch-he has most likely gone in, and it winds”
“Then, for mercy's sake, be quick !" cried the girl on a
sudden note of alarm; and as they ran on she panted out,


110
A CASTLE TO LET
“Oh, Esler, tell me the truth. There is nothing to hurt
him, is there? There is not, really, on this mountain
side any evil creature with power to do harm ?”
He turned then, and looked her full in the eyes, with the
passionate intensity she was learning to dread. "I wish
I could tell you for certain that there is not,” he replied,
“but before God I am not sure.”
She gave a little cry of horror, and quickened her pace.
"Don't let us waste a minute."
They ran for nearly a quarter of a mile through the
woods, and when her breath failed she grasped the young
man's arm.
“We are just there,” he said presently, "and I am al-
most certain we are right. I have noticed several broken
twigs among the juniper."
“What a long way for him to run—bad boy,” panted
Camiola. “Oh, I am so frightened. Do tell me what
makes you think-"
“Ah!” he cried. "I ought not to be such a fool as to
alarm you. No harm can come to him here, I am fairly
sure. Only you asked me the direct question, and I was
obliged to tell you the naked truth."
“What makes you suppose
she questioned breath-
lessly.
“Poor old Hoffman saw it,” he murmured, slackening
speed for a few steps that she might get her breath. "He
is mad, yes, and, of course, they say he was mad when he
thought he saw it. But I cannot help wondering whether
it was the sight of it which sent him mad."
“Where did he see it ?” she gasped, almost inaudibly.
"In the Gaura Draculuj,” he answered in the same
tone.
As he spoke, and while her brain hummed with the
shock of his words, they came to the edge of the trees, and
the edge of the land, too. They found themselves looking


CONRAD'S EXPLOIT
141
down upon a deep pit, the bottom of which was full of
boulders, over whose sides the creepers were already grow-
ing
To their left was the dark hole, showing where the men
had knocked through into one of the countless natural cavi-
ties of the district, and had therefore been obliged to
abandon their work.
Upon a bit of bare rock lay Conrad's alpenstock.
"We are right,” cried Esler, pointing to it. “There,
do you see? Don't trouble to come down, I will go and
shout to him.”
“Oh, let me come down,” she pleaded. "I can't stay up
here. I can get down quite easily; don't wait for me, go
on as fast as you can and call to him.".
She clambered down with amazing celerity, for she was
growing used to the mountain life, and took to it well.
Esler obeyed her direction, descended himself in a series
of running leaps, and reached the bottom.
He went into the cave and shouted. His voice rever-
berated, echoed, then grew muffled. Camiola was left
outside alone.
There descended upon her a stillness which seemed un-
natural.
Birds had ceased to sing, for evening was falling.
There was no breeze in the hollow, the bushes hung mo-
tionless, the grass was unbent by even the merest zephyr.
The sound of running water, to which her ear had grown
so accustomed, was silent. No voice from the rest of the
party penetrated to break the hush.
It soothed her at first. Then she began to be apprehen-
sive. Suppose that something—the vague something
which she dare not name—had been lying in wait in that
cave, had killed Conrad, and was now attacking Esler ?
How long ought she to wait here alone? What could


142
A CASTLE TO LET
be done in the way of rescue should the two not presently
emerge?
Was this to be a second disappearance? Were these
two creatures, in the very pride of youth and manhood
sound, vigorous, with life stretching before them—to be
cut off from the land of the living, and no man henceforth
to know what had become of them?
The creeping horror grew with the silent minutes. It
seemed to her as if she must cry out, or run, or enter the
cavern herself, anything rather than sit there helpless and
solitary, with terror in her heart.
She thought of Conrad and his pretty ways, of the glis-
ten of his curls, and his stumpy, boyish fingers manipu-
lating bits of wood, of the curve of his eyelashes on his
fresh cheek, as he stooped intent over some bit of work.
Then she thought of Esler-of his swift, quiet helpful-
ness, his reticence, his stark pride, his curious fascination.
In a moment of
angry humiliation she realised that she
was thinking more of this peasant than she had ever
thought of any young man in her life.
And at the moment he might be dead, or slowly bearing
to the cave's mouth the body of a dead boy.
She hid her face in her hands and shivered. Time raced
madly on. How much longer could she bear this strain?
The shadow of a big boulder in front of her had travelled
perceptibly forward, across the moss. At last a sound
came to her ears a sound from far down in the bowels
of the earth. It was at first the merest murmur, then she
thought she could translate it into a moaning—not per-
sistent, but intermittent--a moaning noise from within
there, from the terrible dark places of the earth where,
perhaps, some antediluvian monster still lurked, foul and
obscene in the darkness and the fetid airlessness of the
dim den.
She rose to her feet, and her eyes dilated. Slowly she


144
A CASTLE TO LET
tracted,” said she, and they moved to the side of the
hollow.
It was not so easy to get up as it had been to slide down,
and she was glad of Esler's help. Both he and she were
silent as they made the best of their way back. Conrad,
however, supplied the conversation without effort.
"It simply goes in ever so far--for miles and miles,"
he said, “and it's only one tunnel, you couldn't lose your
way until you come to the queer cavern, a long way on.
You have to go down on your knees and crawl, and then
you come out in a huge place, and there were most curious
things there. I thought at first that they were bones."
"Bones, Conrad !”
“Yes, I felt almost certain that they were. I didn't
like it at all, and I was quite glad to hear Esler coming
after me. There is a big pond, you know, quite a lot of
water, awfully black and cold and silent, and on the edge
of the water there were these white things. I picked one
up, and it was just like a bone. I thought a sheep had
got drowned, but I am not sure that a sheep could have
wriggled in where I crept through. I suppose it could,
though, if Esler got in. He says they are not bones, after
all, they are stalactites little ones. He showed me one
or two up on the roof; one could just see when the torches
flashed on them. He thinks there must have been a flood,
and some bit of rock gave way and let the water down, and
it washed some stalactites off the roof. I wanted to bring
away some, but he wouldn't let me wait, he was in such a
plaguey hurry to let you know I was safe."
"He was quite right,” said Camiola. “I hope you un-
derstand, Conrad, that for the future, whenever we are
out on the mountains you are not to go out of call."
“Yes. I will remember,” he replied, with a sudden
touch of remorse. "Oh, 'Miola, please believe that I really
did not know you would be frightened.”


CONRAD'S EXPLOIT
145
“I do believe it, darling,” she replied, with a hug.
The young man received a more severe reproof from
Arnold Bassett when they rejoined the others. That gen-
tleman had been compelled to take a good deal more exer-
cise than he cared for immediately after tea. The party
was delayed, dinner would be spoilt, and he was inclined
to look upon the boy as a nuisance. Camiola allowed him
to lecture, thinking it good for Con to receive a sharp les-
son in order that the manœuvre might not be repeated.
Her heart was still beating uncomfortably fast, and she
shrank from the memory of her thoughts during her soli-
tary waiting outside the cavern.
She sat down upon a stone while the others performed
those evolutions which Bassett was accustomed to describe
as "getting under way.'
Esler brought her some milk to drink, and she was sur-
prised to note how grateful she was for it. As he stood
beside her, waiting to take her empty cup, she asked a sud-
den question.
“Were they bones ???
“Yes, they were,” he replied in a tone which, although
quiet, seemed to her to hold some hidden excitement. “I
thought it better to persuade him that they were not.'
After a moment's hesitation he added: “Might I ask you
not to say anything to anybody? Something has hap-
pened inside that cave-I mean, some rock wall has given,
and has let down water, and—and maybe, other things,
too. I would rather not have it talked about until I am
sure.
She looked up at him with an eagerness of interest
which flashed in her beautiful eyes.
“Tell me," she asked hurriedly, "could it be possible
that those bones were human ?"
He replied in the same lowered tones which she had
used. “I think there is no doubt of it-no doubt at all.”


146
A CASTLE TO LET
“Oh!" It was a very excited “Oh!” and after a hesi-
tation she added :
"Is it possible could they-have been washed down
from--from the Gaura Draculuj?"
"It is not impossible.”


CHAPTER XIV
TOKENS IN THE SAND
The following day was unsettled in respect of weather,
and as everybody was tired after their journey, nothing
particular was planned.
The Thurlows, acting upon Camiola's instructions, had
brought out with them from England a complete set of
lawn-tennis.
The instalment of the net upon the bowling green, and
the marking out of the courts, kept all the party busy.
At lunch time Neville announced that he meant to go
down to Ildestadt and back on foot, in order to find a
solicitor, or the Transylvanian equivalent. He suggested
that if Camiola wanted any message taken to Szass Lona
Reed might accompany him, and they could easily run
there and back with the car.
This suited Camiola well, as there were details to ar-
range respecting Irmgard's arrival, which was to be on
Monday. Neville accordingly departed, and, the weather
being finer, Betty, Camiola, Mr. Bassett, and Conrad
played tennis all the afternoon.
Camiola was in a restless, excited mood. The discov-
ery of the previous evening interested her to a degree
which surprised even herself. It showed her how deeply
the mystery which overhung the Ildenthal, and a desire to
penetrate it, had influenced her in taking the castle. The
thought was stirring enough to unsettle her completely.
If they really had, through the accident of a boy's heed-
lessness, stumbled upon the key to this enigma, then Oren-
147


148
A CASTLE TO LET
fels would be, for a week or two, in the eye of all Europe.
Their seclusion would be done away. Not even the steep
road would keep tourists from flocking to see the solution
of the problem, which had agitated the press so wildly a
few years back.
This was by no means desirable. Even without Esler's
petition, she would have kept what he disclosed to herself.
Conrad. of course, prattled of the stalactites upon the brink
of the water, which had looked like bones; but Esler tran-
quilly explained that he was mistaken, and showed a few
bits of what was most decidedly stalactite, in support of
his statement.
If the young peasant's theory were true if some rock
wall inside the mountain had really given way and allowed
these grisly relics of a bygone tragedy to come to light,
then what followed ?
Would it be possible to ascend, from the cave where the
bones were found to the spot whence they had fallen? It
seemed unlikely, since the catastrophe had apparently
taken place at such an immense height above the aban-
doned quarry. Something of the kind suggested by Von
Courland was probably the case. Some footing had given
way, precipitating the poor wretches into gulfs of grim
darkness and death. One could but pray that their end
had been rapid, and not the result of starvation.
In the garden that evening she came across Esler, water-
ing cannas, and began to talk of it at once.
"I can think of nothing but those bones,” she said
urgently.
Esler started when she spoke to him, and looked up as
though disturbed in a reverie. His manner was a little
distrait, as though he had something on his mind.
“I am thinking of it, too, gracious one. I want to go
and investigate, but I am too busy at present to allow my
mind to dwell upon
the matter. It must stand over for


TOKENS IN THE SAND
149
the time being. Fortunately, nobody is likely to go to the
place where the young Herr went, except ourselves.”
"Oh, but Esler, if you knew how much I care about it!"
she burst out. “I feel as if I simply must have my curi-
osity gratified. If I could find out what became of those
people, I should tell myself that I had not lived in vain.
Can't we do something ?”.
He set down his can and gazed at her wonderingly,
wiping his hands upon a corner of his gardening apron.
"You really care so much ?”
"Intensely. I believe that a desire to find out all about
it had a great deal to do with my wanting to take the cas-
tle. Now, Esler, tell me the truth. Is there any reason
why you do not want me to find out about it?"
She flung the question at him abruptly—unexpectedly
--that he might not have time to be prepared for it that
she might surprise the truth from him. He was looking
directly at her as she challenged him, and the expression
in his attentive face did not change.
“There is no reason,” he replied simply. Then his
mouth relaxed, and he smiled shyly.
“I will confess to you,” he owned, "that I was much
afraid the Fräulein's coming would put a stop to my own
investigations, which I have been carrying on for some
time."
“Ah!" she cried quickly.
you are really eager," he went on slowly, watching
her face with intentness, “I will do all I can.
She drew a long breath and gazed around her, as if
wondering where to begin. “What a pity there are so
many people here,” she said, with a half laugh and a
shrug. “Whatever is done, I want it to be done secretly.
I do not want anybody to know anything about it until we
have really discovered something definite.”
"I am quite of your mind, Fräulein."
"If


TOKENS IN THE SAND
151
was produced. “That is a fragment of lead pencil,” he
informed her.
Another package contained shreds of fibrous stuff, which
were possibly portions of some kind of fabric, cloth or
the like. There was also a bit of bent wire which quite
clearly had once been a hairpin; and last and most signifi-
cant of all, the wire frame of a pair of pince-nez glasses.
That was all.
"You found these ?" she asked, gazing at them in won-
der.
"I found them in that sand,” he replied, pointing to
the barrow and the sifter which she noticed on her previ-
ous visit. “The sand that you see there was all collected
by me from the floor of the Gaura Draculuj. I found
the bit of pencil accidentally when I was sitting in the
cave one day and pondering. I was stroking the sand as
I sat, and my fingers came upon this little hard thing.
I examined it carefully, cut off a tiny bit, and found it
was a pencil. That set me thinking. I collected sand
from round the edges where it was deepest, and this is
the result of sifting so far.”
Camiola sat on the table, arms locked round her knees,
so carried away that she could think of nothing else.
“Then,” she said, "this seems to be evidence that they
had been there that it was from the cave that they dis-
appeared ?!
"It looks like it. All that is there was certainly once
the property of human beings. How it got into the sand
is the marvel."
"Well, but,” cried the girl, "how could they possibly all
fall down a fissure and leave no trace behind? They say
there was not even a footmark !"
"I believe that to be quite true, Fräulein. My aunt
herself can bear witness to it."
"Well, what can be the explanation ?"


152
A CASTLE TO LET
“At present there only seems one—the one the people
hereabouts believe that there is a monster who lives down
there and that he showed himself. They may have been
paralysed with terror. He was probably lurking in a
recess of his den, so as to take them from the rear. If he
drove them into the pit, his huge tail may have swept
the sand smooth behind him."
“Esler, you don't yourself believe it?" she cried, almost
imploringly.
He hesitated. “I did not at first,” he replied slowly.
“Up here in the mountains, however, one grows to think
that there are strange things-
He did not finish his sentence. The look in her eyes
told him that she understood. They both remained silent
for some time, pondering. She was the first to speak.
“We must not let the others go there," said she in a
low voice.
“I am very glad you think that,” he rejoined, with
satisfaction.
“But
you must take me there."
“No!” he cried sharply.
She looked him in the face. “You go there ?"
"I? That is different.”
"Have you ever seen anything unusual there?”
He replied unwillingly: “No-o."
“Very well, then; take me!”
He looked irresolute.
“You could go in first and see that it was safe," she
suggested.
“Would you swear to do what I told you the moment
I told you? Would you promise, if I said "Run!”
“Stand still !” rudely, as if I were your master instead of
your servant, to obey on the instant ?"
“Yes, of course. You would be leader of the expedi-
tion."
or


TOKENS IN THE SAND
153
“Very well,” he said, after a long indecision.
“But how is it to be done ?" she demanded ruefully.
“There are so many of us about."
He pondered. “Did I hear that the old Baron von
Orenfels had invited the whole party to lunch at the Round
Tower next week ?"
“Yes; we have agreed to go.”
“Could you have a headache and stay behind ?” he sug-
gested. “They will not want me just to go down to Ilde-
stadt. There are plenty of men to look after the ladies
and Erwald to stable the mules."
She hesitated. “I could not very well
say
I was ill
and then go out, could I ?” she objected.
He coloured a little. “Nobody need know you had
gone."
“How do you mean?" she cried, much intrigued.
"If you tell Miss Marston that you are to be left quiet
until you ring, she would not disturb you, would she ?"
“Of course not.”
“Very well. You can go out of your room by the secret
door, and down the stairs that bring you out here in this
cave.”
Camiola gasped involuntarily. He started as if she
had struck him.
"Fräulein, I ought not to have proposed this,” he said
in a hurried murmur; "I did not reflect. You would
trust yourself to me, you would go out with me by a way
that no one knows, you would go to a place of danger, and,
as it would not be known even that you were out, they
would be in doubt as to where to search for you should
we not return at the time we expect. It is too much re-
sponsibility for me."
“There are stairs from this cave going up to the room
where I sleep?" she echoed incredulously.
“Yes."


154
A CASTLE TO LET
“Show me.”
He took up the lantern and carried it before her to the
dark recess of the cave. There could be clearly seen the
foot of a spiral stair ascending.
"Oh, do let us go up!" she cried.
"You could not get into your room, Fräulein. I fastened
the secret panel upon your side before you came here."
“Oh, I am glad you did that. But you can tell me
how to undo it?”
“Yes. But do not use the stair, Fräulein. Forget what
I said. I must not let you run risks."
"But what risk is there? Surely very little! How
often have you been yourself to the Gaura Draculuj ?"
“Oh, many times.”
“And have you ever seen, on any occasion, any sign
that anybody else had been there since your last visit ?"
"Only once."
“Well-well—tell me! What did you find ?”
"It was about three months ago," he said reluctantly.
"I had been prevented from going because my aunt was
ill. She had a sharp attack of bronchitis. It must have
been four or five weeks since I had last visited the place.
I found fresh sand."
"Fresh sand ?”
“Yes. It was more grey than the sand in which I had
been searching. I had left it all trodden about with my
footprints, and I had left a wooden box—the kind of box
in which they pack sugar or biscuits—which I used to fill
with sand. That was gone. The surface was swept quite
smooth. I found both the hairpin and the spectacle frame,
also most of the bits of fabric, in the new grey sand."
Her eyes were full of wonder, but she answered lightly:
“That was not very alarming, was it?"
"Only because it showed that I was not the only person
who came there."
>>


TOKENS IN THE SAND
155
“Yes. Oh, it is uncanny! You don't think that some-
body here in the village, or down in Ildestadt, does it on
purpose ? Could it possibly be to anybody's advantage to
frighten people away from these parts ?”
"I cannot see that it could. Even if we could suppose
it, they might surely use far more effective means to
their end. On the other hand, one sees clearly that it
would be for the good of the whole district to have the
mystery solved.”
“Of course it would. It is very puzzling. But I feel
that I must see the place. Before the time that the tour-
ists were lost it was not considered dangerous, was it?”
"No. The guides used to relate the legend of there
being a dragon who lived down there. They used to roll
big stones into the fissure, which echoed with a peculiar
noise, supposed to be like the mutterings of a beast coiled
up far down below. It was never supposed that he could
get out. A few of the very old people people living here
in Maros-used to maintain that the monster still lived.
Nobody else believed it."
“Well, I am going to venture. If you will not take
me, I shall have to find another guide.”
"Is it fair,” he asked hesitatingly, “to put pressure on
me like that?"
She contemplated him as he stood, holding the lantern
which lit up his coarse shirt, his rolled-up sleeves, his
gardening apron, and also his steady eyes and the resolute
curve of his lips.
“I would trust you anywhere,” she said gravely. "I
absolve
you
from all responsibility.
I will leave a note
when I slip out, to be read if we do not return. When
they break into my room, if such a proceeding should be
necessary, they shall find a message saying where I have
gone, and that it was I who insisted upon the expedition,
much against your advice.”


CHAPTER XV
THE BARON'S HINT, AND A DREAM
MEANWHILE Neville Thurlow was being borne swiftly
in the car from Ildestadt down the valley to Szass Lona.
His spirits were in a state of more perturbation than for
years past. He was thinking of the pure pale gold of
Irmgard's hair and how it nestled above the hidden tips
of her delicately modelled ears.
When he reached the somewhat grim and frowning
walls which contained his divinity he shivered.
The barracks were nearly three miles farther down the
valley, where the Ildenfluss was spanned by an important
bridge.
There was at that time no house in the village capable
of accommodating the Austrian General, therefore it had
been necessary to build one.
When, in the Seventeenth Century, the Transylvanian
people, unable to defend themselves, annexed their country
to the Dual Empire, the first step for their protection was
to establish garrisons and send military governors.
The dwelling provided for the commanding officer was
stiff, ugly, and inconvenient.
Mr. Thurlow was shown into a very gloomy interior,
with a porcelain stove, spiky-looking chairs, and sofas with
little tables and bits of carpet in front of them. There
were pictures on the walls reproductions of the Vic-
torian mid-European school--which made one want to shut
one's eyes.
When Irmgard stole into the room, it was as if some
157


158
A CASTLE TO LET
fay, imprisoned by mortals, glided through the incongru-
ous dwelling. Her black frock emphasised her fairness,
and made her skin and hair quite dazzling to the eyes
of the usually unimpressionable Englishman.
At the sight of him the colour flowed beneath the flaw-
· less skin, in a fashion which almost bereft him of his
self-control. There could be no doubt that she was pleased
to see him. He sat down upon one of the sofas beside her,
at her invitation, given with a pretty assumption of the
duties of hostess, and put constraint upon himself to talk
naturally.
She was delighted at his admiration of the Ildenthal,
and listened eagerly to his description of their first expe-
dition. She herself had been to the Trollzähner Falls, so
would not miss anything by not having been a member of
that excursion. She was counting the minutes until she
was free to join them. The children and governess had
already set out, and her father was leaving on the evening
of Sunday, this being Saturday. She would be quite
ready to go up to Orenfels on Monday, at any time that it
suited Camiola to fetch her. The arrangements were
made, to their mutual satisfaction, and then coffee was
brought in. Neville thought he had never passed through
a more delightful experience than this, of drinking coffee
with this pale, sad girl in the dreamy void of the big,
hideous room.
The General joined them after a while.
His English was not so good as his daughter's, but he
managed to understand most of what was said, and was
quite courteous, though thinking apparently of other
things. He was a fair man, like his daughter in type;
and Neville, regarding him in the light of a possible
father-in-law, thought he would do very well.
When they had finished coffee, the host, rousing from a
fit of brooding, somewhat pointedly invited the young man
to stroll round the grounds with him. They stepped out


160
A CASTLE TO LET
that is, from the cluster of châlets around the castle on
the Alp on which the castle stands. I am talking to her
the other day—a worthy young woman, in my own service
before her marriage. She speak to me of the young man
up at the Castle, that
young
Esler."
“Ah, yes; the young fellow who looks so well in the
native costume,” replied Neville, with interest. "He is a
very clever mountaineer apparently. My cousin finds him
most useful.”
The Graf looked extremely grave. "He does not bear
a good character in Ildestadt, I hear.”
"Indeed? I am sorry to hear that. My cousin thinks
highly of him, I believe."
“He is nephew to Frau Esler, who is a most worthy
woman. When her old husband die last year, he come to
live with his aunt. They tell me he keep a woman up
there."
"Keeps a woman!” echoed Neville, in truly British
disgust.
"Marie Vorst, she is a good woman, not a-a-what
you say-not a-"
“Scandalmonger ?”.
"That it is! She is not a scandalmonger, but she tell
me that the young man come down to Ildestadt and buy
things—delicatessen—that he and his aunt do certainly
not want. He buy many now he have more money from
Meess France. Rahula, the sister of Marie's Miona, is
now at the Castle; she say she know there is a woman live
up there. Very secret.
Very secret. I thought you ought to know
this."
“Thanks very much,” said Neville, after a pause. “You
were quite right to tell me, and not Camiola. I gather
that it would be better for her not to know, if we can keep
it from her? She will only be here a few months, and if
the fellow behaves himself, and does as he is told, I sup-


THE BARON'S HINT
161
pose his private arrangements are hardly our affair. I
confess I am surprised. I should have thought Frau Esler
a very typical faithful family servant. I am surprised
she should countenance vice."
“So also was Mario Vorst. She say Frau Esler the
best and the more honest of women. But the young man
rule her. She say anything he tell her. She say the things
he buy are all for her. She say he make of her an enfant
gatée. They think she say what he tell her.”
“How curious !” said Neville.
"I speak in chief for Meess France, but also because in
her great goodness she have my boy and my girl there. I
do not wish Conrad to be too much with a young man
who behave like that."
“One can't quite see,” observed Neville, “why he should,
as you say, behave like that. Is there any reason why he
should not openly be married? Why should he hide the
woman ?”
“That is more than I can tell you, unless he is living
with some one else's wife,” replied the General bluntly.
As he spoke a suspicion darted into Neville's mind, of
so ridiculous a character that he laughed to himself. What
if the concealed lady should be that identical Mrs. Cooper
for whom he was searching?
He had duly found the Rechtsanwalt in Ildestadt that
afternoon, and he had not been encouraging. However,
as Mr. Cooper was prepared to spend money upon the
quest of his erring partner, arrangements had been made
to put the case into the hands of a firm of detectives at
Buda Pesth who had a branch in Transylvania.
It was, of course, overwhelmingly unlikely, but it was,
on the other hand, possible, that the General had just
supplied bim with a clue. If that were so, he thought
his best way of proceeding would be to conceal all that he
had heard, and make it his business to find out as much as


162
A CASTLE TO LET
he could about young Esler-whence he came, and so on.
It was, on the face of it, absurd to suppose that Mrs.
Cooper had run away with a peasant; but Esler might
easily be something better than a peasant. He had the
manner of one above his station, quiet and deferential
though he always was.
How earnestly Neville then wished that he had learned
German in his youth! The fact that young Esler spoke no
English at all was a complete bar to intercourse. When
he came to reflect, it seemed also a complete bar to any
theory that it was he with whom Mrs. Cooper had run
from her husband. A man with no English at all could
hardly have passed time enough in England to succeed in
detaching a man's wife from her allegiance.
It was not a promising clue. The more he reflected upon
the subject, the more unsatisfactory did it seem to be.
Yet there was just the bare chance that there was some
thing in it. He was very glad that Irmgard's father had
spoken to him, and not to anybody else. He earnestly
asked him to say nothing of it to any other person, and
the General was only too glad to have shifted the respon-
sibility of his knowledge to other shoulders. He impressed
again upon Neville the fact that it was not serious enough
to be described as a warning; it was merely a caution, and
as such Mr. Thurlow assured him that he accepted it.
They parted with mutual esteem, the Hungarian being
much pleased with his own success in speaking the Eng-
lish tongue, and Neville hoping that he had made a good
impression upon Irmgard's father.
The next morning was Sunday.
It was a lovely day, and the Popa from a neighbouring
village came up to the Castle and celebrated Mass at ten
o'clock.
The Thurlows were somewhat shocked at the idea of
being present at this service, but found Camiola so much


THE BARON'S HINT
163
more shocked at the idea of their being absent that they
yielded gracefully. The entire population of the mountain
hamlet seemed to be present; and men and women alike
carried posies of flowers, a pretty custom which was new
to all the English. The good Popa, who usually preached
in the Roumanian tongue, since all the peasants in Maros
were of that nationality, the Eslers alone excepted, to-day
spoke German, in compliment to the visitors. He was
much pleased at being cordially invited to lunch after-
wards.
Frau Esler was touched to find her young mistress so
religiously inclined. The previous Sunday there had been
no service; but seeing how much it was appreciated, the
Popa eagerly volunteered to come every week, and Cami-
ola readily agreed to subscribe the necessary sum.
In the afternoon they carried tea out into the woods
above the Castle—just far enough to give them all a good
appetite. It was a glorious day, the sunshine poured
through the green boughs, and the moss made cradles in
which most people went to sleep with their novels.
Camiola lay planning and planning to herself, how best
to manage her private expedition with Esler.
On second thoughts, she felt it would hardly be prac-
ticable to shirk the old Baron's invitation to lunch. Von
Courland would be too disappointed, and she was most
unwilling to hurt his feelings in any way. She thought
the best plan would be to have her headache on the fol-
lowing day-Monday—and to send Betty and Neville to
Szass Lona to fetch Irmgard.
Von Courland had promised to come on that day half-
way up-as far as the Kurhaus to show Mr. Bassett a
pool where fish might sometimes be caught. He was to
dine at Orenfels afterwards, and pass the night there. She
might permit herself to recover from her indisposition
in time for dinner in the evening.


164
A CASTLE TO LET
The previous night, having carefully secured both doors
of her room, she sought and found the hidden spring which
Esler had described to her, and opened the secret door. In
delicious terror she peered down the dark winding spiral,
and sniffed the damp, mouldy scent which ascended. She
held her electric torch above the void, and let it flicker
upon the roughly mortared stone. How glad she was that
she had chosen her room in the oldest part of the Castle!
That alone made her projected expedition possible.
She ran out of doors after supper, found the gardener,
and told him her new plan. He seemed a little vexed, she
thought, that she should be so determined upon keeping
her engagement to lunch at the Watch Tower. He raised
no objections, however. He was, as usual, submissive
and ready to carry out orders. It was arranged that they
should meet at two o'clock the next day, in the gardening
cave, and proceed at once to the Gaura Draculuj.
"It is not so very far away,” he said. “Not more than
a couple of miles.”
The anticipation of the coming adventure broke her rest
that night, and gave her bad dreams. She did not, how-
ever, dream of the “laidly worm” which she had seen so
clearly in sleep the first night she had passed in Ildestadt.
It so happened that the conversation at dinner and during
the evening had turned largely upon that very subject.
Arnold Bassett remarked that there was, in his opinion,
good evidence for the belief that saurian monsters had
been found in remote districts to a much later date than
was commonly supposed. There was the celebrated Drag-
on of Wantage, not to mention the dragon slain in Malta
by Dieudonné de Gozon. “They have a legend of the
same kind at Kronstadt,” said von Courland. “There is
a chasm in the Kapellen Berg known as the Nonnenloch,
or Nun's Hole, which was once the haunt of a monstrous
serpent which used to pounce on travellers."


THE BARON'S HINT
165
Conrad and Camiola capped this story with the legend
of St. Ildemund, as given by Esler.
By the time they had done, most people were in a state
of mind in which they were half prepared to believe that
the Black Dragon or a descendant might actually survive.
In spite of it all, Camiola, when at last she did get to
sleep, had a dream which seemed in no way connected
with the subject which so preoccupied her thoughts, but
was extremely vivid.
She dreamed that as she lay in bed there came a low
knocking upon her door. In a panic she started awake,
to find that it was only a dream. When she fell asleep
again, and once more heard the knocking, she said to
herself: "I am asleep; it is not real. Come in !” In
response to this invitation, the secret door in the panelling
opened, and Esler, in his mountaineering dress, with a coil
of rope round his waist, came in, and said calmly: “This
way, please.”
Upon this summons she rose from her bed, not at all
surprised to find that she was wearing a gown of a won-
derful shade of red brocade, and fo Howed him from the
room. They went into the long gallery which ran the
length of the Tudor wing, and passed through a door
whose existence she had not suspected-a door in the
woodwork, entirely concealed when closed. It seemed to
her that they proceeded through endless passages, through
suites of empty rooms, up and down stairs, along places
where she had to stoop, almost to creep. Esler went along
before, never speaking, and she followed as best she could.
At last they came to a door at the end of a dim passage,
showing above it the rafters of the roof unceiled. She
felt the door to be the extreme end of everything. She
had the feeling of reaching the dénouement of an exciting
story, or awaiting the elucidation of a mystery. "Noi,'
she thought, "I shall understand! I shall know every-


166
A CASTLE TO LET
thing!” Her guide laid his hand upon the knob of the
door, and turned to her with a smile of triumph on his
lips. His eyes were sparkling, his head was held high,
and he looked like a conqueror exulting in victory.
Without a word he slowly, slowly, opened the door.
There before them in the centre of the room stood a couch,
on which was stretched a woman asleep. The whole place
was fragrant with flowers——they were white flowers. There
was a radiance of countless tapers; surely it was a chapelle
ardente; she saw, as her eyes ranged, in the background the
kneeling figure of a priest. There was a faint sound of
distant chanting. Surely the lady was dead! ...
The thought struck her like a blow. Esler was so happy,
so triumphant; and yet this lovely woman was dead!
What could it mean? She began to sob in her sleep. In
woe she crept nearer, till she was kneeling on the ground
quite close to the couch, her hands clasped, her tears flow-
ing.
Then the lady opened her eyes, turned her head, gave
her a smile which was the counterpart of Esler's a smile
so brilliant and unearthly that the shock of it awoke her.
She was in her bed; the dawn was just beginning to
creep in at her windows. So vivid had the dreaming been
that still she seemed to sense the perfume of the flowers, to
hear the faint solemn chanting. It seemed to her that she
lay a long time, while slowly her dream self crept back to
join its body, lying in the bed. There came to her a
baffling sense of mystery—of something unexplained. She
felt sharply and with anger that she did not know her
Castle, that it was full of secrets which it kept from her.
That door in the gallery! How clearly she had seen it!
Nobody had ever suggested a door there! But then, it
was only yesterday that she had learned the existence of a
secret door in her own room!
To her surprise she felt the tears rushing from her eyes.


THE BARON'S HINT
167
“I am only an English tourist," she was thinking, "with
money enough to wring, from the necessity of this old
family, the right to inhabit their home. But it is theirs
theirs—not mine! I am nobody; just Miss France, of
South Kensington, with hardly any ancestors and no an-
cestral halls. I am a mere masquerader here, and the long,
silent, patient ages are laughing at me."
At this distressing moment, when everything actual
seemed valueless beside the imaginings of her own brain,
one comforting thought came to her and cheered her.
Von Courland had said that she had come to turn their
luck. To turn the luck of this secret, grim, reserved old
castle which would not confide in her. The fantasy pleased
her. She smiled to herself, and began to follow out the
thought. The fairy prince or princess who comes to the
rescue is always resisted by the bad luck fairies, who do
all they can to prevent the champion from winning
through. But if pluck and persistence could do it, she,
Camiola, meant to win through.
She thought of Esler's smile of radiant triumph, of the
waking lady's glorious joy.
“It was a lovely dream,'
,” she told herself, "and most
encouraging. I have dreamed a kind of sleeping-beauty
allegory. I have got to reach the farthest point, and break
the spell.
So thinking, she fell asleep.
.


CHAPTER XVI
GAURA DRACULUJ
Two o'clock was just tolling out sadly from the plain-
tive old clock which hung above the outer gate, and which
had not been set going for years until Camiola summoned
a clockmaker from Ildestadt, and had it all taken to pieces,
oiled, repaired, and made to lift up its voice once more.
The malingerer reached the lowest spiral of her secret
stair, and saw the glimmer of Esler's lantern in the cave
below.
There she stood as unlike an invalid as anything you
could fancy-accoutred for her adventure in a rose
coloured golfing jersey and cap, with short frieze skirt
to match. Her boots would have gladdened the heart of
any mountaineer. Her eyes were sparkling, and her dark
hair clustered in little rings on her forehead under the
cap. She looked more like a merry boy than an heiress.
Esler, with his coil of rope round his waist, was so like
he had appeared in her dream that for a moment it made
her jump.
"Oh dear,” she sighed, “I feel a guilty wretch! Your
kind aunt has been in such a state because I was ill. She
sent me up for lunch such broth as I never tasted. How
she could have had it ready all in a minute is a puzzle
to me! She is a wonderful cook! I was touched, too, by
her minding whether I was ill or not, for I always thought
she didn't like me a bit."
“Some people," observed the young guide, trimming his
lamp, "some people make you like them, whether you
wish to or no."
168


GAURA DRACULUJ
169
Camiola chuckled, and began to sing softly:
“You made me love you!
I didn't want to do it!”
He looked up in surprise. “Only a silly London song!
What you said put me in mind of it,” she explained.
“Well, is all ready? Shall we be off ?"
“The sooner the better,” rejoined he. His manner was
full of confidence and energy. He uttered no more warn-
ings. Having made up his mind to the expedition, he
had no intention of going back on his decision.
“We must go along a passage here,” he continued. "It
is not very high, but you can manage all right. I will
tell you when to dip your head.”
So saying, he handed her a candle in a glass shade,
and moved before her to the left of the cave, whence a
winding path went down, as it were, into the bowels of
the earth.
“This,” he said presently, "was the secret way into the
castle. In the fourteenth century the overlord of the
Vale of Yndaia was besieged for three months in the
castle by the Voyvod of Menes-Gola. All that time pro-
visions were sent in nightly by way of this tunnel from
Ildestadt. The enemy, who could not conceive by what
means the garrison held out, set spies in all directions;
and at last one of these followed a man up from the town,
tracked him to this spot, and saw him enter the mountain.
The night was so dark that he could hardly say how he
entered- simply he disappeared. The besiegers thought
there would be no difficulty by daylight in finding the
way in. They failed to do so, however, search as they
might, so they set a watch of six men. Each of these
was slain by an arrow from an unseen marksman. I will
show you presently the hole through which they took aim.


170
A CASTLE TO LET
enemy dead.
The next food-carrier, when he came up, found six of the
After that the siege was raised. They
thought the devil was on the side of Orenfels."
Camiola was much pleased with this story, and asked
many questions. He told her that some thought Orenfels
was a corruption of Ohrenfels, the rock with an ear, in
allusion to the hidden loop-hole.
They had come by this time to the concealed outlet.
He showed her the tiny cleft through which the arrows
had been shot, and then, opening the door, which revolved
upon a pivot, let her out into the sunshine of the moun-
tain-side.
When he had closed the aperture behind him, it was
indeed hard to tell which was the door, of all the big
stones which looked so much alike.
“We will go the quickest way,” he said, “and that is
through part of the cavern which you know already, Fräu-
lein-the cavern which we usually enter from the keep."
They crossed a little depression in the hill-side, clam-
bered over the hillock beyond it, and entered a curious
cave mouth, almost blocked with stones, so that she had
to clamber over. Once inside, however, it was possible
to stand upright; and on they went, through winding
ways, until they came down into the home cavern as it
was called, and were met by the musical song of the little
stream rushing along its subterranean course.
They followed it to the arch where it emerged, and at
that point Esler stopped, and handed his lamp to her.
“If you will hold both the lights, I will carry you across,
he said.
She readily complied, and, taking her in his arms, he
stepped carefully into the swiftly running water, took a
couple of strides, and set her upon the farther side.
Thence, a bit of a climb up a steep place in which
centuries ago iron staples had been fixed to make the


GAURA DRACULUJ
171
ascent easier, brought them out into an open cavern, whose
terrific roof seemed like the top of a huge jaw, which
might descend and crush them at any moment; and thence
into the full light of day once more.
“We cut off a mile by coming that way,” he told her.
“But if we have to bring the party, we shall not use it.
I never let people know that the Gaura Draculuj can be
reached by the home cavern.
It is better not."
Camiola did not reply. She was so impressed by the
spot in which she now found herself that she could think
of nothing else.
They stood half-way up one side of a mighty ravine.
There was no vegetation, nothing but bare rock, scraped
and striated by the movements of some mighty glacier in
bygone ages. Far, far below their feet the torrent roared,
sullen in a channel only a few feet in width, but very
deep, so Esler told her.
In front of them, up the ravine, an enormous black
rock blocked the horizon. Already it had cut off the sun,
and the whole gruesome place was in shadow. This was
indeed a place for nightmares. As they two stood gazing
forth into the savage gloom, the story of the Black Dragon
changed suddenly from legend to fact. It must be true,
was the girl's insistent thought.
The path upon which they stood was just wide enough
to be safe. It had the look of having been artificially cut.
“Does it make you dizzy ?" inquired the young man,
after an earnest look at his charge.
“Not dizzy. But it is impressive," she almost whis-
pered. “Isn't it?"
He assented. “It is like the Valley of the Shadow of
Death,” he remarked; adding hurriedly: "I have read
that book-in a translation, of course."
“Yes, it is," she responded sympathetically; "fiends,


172
A CASTLE TO LET
hobgoblins, and dragons of the pit!” She shrank back a
little, as he moved onward.
He glanced quickly at her. "Take my hand,” he said,
in a voice of quiet encouragement. “I have been here so
often that it is nothing to me; but I know it's a bit nasty
at first."
She gave him her hand with eagerness, and his warm
fingers closed about it. This encouraged her most sur-
prisingly, and she went on bravely. After a silence she
faltered: “I didn't expect it would be like this.”
"If you come in from the other end, it isn't nearly as
bad,” he told her; "but I thought I would bring you this
way; you appreciate
He broke off, a little consciously, as though he feared
to have been familiar. Evidently she had no such thought.
She walked along with her eyes wide and eager, her ex-
pression that of concentrated resolution.
Soon they turned a corner to their right, and it could
be seen that the grim black mountain did not completely
cut off the way, for a path bent round and led to a gully
between two hills.
Here, with no precipice looming, she could walk safely.
She detached her hand from the clinging warmth of his,
and felt an immediate cessation of a curious tingling,
like the flowing of an electric current, of which she had
been conscious.
Neville Thurlow, speeding in the car down the easy
valley road to Szass Lona with the hope of seeing Irmgard
in his mind, dreamed of nothing less than that his cousin
was at that very moment alone on a secret expedition in
the heart of the hills, with the young man concerning
whom there was such unpleasant scandal in the town.
Though the way they now went was safe, it was as
gloomy and as awe-inspiring as before. In the narrow
gully where they walked, the black peaks almost met over-


GAURA DRACULUJ
173
head. Before them arose a medley of rocks like shat-
tered towers crushed in an earthquake. Among them
Esler wound his way, until, looking back, she could not
perceive the path by which they had come.
At last be paused near a tall, natural archway in the
rock, and, setting down what he carried, examined care
fully the light of his lantern.
As Camiola had brought an electric torch, they left her
candle-stick outside on a rock.
“That will be a clue when they come to find us,” said
the girl mischievously.
"Don't!” he replied sharply.
"Why did you bring all that rope ?" she asked, watch-
ing him.
“Because in case of accidents,” he answered. “One
never knows on a mountain."
Rising, he gave the word to enter. They walked along
a fine, spacious cave, growing darker and darker as they
advanced. Esler went forward slowly, flashing the light
of his lantern into every corner.
Camiola did the same.
Once he paused, and stood motionless, staring into a dim
angle of the rock. "Stay where you are,” he murmured
under his breath. She stood while he crept forward, silent-
footed, and focussed the whole radiance of his light upon
the obscure corner. Nothing was there. He tumed, and
made her the signal to advance.
The walls closed in as they went on, until it was a
narrow tunnel, and ere long they stood before a low arch,
not more than three feet high. There was sand upon
the ground, and Esler, stooping, examined it with minute
care.
“This is just as I left it,” he said. “I made that tiny
cairn of stones. Nobody has passed out or in since I was
here last. Now, please, wait here, while I
reconnoitre."


174
A CASTLE TO LET
She sat obediently down upon the ground, without a
word. Her heart was thumping, but she betrayed no signs
of nervousness. Esler stooped, went through the arch
and disappeared. She waited a minute or two, and then
came his voice: “It is quite all right,” he said, "you
had better come in on your hands and knees; it is about
eight feet before you can stand upright.”
She obeyed, and, crawling rapidly through, stood on
her feet within, and brushed the sand from her knees.
“Gaura Draculuj,” said Esler simply.
He had lit up two rows of candles, one on each side,
80 that she could see well. She stood in a cavern, the
shape of which was, roughly speaking, semi-circular. They
had entered at about the middle of the curved side. The
wall which faced them was almost vertical and very lofty.
Between it and the place where they stood yawned a
chasm, the farther edge of which was formed by the wall
itself. It extended the whole width of the cave, and was
about twelve foot across, though not quite regular in shape.
The floor was not level, but sloped slightly inwards to the
fissure, in circular fashion, like one-half of the shallow
mouth of a funnel.
The first thing which struck her particularly was the
heat. The place was like a mouldy conservatory. She
contemplated the black, faintly damp walls. There were
no deep recesses; no place in which a monster could lie
perdu. Esler answered her unspoken thought.
“If our preposterous theory were true,” he murmured,
“if there were a monster, he must have been lurking out-
side in the large cavern and followed them in."
She shrank back with a nervous glance. "If anything
could-suppose,
I mean,
that anything did—come in now,
what would you do ?” she whispered.
He pointed to a rope, with a looped end, which dangled
from one wall. “I have been at work here on and off for


GAURA DRACULUJ
175
months,” he said, "and the first thing I did was to plan
a retreat. I have cut footholds a long way up, and then
there is an ascending ledge. I think you could go up, at
least some of the way, and I could follow, hand over hand,
and pull you up, if you were not able to go far.”
She looked at the rope a little doubtfully. "If fear
drove me, perhaps I could,” she laughed. “But not hand
over hand !”
“Of course not. I served my time in the navy, and I
know how to show a clean pair of heels. If I learnt noth-
ing else, I learnt that. I cut the footholds, because it has
of course always been my intention to share my discovery,
should I make one. Will you let me try if I could get
you up?"
She consented, feeling that she would have a much
easier mind, should she feel herself able to make a sudden
escape.
Esler buckled his lantern on his arm, seized the rope,
gave a swing, and had run up the footholds in a minute.
"Now sit in the rope, and use your hands to help,” he
cried. "Do it as rapidly as you can.
She did as she was told at once. Sitting in the loop,
and grasping the rope firmly, she was hauled up, using the
footholds as levers, and found herself landing upon a
damp, clammy shelf of rock, which formed a kind of
path, leading upwards in a slant, along the wall's face.
"I have an idea,” observed Esler, “that there is a way
out up here, if one could find it. I explored one day, a
good way along, and I could not help thinking that at one
time a path had been partially cut, leading down from
above."
“It's rather dizzy,” she remarked, laughing.
"You would soon grow used to it, I think. Now I will
let you down, and you shall try going up by the foot-
holds."


176
A CASTLE TO LET
She was nothing loath. He let her down carefully,
following himself; and then, catching the rope, she began
to climb, he standing below and encouraging her. It was
easy enough for the first step or two. Then came a diffi-
cult one. He assured her the next was easier. She plucked
up courage, found to her joy that above the bad place the
slope was in her favour; and, finally, landed triumphantly
on the ledge to Esler's unconcealed satisfaction.
She drew a breath of relief; as she did so, a sound
startled her. It was a low, chuckling laugh, quite dis-
tinct. She glanced down at him in panic. “Oh, what's
that?"
"That's all right; I often hear it,” he replied tran-
quilly. She stood, straining her ears for a repetition of
the sound. “Come down to me,” he whispered; "we will
go to the edge of the chasm and look over. It is all right.
I made a big cross in the sand last time I was here, and
I found it just the same. The least touch must have
disturbed it."
She descended, quite successfully, and they crept very
cautiously to the brink of the horrible chasm. Though
not perfectly regular in shape, it did not vary much in
width. From end to end it measured twenty feet or more.
Lying down quite flat on his chest, Esler held his light
as far outward and downward as he could. The depth
was sheer, as far as they could see.
"They let a man down on a rope,” he murmured, "and,
as I think it tells you in the guide-book, they found some
bones-sheep bones on a ledge about eighty feet down.
They dared not go lower because of the atmosphere; the
lamps they lowered would not burn below about a hun-
dred and twenty feet."
A thought came to Camiola, and she could not help
laughing at her own folly as she voiced it. “Do you think
lights would make it angry ?"


178
A CASTLE TO LET
know the thing did him no harm. That doesn't account
for the tourists, does it?”
“Ah, well, it wasn't hungry at the time, you see,” he
remarked, with much meaning.
She contemplated the inky depths. "I don't believe
anything could come climbing up that,” she remarked
sceptically.
“Not any ordinary thing, I grant you," he replied
absently.
Once more the chuckling sounded. “He seems to under-
stand German," observed Camiola idly.
The young man laughed, showing all his short, even
teeth. Their faces were quite near each other, appearing
somehow different from usual in the glimmering light of
the lantern and candles.
“I suppose,” she said slowly, with a meaning glance at
the fine collection of rocks piled up against one side of the
cave, "that we had better not try to irritate him to-day ?”
"We haven't time,” he said, taking out his watch, "if
you want to be back in your room by the time Fräulein
Maldovan reaches the castle. We must come again. If
you can get out of the way so quickly, there ought not to
be much risk.”
“If he can rise out of that hole, surely he could rise
to the place where we were standing ?" she suggested.
“I'm a good shot,” remarked Esler quietly, "and a
bullet through his brain ought to quiet him.”


CHAPTER XVII
THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
“Oh, my poor darling thing!” cried Irmgard vehe
mently, rushing into Camiola's room. “I am so sorry to
hear that you are seedy! Hadn't we better send down a
message to Ildestadt for the Herr Doktor Stahlschmidt?
He isn't bad, though he is Saxon."
“Why, to tell you the truth, I am heaps better this
evening,” replied Camiola, sitting up in bed and shaking
her mane of hair. “I am going to get up and dress and
come downstairs."
“That is good news,” was the delighted response. “I
must say you don't look as if there was much the matter
with you.'
“No, of course there isn't; but you know what my
headaches are. When they come on, there is simply noth-
ing for it but solitude and bed.”
“Well, Captain von Courland will be pleased. He has
been looking so dejected all the way uphill that my heart
has bled for him. Oh, Camiola, do you know that every-
body speaks so well of him? Old Frau von Arnstein was
telling me how highly they think of him in his regiment.
Suppose it is really true that he is to turn the luck of the
Vajda-Maros !”
Camiola's eye kindled. “Ah!" she sighed, "how inter-
esting it all is! Come in, Marston! As I am in my
nightie, you must take the Fräulein to her room, and
show her everything. Oh, my dearest, I do hope you will
be comfy! I couldn't give you a room quite near mine,
179


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
181
"If it rains, it won't matter a bit," announced Camiola.
“I have a glittering plan in my head of what we shall do
the first really wet day. However, nobody need ask me
what it is, because I shall not tell.'
They all collected round her, besieging her with ques-
tions, Conrad in particular being so urgent that he had
to be smothered with sofa pillows, tickled and otherwise
maltreated, before he would desist from his importunity.
In the midst of the romping the dinner horn was blown,
and they all went downstairs.
“Now our party is complete,” cried Camiola brightly,
smiling round her table. "How fortunate, as we are
eight, that Miss Purdon and I are the same sex; it en-
ables us to sit right, doesn't it?”
"You have recovered very satisfactorily from your head-
ache, young woman,” remarked Bassett dryly.
"Headaches simply have to go in this air,” she replied.
“Isn't it like champagne? It gets into my
head."
"Shall you be equal to a four hours' climb to-morrow ?”
“Why, of course! I don't mind betting that I am as
good a one to go as you yourself,” she cried resentfully.
"I have advised Miss Purdon not to attempt it,” he
went on. “She has an excellent plan. She will set out,
escorted by Esler, later in the day, and climb as far as a
place rejoicing in the name of Mezo Bolo, where they
will have tea ready for us as we come down. Is not that
a good idea ?”
“Oh, but I don't think we can do without Esler all
day," swiftly said Camiola.
"What nonsense, Camiola,” put in Neville. "Here are
myself, Bassett and von Courland, not to speak of Con-
rad; and Erwald will be with us. What can you want
with a larger retinue ?"
Camiola paused. She had been about to say that it
was her party; she gave
orders and made arrangements;


182
A CASTLE TO LET
but just as she was going to speak, she caught Esler's eye.
He was waiting upon them as usual, but knowing that
he spoke no English nobody troubled to be careful in what
they said. Yet, as Camiola met his glance, it was impos-
sible to believe that he had not understood the foregoing
conversation. His eyes admonished her as plainly as
speech, that she should not attempt to carry her point.
"Oh, well, as you say. I suppose he is not wanted,"
she said slowly. “It is a very good idea that our tea
should be carried up to us. How nice to have Uncle
Arnold to arrange all these things so capably! It lessens
my responsibilities enormously.”
If there was a dry accent in her incisive little voice as
she said this, nobody seemed to notice. Bassett accepted
the compliment graciously, and Neville breathed freely.
He was thinking how dangerous it is at all times for a
young, unmarried girl to be in control of her own actions,
and backed by abundant means. She is so easily deceived
and imposed upon. He had confided to Bassett something
of what the Graf had told him of Esler, and they were
fully agreed that Camiola had better remain in ignorance
unless it should be actually necessary to inform her, but
that she should be quietly kept out of the young man's
way.
The following day belied the landlord's prophecy. The
wind changed, and it was very fine indeed.
The party set out quite early, and made excellent time
to the summit, Betty proving a much better pedestrian
than could have been hoped.
As Esler was clipping the edge of the bowling green,
Camiola managed to get a word with him before the start.
“Esler," said she, a little breathlessly, "did I do right?
Did you mean me not to make a point of your coming
with us to-day?"


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
189
He paused in his occupation, to look up at her in blank
surprise.
"Pardon, Fräulein ?” he asked, in a puzzled voice.
She felt herself brought up short. "I-I thought,” she
stammered, "that you heard what we were saying about
your coming, at dinner last night.”
He shook his head with a melancholy smile. "I speak
no English, Fräulein."
The young mistress stood gazing upon him, with a
sense of being flung back upon herself. Was this well-
behaved servant the same person who had yesterday led
her through secret passages, along the brink of precipices,
up the sheer side of a rock?
With a little tingling shock she realised that she had
been forgetting, in the intense interest of their inter-
course, the social gulf which divided them. It had been
he who reminded her of it.
She felt furious with him. Turning her back without
a word, she marched indoors with her chin in the air. How
detestable it was to be as proud as this man! Why could
he not simply and gratefully accept the kindness she
showed him? Why must he always be stiffening his back,
just when you least expected it? Inside in private she
stamped her foot.
That morning, for the first time, as they ascended the
mountain, she allowed von Courland to begin to cross the
barrier between acquaintance and friendship, to talk of
intimate things, to claim her sympathy.
Her mind was in a curious ferment; she could not un-
derstand her own impulses. But, as a matter of fact, she
was swayed by the notion of how good a revenge it would
be to marry Otho, become the true, legitimate owner of
this castle which stood so coldly aloof, to dismiss Esler,
and to continue his researches with all the money at her


184
A CASTLE TO LET
command, until they were brought to a satisfactory con-
clusion without his help.
She desired, quite sharply, that Esler should give her
a chance to snub him as he had so many times snubbed
her. She felt that she would enjoy seeing him completely
discomfited.
Meanwhile, von Courland was very interesting, for he
could tell them all about the finding of the past traces
of the fated party on the spot where they had lunched.
The sky was blue and cloudless as they stood there
to-day; the summer breeze blew warm and soft, fanning
them after the strenuous ascent.
All about them the mountains lifted their mighty bas-
tions.
A few hundred yards farther, and they would
see the majestic summit of the Negoi.
Here, among the short, rich grass and the scattered
stones, had been found certain bits of cheese-rind, with
bread-crumbs and chicken bones; also, under a little cairn,
the empty wine-bottles which the light-hearted tourists
had done their best to hide.
A rough stone cross stood upon the spot. Hang round
it was a board, upon which was painted an inscription,
already considerably weather-beaten. Translated, it ran
thus:
Here, on this place, were found the latest traces of the
ill-fated party which left the Kurharis for the Kulm on
the day of June, 19% and were nover heard of
afterwards
“Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine!”
>
There followed the list of names:
Sarah G. Adams, Sagramore City, Kansas.
Althea Adams, her niece.


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
185
Mrs. Euphemia Doane, California.
Mr. Quincy P. Doane, her son.
Herr Hermann Schneider, Leipzig.
Frau Schneider.
Herr Gaspard von Courland, of Orenfels.
Martin Erwald, guide.
Ladislaus Hütti, guide.
The Englishmen reverently uncovered their heads as
they gazed. Camiola translated the words for the benefit
of Neville and Betty. The Thurlows had not realised
that Captain von Courland's own brother had been among
the lost, and Betty turned to him with her blue eyes brim-
ming with tears.
“Oh!" she cried, "I have been laughing, and talking
and teasing you all the way up, and I never knew, I never
thought-
He was touched and charmed by her sympathy. “I
must own," he admitted, "that I had seen but little of my
brother, who was very much older than I. His loss, which
killed my mother, was not a very real grief to me. I
wish, however, that I had been older at the time. I cannot
help feeling that more might have been done than was
done, in the way of clearing up the mystery.”
“What exactly do you mean?” asked Bassett, with in-
terest.
“I mean that the local superstition about a dragon, or
some such nonsense, seems to have deprived everybody of
their senses, and caused them to assume that these per-
sons met their end in the cave known as the Gaura Dra-
culuj, or Devil's Chasm. That cannot be true; it was
shown to be false at the time of the inquiry, because no
trace that they had ever entered the cave was discovered.
In fact, there was proof, in the shape of untrodden sand,
that they had not done so. Yet, as far as investigation


186
A CASTLE TO LET
of other places went, very little seems to have been done.”
“Erwald,” said Camiola abruptly, “was the guide your
brother ?”
“Yes, gnädigste.”
"I never knew your brother was one of the guides,"
she said, with eager interest. “Do you know whether it
was his intention to take the party to the Gaura Draculuj
or not?”
“I know that it was not, gnädigste. My brother had
some reason, which unluckily he never confided to us, for
thinking the Gaura Draculuj unsafe. He was a very
careful man. He told me the night before, that the young
Herr von Courland was most anxious to show the Ameri-
can ladies the place, but that he did not mean to take
them there."
This was the longest speech that Camiola had ever heard
Erwald make.
"He might have been overborne ?” suggested Bassett,
wao had listened with close attention.
"It is likely, mein Herr; but as the young Herr Cap-
tain has just said, there was proof that they did not go.'
“Who was the first person after the tragedy to visit the
spot in question-I mean this Devil's Chasm, or whatever
you call it ?" inquired the K.C.
"The three people who first went thither were Frau
Esler, Michael Esler, her husband, and myself. We went
there very early upon the morning of the third day after
the disappearance. Search parties had been out on the
'mountain-side for thirty-six hours, but nobody had been
to the cave, because Herr Hoffman was positive that the
party did not mean to go there. The place they meant
to visit, if there was time after reaching the Kulm, was
the place they call Trollsbrücke the Troll's bridge
above the Trollzähner Falls. It was in that neighbour
hood that the most careful search was made, for the rocks


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT 187
are decidedly dangerous. We decided, however, that we
would make certain that they had not visited the Gaura
Draculuj, so we went in the early morning-we three
together.
"We took lights with us, although we thought it pos-
sible we might find candles there, for the guides at that
time used to carry bits of candle in their pockets to light
up for visitors, as the place is absolutely pitch dark. Had
the party been there, my brother and the other guide would
have first gone in, lit the lights, and then called in the
visitors. There was no trace of any person having passed
into the cave. The sand at the entrance you must know
that you go in through a very low arch—had collected
so that there was not room to go in until one had cleared
some of it away. Most certainly nobody had been there."
Camiola stood listening, with the mental picture of the
place in her brain.
“Did you go in,” she asked, "and make sure that no
candles had been put there ?”
“Certainly we did. There were no candles, nor candle
sticks. Nobody had been there."
"How far," asked Bassett suddenly, “is the Trolls-
brücke from here?”
“About two hours, mein Herr. Mostly downhill.”
“Could we go there to-day ?”
“Yes, you could go there, but not if you want to meet
the Fräulein Purdon at Mezo Bolo. You would return
to the castle by a quite different route.'
“What do you think? Shall that be our next excur-
sion ?” asked Bassett of the others.' "Shall we follow the
imaginary footsteps of the perished party, first to the
Trollsbrücke, and afterwards to the Devil's Chasm ?”
“Agreed !” cried everybody. And Camiola set herself
to think how she could best keep them from going to that
horrible place, until her own curiosity had been satisfied.


188
A CASTLE TO LET
If Esler were her ally, the thing might be managed; but
now that Esler had turned disagreeable, she felt that she
wanted no further dealings with him.
There came a thought into her mind. Suppose that she
confided all to von Courland ? Suppose she were to make
a secret appointment with him to visit the cave, and see
whether they could stir up the monster? How surprised
Esler would be! She quite longed to see his face grow
stony and submissive, in the way she had several times
seen it, as she calmly announced to him what she had
done.
She had a perfect right to do that, or anything else
she pleased! She was mistress here.
All the way down to Mezo Bolo the thought strove
within her. Should she or should she not take the Cap
tain into her confidence? He was most conveniently by
her side, and they talked a great deal. If she were to
say: "I have been to the Devil's Chasm, and I believe
that there really is something there something alive,
something that laughs, something that might one day
show itself"--what would he think?
She looked up at his face and wondered whether he was
to be trusted. It did not occur to her to reflect that she
had not for a moment doubted the trustworthiness of
Esler. Without a misgiving she had confided herself to
his care.
They got down to the appointed rendezvous in excel-
lent time, and found the young gardener busily occupied
in setting out tea things. Marston had been coaxed to
come too, and she was presiding over the spirit-kettles in
a state of pleasurable flutter.
"Mr. Esler, he does understand how to build a place
to keep the draught off the kettles,” she remarked with
exultation. “There's tea and to spare ready here, how-
ever thirsty you may all be. Now, Master Conrad, none


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT
189
of your tricks,” she added, with a squeal, as the boy tried
to place a little lizard which he carried upon the smooth
of her neck.
Camiola flew to the rescue, but Conrad was a prime
favourite, and might do as he liked with the maids. The
tiff was soon made up, and the lizard made haste to
escape from a situation which it disliked infinitely more
than Marston did.
“Camiola, you look a bit white," remarked Miss Pur-
don, her gaze travelling to Miss France from Betty's rose
cheek.
"I believe I am just a wee bit tired,” confessed Camiola,
unable to mention the fact of her fatiguing expedition of
the previous day.
“Ah, you ought not to have got up and come down-
stairs last night,” remarked Mizpah sagely.
"Oh, bosh; I feel perfectly well,” protested the girl,
"only I want my tea."
She found Esler close to her, with a cushion for her to
sit upon and a cup of tea in his hand.
“I don't want any coddling,” said she impatiently,
throwing the cushion across to Betty. She added in Ger-
man,, “I don't like the look of that tea; it is too strong;
take it away."
Von Courland was eagerly offering an-
other, which she took, hoping from the bottom of her heart
that Esler was hurt.
He went silently away, returning almost immediately
with the spice cakes that she particularly fancied. These
also she refused, and, having done so quite rudely, began
to feel better.
Esler and Erwald were having tea with Marston, their
backs to the company. Camiola began to tell Mizpah of
the pathetic cross and its inscription. The others took up
the theme, and the disappearance was eagerly discussed in


190
A CASTLE TO LET
all its aspects, until it was time to break camp and go
home.
In the confusion of the departure Esler came close to
Camiola, and said, in an undertone: “I have brought a
spare mule. From here you can ride. It would be best
for you to ride home."
“What nonsense!” said she petulantly. “I had much
rather walk."
He raised his eyes, which he seldom did, and looked
very wistful. "If you would, Fräulein,” he began hesi-
tatingly.
“Well, I won't !” she snapped. “Don't bother, please.”
"No, Fräulein.” He turned away, going slowly some
distance from where she stood to the place where the mules
were tied. He began, as if unwillingly, to take off the
lady's pommel which he had fixed to the saddle. His
head was bent, and she was sure his face was red. She
felt quite pleased. She had scored this time. She had
shown him that she would not be snubbed.
Before they reached home she was conscious of having
been very silly. She was really tired, and the way seemed
long and dull.
Von Courland was talking to Betty;
Neville and Irmgard seemed inseparable. Conrad was
excited and tiresome, wanting his things held while he
dashed after butterflies, and so on. Esler was ahead,
leading the despised mule, which everybody was too proud
to use. About half-way down, Conrad having run a long
way from the path, she seated herself on a stone by the
wayside, true to her resolve never to let him go out of
sight. She felt a little injured. Surely it was Irmgard's
place now to look after the boy; he was her brother. Or
Esler-what was Esler for, if not to see that the tiresome
child did not stray ?
Her feet ached, her heart was heavy; she saw the sun-
set burn upon the mountain-side, through a mist which


THE CROSS ON THE SUMMIT 191
veiled her eyes. Then came the sound of gentle hoofs,
treading daintily, and she saw Esler coming back with
her mule.
All her temper rose once more to the surface. When
he was abreast of her, she said:
"I am not sitting here because I am tired, but because
I must keep a watch upon
the boy.”
"If the Fräulein will go on, I will be answerable for
the little Herr," said Esler, so gently and so sweet-tem-
peredly that she felt ashamed.
He stood a minute, leaning against the mule's glossy
neck, his gaze fixed upon the evolutions of Conrad, dash-
ing to and fro among the alpenrose bushes. He had in-
vited her to go on, but as she thought of rising, she realised
how tired her feet were.
Then she heard his voice: “The Fräulein is angry
with me," he said most respectfully, "and I do not know
why. But I cannot bear her to be too tired, just because
she will not give me the privilege of mounting her. I am
her servant, and if I have done anything to make her
displeased with me, I beg her pardon most humbly.”
She felt some triumph, because she had shown her dis-
pleasure, and made him apologise. Yet, mixed with it
was vexation that he should perceive her ill-temper.
"I don't know what you mean,” she said impatiently.
“What are you talking about ?”
To this he made no reply at all, merely raising his eyes
and letting his gaze rest upon her. It was as though he
were pleading with her not to let peevishness get the upper
hand, or as though he begged silently for forgiveness.
“As you have brought back Jacynth, I think perhaps
I may as well mount her,” she said slowly, rising to her
feet. She did not look at him. With dragging feet she
went round to the near side of the mule, and stooping, he
held his hand for her foot. In a moment she was in the


192
A CASTLE TO LET
saddle, in a vexed, prickly mood, irritated alike at her
own caprice and at her own capitulation.
Esler turned from her, his hand on the bridle, and sent
a long, clear whistle across the hillside for Conrad. The
boy came at once, leaping among the boulders, his cheeks
carmine, his eyes sparkling.
"Why couldn't you come before when I called you?”
asked Camiola, quite pettishly.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you wanted me, 'Miola.
But Esler said when I heard that whistle, I was always
to come that instant, whatever I might be doing."
“And what were you doing?” asked Camiola, as they
they began to descend the path.
Conrad began to reply at such length that his recital
lasted, with a little encouragement from Esler, all the way
home. The cool evening breeze fanned Miss France's
hot cheeks, and dissipated her annoyance. Jacynth's
pace was soothing, and she, like her rider, seemed to
think that all was well when Esler's hand was on the rein.
By the time they stopped at the Castle gate, Camiola
regretted her childish display of ill-temper.
"I'm sorry I was so snappy,” she said abruptly to Esler,
as he dismounted her.
"I am your servant,” he answered very simply, but in
a voice which conveyed far more than the bare words.
The girl felt a curious heat, a quickening of the pulses,
as she went in at the little gate, across the flagged court,
to where the others stood grouped about the steps.
“We must be a little more wido-awake,” said Bassett,
in a low voice to Neville. "You see the young scamp has
contrived to bring her home, after all."


CHAPTER XVIII
A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
CAMIOLA's fatigue had passed by the next morning.
This was the day upon which they were to take their lunch
in the Watch Tower, by invitation of the old Graf von
Orenfels. She came down to breakfast in capital spirits,
and found Otho enlivening the company with a vivid
description of his aunt and his two maiden cousins. For
several past generations the Vajda-Maros had married
Hungarians, as there were no Roumanians of their own
class for them to marry. The present mistress of the
watch tower was Galician by birth, and only the old Graf
could understand the Roumanian tongue. Their life was
most isolated, and the ladies of the family had a habit of
echoing each other, until sometimes the reiteration grew
positively laughable. He gave an example:
“You come into the room, after having been out in a
violent storm, and find the three dear ladies at their work
as usual. My aunt begins: 'Otho, lieber Kerl, I think
you have been out in the rain.' Then Cousin Anna, after
a little pause: "Otho, we think you must be very wet.'
I assure them that I had on my overcoat and am dry.
Then Cousin Linda: "Otho, it has rained a great deal.
Are you wet ?! ”
This recital was given in German, and some of it needed
a little translating, for the benefit of the Thurlows. The
conversation at table was wont to be of a curiously mixed
description, for Austrians and English alike understood
more of the other language than they spoke; and often
Otho and Betty conversed, each in their own tongue, with
193


194
A CASTLE TO LET
the result that they understood one another fairly well.
Sometimes an odd jargon resulted from the fact that the
speaker began in the language which was not his own,
and supplemented it with words in his native tongue; as
Camiola remarked, following the advice given to Alice by
the Red Queen: "Speak in French when you can't think
of the English for a thing."
It was wonderful how quickly all progressed upon the
road of being mutually intelligible, after a few days spent
wholly in each other's society. In the atmosphere of
Transylvania, with servants who spoke no English, the
growing tendency was for the foreigners to assimilate
native words.
Miss Purdon was looking a little depressed that morn-
ing, and upon being rallied, she admitted her curious dis-
taste for the Watch Tower, and described the vivid dreams
which had visited her when she was staying at the Blaue
Vögel.
Otho, listening with interest, remarked that it would
be no wonder if that blood-stained old place were haunted.
“My ancestors seem to have been a nice lot,” he remarked.
“Quite lately we came across the remains of one of their
charming deeds. They were re-papering one of the bed-
rooms-or rather cells; they are so small that you can
hardly call them rooms—and they found a place where
the plaster came off, showing that a doorway had been
built
up
with stones. As they are very short of cup-
boards, my aunt gave orders to have it opened, and inside
they found the skeletons of two children. I don't know
who they were. Perhaps old Johanna, my uncle's ser-
vant, could tell us. They must have been there for a
couple of centuries, judging by the masonry, and we con-
jectured that they may have something to do with the
curse laid on the family. They were both boys, and their
ages seem to have been about six and eight years. My


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
195
uncle had them duly interred in the family vault under
the church floor, and we fondly hope that this pious deed
may have lifted the curse.”. He smiled at Camiola, with
a sudden, flashing smile, instantly withdrawn, before she
had time to be embarrassed.
Conrad burst in, begging to be allowed to see the cup-
board where the bones had been found.
“It was funny,” said Otho. "My brother Gaspard was
put to sleep in that room when he was a little chap, and
my aunt says that two or three times he has told her that
there were little boys in his room. They thought he alluded
to a picture of the Holy Family that hung on the wall;
but as he seemed reluctant to sleep there, they moved him
to another room. I sleep there myself now, and I have
not seen them.'
“Captain von Courland,” observed Betty, "I don't think
I like you. Breakfast-time is not the proper occasion for
ghost stories.”
"I should have thought it the best,” chimed in Bassett.
“Time to forget them before bedtime.”
“They must come to an end now, however," decided
Miss Purdon.. “We ought to set out in about half an
hour."
In view of this great occasion, the ladies put on their
prettiest frocks. Among the delicate colouring and pale
tints, Irmgard's sombre garb stood out conspicuous.
Nothing could have been more becoming to her white skin
and golden hair than the dead black of her simple voile
dress. Her throat rose from the square-cut embroidery
of her bodice like a column of rare alabaster. The shade
of her wide hat threw up the clustering gold beneath it.
It had been arranged between her father and Miss Pur-
don that, in spite of her deep mourning, Irmgard should
go where the others went and share their pleasures, other-
wise things would have been difficult. This, according to


196
A CASTLE TO LET
the ideas of the local society, was anything but comme il
faut. But then, everybody knows that the English are
mad, and have no regard for propriety. In view of such
eccentricity, much must be pardoned; and the few officers'
wives having been present at the Frau Maldovan's funeral,
and having marked Camiola's real grief and suitably black
attire, were willing, seeing that she was so fabulously rich,
to make allowances for soc al ignorance.
The regiment comprised the entire society within visit-
ing distance of Ildestadt. These had all been invited to
coffee that afternoon at the Watch Tower to meet the
Engländerin. It would be something of an ordeal,
Carniola felt. She had an uneasy foreboding, as though
it were an invitation which would leave her a member of
Ildestadt society in a manner she had by no means in-
tended.
She felt a little nervous, a little uncertain of herself,
as Erwald mounted her upon her beautiful Jacynth. He
had put clean holland covers upon the ladies' saddles, so
as not to soil their pretty frocks. She looked for Esler,
who usually mounted and dismounted her, but he was
nowhere about. The trifling fact helped to send her off
with the least, vaguest feeling of dissatisfaction.
The gentlemen were all on foot, and during the descent
they went on ahead; but at the Kurhaus they waited, and
Otho placed himself beside her. He looked
He looked very hand-
some and upright, an oddly charming figure in his moun-
tain costume; but she contemplated him with something
of the feeling with which a butterfly may view him who
approaches with a net.
He pleased her more than any man she had met so far;
certainly more than any man who had expressed a desire
to marry her. The fact that he was heir of Orenfels added
greatly to his attraction in her eyes. She thought it
vaguely possible that it might end so. Yet it all seemed


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
197
hurried and unreal. She was not ready for marriage;
she did not mean to bind herself. She demanded more
time to live, to realise herself, to ascertain what kind of
man it was that she really wanted to have for a husband.
She was anxious not to give definite encouragement, and
inclined to doubt the wisdom of this visit; yet she told
herself that it was ridiculous to be apprehensive on this
score. Nobody could be foolish enough to think that,
because you came to lunch with your landlord, you were,
so to speak, making a public announcement of your will-
ingness to accept the addresses of his nephew!
Yet conscience was whispering to her that there was a
difference between this day and two days back. Yester-
day, upon the way to the summit, she had permitted Otho
to make a forward move. She knew it, and he knew it.
Nothing definite had been said, but their relation had
subtly changed. This made her uncomfortable; and as
they walked on, she was realising that, having once yielded
an outpost, she must expect the enemy to have advanced
so much nearer the citadel.
As Bassett walked beside Miss Purdon's mule, he was
observing the two in front.
“Was it judicious ?” he asked suddenly, "for Camiola
to start a footing of intimacy with these people? What
made her do it?'
“You have misgivings? So have I,” returned the lady.
"But the thing was inevitable from the first moment that
young von Courland saw her. Of course, we had no pre-
vious idea of his existence, when she decided to take this
place. We went across the Market Square to interview
the old Graf, and this young fellow suddenly marched in.
Then an awkward thing happened. Camiola was very
anxious to get possession at once of the castle, because I
own that I was not comfortable at the inn at Ildestadt.
It was on my account that she was so eager. She decided


198
A CASTLE TO LET
to go up and make final arrangements early the following
morning. I had been sleeping so badly that I really was
not equal to the exertion, and the old Graf volunteered to
go with his nephew. Of course, it ended in his letting
them go alone, and the whole town has been gossiping ever
since.”
“It almost looks as if we were expressly sanctioning the
idea of an alliance—this arriving in state," he remarked,
with a twinkling eye. “But I shouldn't think Camiola
means anything serious, does she ?"
“One would not suppose so.
He has not a farthing in
the world, and he is not of her own faith.”
“By her behaviour on Sunday she was leading him on
to suppose that she is ready to join the orthodox Church
on the smallest provocation.”
Mizpah smiled. "If they think so, they little know
their Camiola.”
"I suppose," mused Bassett, "that she might conceiv-
ably do worse. He is of good birth, will have a title, and
owns a castle in one of the most beautiful spots in Europe.”
“But she might do much better.”
"Well, I don't see how we are to help it,” he concluded,
after meditation. "I own that I like the fellow. He is
a gentleman. But if she won't, there will not be much
harm done. She will be leaving the place in a few weeks'
time, and his heart will mend fast enough, for I don't
suppose he would be hopelessly smitten if it were not for
her gilded halo. It must count, even with the most dis-
interested of men."
All Ildestadt was indeed agog as they rode in. Every-
body knew that the Herrschaften from the Schloss were
coming to take their Mittagsessen with the Graf and
Gräfin. Herr Neumann, having cooked the dinner they
were to eat and supplied the necessary cutlery, silver and
glass, knew well. Marie Vorst, who had turned out a


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
199
special batch of Kaffeeküchen for the afternoon's recep-
tion, was equally correctly informed. Most people were
standing in their doorways, or in the street, and their
remarks were approving, though fortunately not loud.
"In spite of being an Engländerin, I do not call her so
ugly."
"Ach nein, she is not amiss, and will be better when
she learns to forsake English oddities, and dress like a
Transylvania maiden."
“He will soon teach her that. So handsome a fellow
will have his own way in all things.”
"Doubtless. Do you remember, we used to think it
might be the little Maldovan ?”
“She is a pretty girl, and will have a dot. But what is
that beside the Englishwoman's thousands ?”
"Which now is the heiress? The dark one, or the little
love in pale blue ?"
“Why, she beside whom our Otho is walking is the
heiress the dark one!”
"Ach so! I wish it were the little fair one; she is an
ideal bride, like the princess in a fairy tale."
“He seems to have no eyes but for the Fräulein France,
however. See how he courts her! Lucky girl! But for
me she is too thin, and her face is all eyes. I like dimples
and rosy cheeks."
So the babble went on. Though its import did not
reach her ears, Camiola knew they spoke of her. She
wished that Otho were not marching in this "conquering-
hero" style beside her saddle. In fact, she suggested that
he might go and ask Betty if she were tired. He seemed
not to hear, however; he was so absorbed in pointing out
to her exactly how far his ancestral lands had formerly
extended along the Ildenthal.
Marie Vorst stood in the Market Square, and dropped
a deep curtsey to the young Herr as he approached. Her


200
A CASTLE TO LET
keen eyes searched the cortège as it filed past, and as she
remarked that young Esler was not there, a smile of satis-
faction curved her lips.
“Then the Herr General did find time before his de
parture to drop a hint,” she inly reflected. “I have put
a spoke in his wheel. A young upstart! Thinks himself
too good for my Lise, does he ? Thinks he can go about
with his mouth shut, and that nobody can find out any-
thing about the things he wants to keep dark? He will
find that it is not so good a thing to make an enemy of
Marie Vorst! Why, my girl could marry anybody. She
will have a dot, too; and he is just the old Graf's gar-
dener, at twelve marks a week. A nice cock to think he
can crow over all the girls in Ildestadt!”
By this time they had crossed the Market Square, and
approached the little postern door of the tower.
It stood open to-day, and the old Graf himself was
just within. He came forward with hand outstretched in
welcome, and made a long speech which, owing to his
toothless condition, was difficult for foreigners to follow,
but which, as far as Camiola could grasp it, seemed to
contain no embarrassing allusions.
He greeted each lady elaborately as she was dismounted,
and then, bidding Otho follow with the Fräulein France,
he gave his shaking arm to Miss Purdon, and led her up
the winding stair, their progress being so slow that the
younger and more frivolous members of the party behind
were in agonies of stifled laughter.
In the curious room into which the two ladies had been
ushered upon their previous visit, there sat in state three
antique survivals of the local aristocracy of an earlier
period. These were the wife and the two daughters of
the Graf von Orenfels, but they all looked exactly the same
age, and seemed all to have reached precisely the same
stage of decay. All three wore little eaps of lace and


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
201
ribbon upon their sparse and faded hair, each had a large
lace collar and a vast gold brooch like a poached egg.
Miss Purdon, seeking for some point of differentiation,
observed that one lady wore mittens, and hoped that this
might be the mistress of the house, in which conjecture
she was fortunately right.
The old Graf presented her in due form, and then,
turning to Camiola, led her forward, and expressed the
hope that the friendship, so auspiciously begun, might
continue unbroken for many years.
This was a hope which one could echo without feeling
too self-conscious; and when the whole party had been
received, with three precisely similar salutations, the ten-
ant of the castle sat down, and tried to tell her hostess
how pleased she was with her beautiful summer house.
The old lady was not expansive. She remarked, draw-
ing a little shawl more closely around her narrow shoulders
-her shoulders were the only part of her that was narrow
that for her part she had found the Schloss draughty
and inconvenient, and, besides, so schrecklich entfernt.
She had been thankful to come down into the town, where
one could at least see a little life.
Camiola sympathised. She owned that she herself
could not face the idea of living always in so remote a
spot; but for one summer it was ideal.
All three of them surveyed her as if she were a phe-
nomenon they could not understand. Then one asked,
with a faint flutter of interest, whether she found Frau
Esler satisfactory. Her reply to this was prompt and
warm. Frau Esler was a wonder. She kept the maids
in order, cooked well, and gave no trouble.
Arnold Bassett, as in duty bound, was making gallant
efforts to draw one of the daughters into conversation. He
found it practically impossible, because she was listening,
absorbed, to Camiola's account of Frau Esler.


202
A CASTLE TO LET
"And the young man! They say he is none too steady,"
went on the elder sister, craning her scraggy neck towards
Camiola. "But, however, he is in the garden, so you will
not have much to do with him. My father thought it
would be all right.”
"Do you mean Eric Esler ?” asked Camiola in astonish-
ment.
Three old heads nodded in unison, and three voice re
iterated “Ja, ja, ja,” till Conrad had to turn away to the
window, with shoulders shaking.
"We find him most helpful and obliging,” said Miss
France, in wonder. “Do you say he is not steady? I
should have thought him a most respectable, quiet young
fellow."
“Ach ja! Our father said it would be so. He said he
will not show off his airs and graces to the Herrschaften.
He knows which side his bread is buttered."
This remark struck Camiola as being so conspicuously
unjust, judging the young gardener by her own experi-
ence, that she merely smiled.
Bassett, having abandoned his attempt to ingratiate the
ladies of the house, had gone to one of the window em-
brasures, and was talking with the old Graf.
“May I ask if you, sir, are the guardian of the so
amiable Fräulein France ?” asked the old gentleman.
The K.C., glad of this opportunity, proceeded to ex-
plain that the Fräulein was quite exempt from all tutelage,
and that he had laid down his command when she was
twenty-one.
"To whom, then, should one apply in any matter which
concerned—which concerned negotiations of too delicate
a nature to make it practicable to discuss them with a
young maiden? To the excellent Fräulein Purdon, per-
haps ?”
Bassett explained Miss Purdon's position, and the old


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
203
Graf was a little worried. “So also Otho told me," he
said, in a vexed way. "He said she was only a dame de
compagnie, and that it was not fitting that I should lead
her upstairs. He said I should have taken the Fräulein,
who is mistress of all. Now I have made a mistake, and
perhaps I have done great harm. Do you think that Meess
France will take offence, because I give first place to the
dame de compagnie?"
Bassett spoke on this point with brief but firm emphasis.
The Graf had done right, and exactly what Camiola would
have wished.
"But I must go change the places at table,” fussed the
little Graf, his hair seeming to stand more erect than ever.
“Nothing of the kind, Graf. Miss Purdon is a gentle-
woman, and always takes her place in Miss France's house-
hold as such. To slight her would be a sure way to offend
the young lady."
"I would not do so on any account. But if such is the
case, what is to be done? One cannot approach a young
lady direct on so delicate a subject as her own marriage ?"
"Well, Graf, you may have heard that in England we
are so peculiar as to think that a young lady's marriage
concerns herself more than anybody else. We actually
hold that a girl who is of an age to be married, is of an
age to consider the question.
The Graf looked horrified. “Do you mean that I could
address the young Meess France, and say: I wish to con-
fer with you on the subject of your marriage with my
nephew ?”
“Oh, no; I do not mean that. You are going rather
fast, Graf, for my English ideas. Are you sure that
Captain von Courland desires to marry my late ward ?
If you are, you must leave it to him to do the arranging.
It may sound nonsense to you, but it is the simple fact,
that Miss France will give her hand to the man she pre-


204
A CASTLE TO LET
fers, and that she will expect that man to ask her for it
himself.”
It was a situation which left the Graf so astounded
that he had really nothing to reply. Bassett, however,
improved the occasion. He told him that in England it
was considered very bad form to seem to notice anything
beforehand in a situation of this kind. He warned him
that if any reference were made at table or in drinking
toasts to the chance of any such thing, Camiola would
most probably take offence, and nip the affair in the bud.
In England the relations and onlookers always affected
to see nothing and know nothing. By the way in which
the Graf listened to what he had to say, and the swiftness
with which he subsequently went up to his wife and spoke
privately to her, Bassett concluded that he had reason to
thank his stars for the chance he had been given to warn
the poor old gentleman. He felt sure that some allusion
to the idea of a match had been contemplated. He dared
not think what Camiola might have done under the cir-
cumstances.
What she was trying to do at the present moment was
to avoid catching the eye either of Otho or Conrad. The
conversation she had so arduously kept up with the three
ladies had languished, and she was wondering what she
could possibly say next, when the Gräfin remarked softly:
“You have a charming party of young people, Fräu-
lein."
Camiola said that she thought it most kind of the Gräfin
to entertain such a formidable number.
“But they are such a charming party," cooed Aunt
Linda.
“All such attractive young people,” concluded Aunt
Anna.
The faithfulness of their nephew's imitation that morn-
ing caused Camiola to be nearer the point of losing her


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
205
manners altogether, and laughing aloud, than she had
ever been in her life. The situation was saved only by
the appearance of the head waiter from the Blaue Vögel,
who drew back a curtain, set open a narrow door, and
announced that dinner was served.
The room in which they dined was exactly the same
size and shape as that in which they had been received.
It was close quarters, and of course neither of the small,
deeply splayed windows was open. Looking back upon
that meal later on, Camiola sometimes wondered that they
had all escaped asphyxiation.
They were called upon to eat hot soup, venison, cran-
berries, roast ducks, and other viands of an equally sub-
stantial description. It was no wonder that, having fed
to repletion, the three old ladies should obviously desire
a nap. The rest of the party hailed with joy the sugges-
tion of Otho that they should go and have cigarettes and
sweetmeats in the guard-house, and summon old Johanna,
the family retainer, to tell them "bogey stories.”


CHAPTER XIX
THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE
The guard-house stood behind the keep, across a very
small courtyard which was bounded by what remained of
the huge inner or curtain wall of the old fortress. Within,
it was a rough place, stone paved, and without hangings
to mask the naked walls; but Otho had done his best to
make it habitable. There were weapons hung up, some
fine stags' heads, a stuffed badger, and other signs of his
hunting prowess. Rugs were on the floor, and there were
comfortable chairs.
“There is no room at all inside the tower,” he said,
shrugging his shoulders ruefully. “This is the only place
I can call my own, and I sleep in the cell just above."
His frank way of speaking caused Camiola to look upon
him with a new access of friendliness. He really was a
very nice fellow.
As he was the only member of the family present, they
were all as unconstrained as though at Orenfels. Betty
discovered a beautiful mother cat with two kittens in a
cupboard, and took the entire family upon her knees to
play with. Camiola looked at Otho's regimental photos,
and discovered that he was the champion jumper of his
regiment. The men smoked, and Conrad was made happy
with an oily rag and a gun to clean.
Soon there was a tap at the door, and a small, bent
woman crept into the room, curtseyed to the company,
and looked to Otho for orders. Her sunken but brilliant
eyes, half lowered, flitted from one to the other of those
206


208
A CASTLE TO LET
to the tower. They used both houses as their own. The
names of the young men were Otho and Dmitri, Otho
being the elder.
“Halfway down the hill from Orenfels, on the very
spot—the cursed spot-where the Kurhaus was afterwards
built-you would see in those days the house of Cornea,
the gamekeeper, a Roumanian. He had a daughter,
named Ephrosine. She was not so much beautiful as
wonderful. Her mother had been a Tzigane (gipsy),
and was handsome, but Ephrosine was more. She had a
glance that sent men mad. There was one man upon
whom her heart was set, and that was Otho, the young
Herr. She laughed at all the others.
"Otho was young and hasty. All his life he had always
had what he had set his heart upon. He was determined
to marry Ephrosine, and marry her he did. How they
managed it is not known.
"Ephrosine still lived on in her father's cottage, for
the old lord would have killed his son bad he dared to
confess that he was married to a peasant.
“Two beautiful boys were born to her, and it was not
known that they were hers, for her married brother and
his wife lived in the hunting lodge, and every one sup-
posed the boys belonged to them.
For several years
Ephrosine kept quiet. Her husband loved her, she saw
him often, if secretly, and she was not unhappy. But
when it was a question of a marriage for Otho, she would
not be silent any longer. He warned her that if she con-
fessed, they would be both ruined; but she was not to be
deterred. She waited until her husband departed, on a
visit to the lady whom he was to court; then she took her
two children, went up to the castle, and told the old lord
to his face that she was his son's wife, and these were his
heirs.
"Now at the time Dmitri, the younger son, was pres-


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 209
ent. He was full of cunning. He restrained his father's
anger, and by his advice the old lord said very little, but
took it so quietly that Ephrosine was in triumph, and
wished she had had the courage to confess long ago.
“The old lord said that if these children were his heirs,
they must be put into his charge, to be brought up as a
nobleman's sons should be trained. She was ready and
willing to do this, and to go back to her own home alone,
as he desired her to do, until he should have ascertained
beyond doubt that her story of the marriage was true.
“So she left her babes up at the castle and went home,
and the old lord and Dmitri plotted their scheme of re-
venge.
“In those days, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, any
person who was accused of being a witch was in great
danger. Two days after Ephrosine took her boys to the
castle she was arrested for witchcraft, on the complaint
of one Niklaus Urzsu, a ploughman from Maros, who had
been one of her disappointed suitors.
"I think I told you that she was of a wild kind of
beauty. When she was excited, it is said that she was like
one possessed by a devil. You may think how she raged
and fought when she was dragged to prison. Her gipsy
blood was against her in the eyes of the people. They
were obliged to do things quickly, if they wished all to be
over before the young Herr Otho returned. It was easily
managed. Several witnesses swore that the poor thing
had bewitched them, and the townsfolk went mad with
fear, and were ready and eager to have her burned. It
was never mentioned that she claimed to be the wife of
Otho and the mother of his sons.
“The family came down to Ildestadt from the Schloss
for the trial. She was condemned and she was actually
burned alive, out in the Market Square yonder, just be-
fore the place where the Ikon of St. Ildemund stands.


210
A CASTLE TO LET
It is said that the old lord took the torch, and lit the pile
that burned her, and that he stood there and watched her
torments. As to her two children, they were never seen
or heard of after that. ... Until
“Until,” burst in Conrad, "the Frau Gräfin made them
unwall the old cupboard, as you told us this morning,
Otho!”
Otho was looking rather white. “I never heard that
story before,” he said to the old woman. “It is certainly
bad enough for anything. I did not know that there was
any story that would throw light on the dead children."
“What did her husband say when he came back ?” cried
Betty, leaning forward, pale with eagerness.
“He killed his brother,” replied the old woman, shaking
her head. “I do not mean that he murdered him; he was
too brave a gentleman for that. He challenged him to
fight, and gave him a chance for his life; but Dmitri was
cowed by the knowledge that he was fighting in a bad
cause. The elder brother slew the younger, out here in
this little courtyard, one moonlight night. He was obliged
to flee the country, and he died unmarried, being slain in
the Thirty Years' War. His sister's son inherited, and
since that there has never been an heir in the direct line,
as it is said that Ephrosine prophesied, while she stood in
the flames in the Market Square."
"If that is all really true, Johanna, I think the breed
of the Vajda-Maros ought to be exterminated,” cried
Otho, flinging the stump of his cigar in among the flow-
ering geraniums with which he had filled his open hearth.
"They have paid for it long and bitterly, dearie,” said
the old woman gently. "Please God, better times are
coming.”
“It is really true?” inquired Bagsett briefly.
Johanna turned her keen eyes upon him, "The trial
and death of Ephrosine are all to be found in the city rec-


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 211
ords," said she. “You will not find there any proof that
she was what she claimed to be the wife of Otho Vajda-
Maros; but that she was the mother of his children seems
to be established by two things—first by the terrible ven-
geance which Otho took upon his brother on his return,
and, second, by the children's bones found only a few
years back.”
Miss Purdon spoke suddenly. She had risen when the
story finished, and was standing with her back to them
all, gazing out of the window. She now spoke without
turning round: "It is true that the old lord lit the torch
and watched her burn,” said she. "I saw all that in a
vision. I also saw them carry out the dead body of
Dmitri. They carried it towards the river."
“Did they ?” cried the old woman, quivering with eager-
ness. She got up from the wooden stool upon which she
had reluctantly seated herself at her young lord's com-
mand, and approached Miss Purdon with hands out-
stretched. “That is what nobody has ever known," she
quavered, "what they did with the body."
Camiola put her arm round Conrad's shoulders. "Do
you think," she whispered, leaning towards Otho, "that he
ought to hear all this?”
“Come on up into my room, old man, and see the cup-
board,” said Otho at once. “The cupboard where they
found the poor little bones. It is full of my coats now.'
Everybody else clamoured to see also, and Otho laugh-
ingly said they had better come up two and two, as his
room was monastic in its proportions.
Camiola and Conrad went up first. The little cork-
screw stair was very narrow, and the room into which it
led was about twelve feet square. There was a camp bed,
and the bare necessaries of a man's toilet. The cupboard
had been lined with wood, and looked most commonplace
and everyday. The window had an outlook above the


212
A CASTLE TO LET
walls to the Castle of Orenfels-a fact to which Otho
drew the girl's attention before they went down again.
Miss Purdon and old Johanna were meanwhile confer-
ring eagerly, the servant being inclined to look upon the
Irish lady as a white witch. Camiola said no word of the
dream concerning the Black Dragon which had visited
her. She had kept that consistently to herself.
Johanna said that the whole of Ephrosine's prophecy,
uttered in her agony, was recorded in the town chronicles.
It explicitly stated that the curse was to endure for ten
generations, that the Orenfels estate should pass into the
hands of the foreigner and the stranger, that the family
blood should mix with the blood of aliens, and that the
Vajda-Maros who should do away the curse, and whose
children should inherit, would be a dragon-slayer, brave
and fair.
Miss Purdon could not but see how well this descrip-
tion might be said to fit Otho. The old woman pointed
out that it was not likely that he would actually slay a
dragon, but that the prophecy no doubt referred to the
very curious fact that Otho's mother, who knew nothing
of the prediction, had given her little son, as his second
name, that of the patron saint of the family—Ildemund,
the dragon-slayer.
“Yes, he is Otho Ildemund, Otho the dragon-slayer,
said the old woman in a tone of quiet triumph and satis-
faction. "If we do not say too much, if we are quiet
and let things take their course, who shall say what may
happen ?”
These last words were murmured softly and confiden-
tially after Camiola, who had heard the first part of what
was said, had turned away.
There was little time to reflect upon the marvels they
had just heard, for a messenger now arrived to announce
that the coffee-drinking company was assembling.


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 213
They repaired to the reception-room accordingly, and
found that the door between this and the eating-room had
been set wide, that coffee was served in the latter, and that
by this means the extra persons present could be accom-
modated with a little crowding.
The von Arnsteins, the von Glucksbergs, and the von
Imberts were duly presented, the men in uniform; and a
few unmarried subalterns completed the circle.
There was much civility and many compliments. Cami-
ola was highly congratulated upon her German, and re-
ceived great attention; but the universal opinion of the
company was that Betty, plump, fair and dimpled, was
the pretty one, and that it was a pity she was not also the
heiress. Camiola's soulful type was not approved.
As the Orenfels party wound their way once more uphill
to their eyrie, as Neville called it, that evening, the sub-
ject occupying them all was that of Mizpah’s visions. Bas-
sett was seriously of opinion that they ought to be written
down and sent to the S.P.R.
Camiola volunteered to make a written statement, as she
had heard the dreams from the dreamer herself long before
she knew that they were reproductions of something which
had actually happened.
Conrad was less impressed than his sister had feared.
The happy fact that Otho quietly inhabited the chamber
where the bones had been discovered had somehow dis-
counted the importance of the whole thing in his boyish
imagination.
Camiola, as she rode up the slope to her castle, was
thinking to herself that she would ask Esler to slip up to
the boy after he was in bed, to be quite sure that he was
comfortably asleep.
Esler was not to be seen, however, when they arrived.
The boy who was groom under Erwald came and took the
mules. There was barely time to change before the dinner


214
A CASTLE TO LET
horn sounded; and it was with a perceptible shock that
Camiola, coming downstairs on Bassett's arm, found that
a plump handmaiden stood beside Forbes at the buffet in-
stead of the usual picturesque figure.
Afterwards, as the butler handed coffee in the drawing-
room, she asked if Esler was ill.
“I believe he is not very well, madam,” replied the
old butler impassively.
"Find out if he needs anything or ought to have a doc-
tor," commanded the young mistress, and Forbes replied,
“Yes, madam,” in exactly the same voice.
The next day was extremely hot, and the party decided
that they were going to loaf and play tennis. Everybody
was lazy, and the hours drifted by on wings of sunshine
and peace.
Otho's absence made things a little dull, perhaps. He
was always the life of the party, Neville not being con-
spicuous for high spirits. Camiola was certainly moody
and abstracted, and Miss Purdon and Bassett looked mean-
ingly at each other as this symptom developed. The lady
felt glad, in this puzzling situation, that the ex-guardian
should be on the spot. She felt slightly guilty when she
thought of the wrath of Mr. and Mrs. Thurlow should
the golden prize really fall to the young officer. Yet,
after all, what could they do? Nothing at all. Camiola
was her own mistress.
Irmgard remarked to Miss Purdon that afternoon:
“Isn't 'Miola queer? I mean, somehow, unlike her-
self? Brooding or something. Do you think it can be
that she misses Captain von Courland ? I thought yester-
day that the old people were very sugary, and so on.
I
don't think I want 'Miola to be married yet.”
“My dear,” said Miss Purdon, "I don't suppose either
you or I can stop it, but if you think you have any influ-


CHAPTER XX
THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
That night was very hot-much hotter than they had
so far found it at Orenfels. Not a breath of air stirred,
and the waxing moon passed slowly across a cloudless
heaven.
Camiola was in a difficult mood. She could not under-
stand herself.
Surely it could not be true that she was actually pining
for the society of young von Courland?
That sounded preposterous, she whose night's rest had
never yet been broken on account of any son of Adam.
Yet if it were not that, what could it be which pos-
sessed her with so strange a restlessness ?
Of course it might be the heat. Her room, facing upon
the south terrace, had been very hot all day, since such
luxuries as sun-blinds were unknown in her ancient dwell-
ing-place.
Her thoughts turned naturally to Otho, for what had
happened the previous day at the Watch Tower had con-
vinced her that the Vajda-Maros hoped and foresaw a
match. She must have been dull indeed had she not di-
vined it. The circumstance obliged her to think. It was
necessary to make up her mind, because if she did not
mean to marry an impecunious noble in a regiment of
Honvéd Hussars, then their pleasant intimacy must cease
at once. It seemed to her a great pity. In England these
things are left to chance, and often enough this turns out
badly. But she thought it immensely preferable to the
216


218
A CASTLE TO LET
very soon owing to the steepness of the slope down which
he was rushing. She could perceive only that he was not
following the curved path, but leaping through flower-beds
and over boulders, going, as directly as he could, straight
down to the end of the garden.
This seemed to her very surprising. Esler, who had
been unwell—too unwell to do any work--for two days,
was running out of the house as though his life depended
upon it. Where was he going and what was he about?
She wondered whether he had had a touch of the sun and
was slightly deranged. It was so impossible to guess any
reason for his headlong flight.
What Neville had said of his running, on the day that
Conrad was lost, came back to her. “He runs like an
English public school man.” And, as a matter of fact, he
ran like a conscript from the Austrian Navy!
She Aung herself back upon her pillows in complete
bewilderment, but with an intention to watch and see if
he would return.
She settled herself cosily, her face turned to the win-
dow, feeling extraordinarily wide awake. But in a very
few minutes Nature asserted her authority, the lids
drooped over those wondering eyes, and Camiola slept the
sleep of healthy girlhood.
It was with a start that she awoke, to the conscious-
ness of early dawn. The light outside was hardly brighter
than the moon had made it, but of a different quality.
The air was full of the twitternig of countless birds, and
she had been awakened by the fact that a pretty little
chaffinch had alighted upon her window-sill, and was ut-
tering his long-drawn whistle like a call to rise.
As she stretched out her arms, he fluttered away, but
not very far, only upon the banksia rose, where he bal-
anced himself and sang so jubilantly that she felt con-


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
219
She was
vinced his wife must have hatched a second brood that
very morning.
Sitting up, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and admired
the faint opal of the misty sky. It was like looking at a
fire through a mother-o'-pearl shell-infinitely beautiful.
A sofa is apt to cramp one after sleeping several hours,
so she arose and took a turn about the room.
vexed with herself for falling so soundly asleep, and so
missing Esler's return from his run, and was wishing she
had kept awake, when a sound struck on her ear so unex-
pected that she stood motionless a moment, then glided,
stooping, to the open casement.
She had heard somebody speaking in the dim garden
below.
Kneeling upon the floor of her room, sheltered by a
muslin curtain, she could see without being seen. It was
quite light enough for her to distinguish the figures of
two men coming slowly up the garden path as though they
had made great haste and were fatigued.
The sound of their carefully subdued voices came to
her, but no words. Esler she could easily distinguish,
for his shirt was white or light in colour, and he wore no
hat. The other was in black, with a soft felt hat dragged
rather forward over his face. As they approached nearer
she saw that Esler carried a bag. Soon after she per-
ceived that the stranger had a long dark beard. It was
nobody she knew-of that she felt sure. They were now
ascending the steps from the bowling-green. They had
fallen silent as they neared the sleeping house; but as
they gained the terrace the dark man paused to take off
his hat and mop his forehead, and Esler spoke.
His voice was low, but as Camiola was almost imme-
diately above his head his words reached her in the still-
ness of the night.
"I could not bring you the short way,” he said, as if


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
291
felt convinced. But who and what was the mysterious
stranger ?
She lay considering this lazily, since she had decided
that, come what might, she was not going to awaken the
household. She had reached only one conclusion-name
ly, that she would ask Esler himself straight out who it
was-when sleep once more overtook her, and she next
became conscious when Marston stood pouring tea beside
her bed with so calm and contented an expression that she
felt sure no armed ruffian had made his wild entry into
the peaceful life of the staff.
It seemed that Bassett and Neville were both keen
about going fishing that day. The pool which von Cour-
land had showed them was so well shaded that it could be
fished even in fine weather; and they thought it would
be delightful to go thither if any kind persons would
bring then their lunch.
This the ladies promised to do. They thought it almost
certain that Otho would walk up from Ildestadt that day
to inquire how they were after their day at the Watch
Tower. Conrad would have to be posted on the main road
to tell him where they might be found, and prevent his
going all the way up to the castle for nothing. Conrad
objected. He wanted to fish. Erwald was required to
bring the ladies and the lunch, so Bassett said he supposed
they had better tell Esler to come along and do sentry.
Forbes, when asked to take a message, looked doubtful,
and said he did not think that Esler could be spared.
Upon Bassett expressing surprise, Camiola explained that
the young man was really not her own but the old Graf's
servant, and had quite as much work as he could manage
in the garden. She added that she would speak to Frau
Esler about it.
She thought, as the woman came to her in the servants'
hall, where she usually gave her orders, that it might well


222
A CASTLE TO LET
be she and not her nephew who had been ill. She had
black marks under her eyes, and all the aspect of one who
has not slept for some nights. The fanciful idea that her
nephew might have been doing the cooking for her during
the past two days floated through Camiola's mind. Per-
haps that was a cook whom he had smuggled up hill last
night!
“How is your nephew, Frau Esler ?” she asked. The
woman looked surprised, and answered that he was well.
“I thought Forbes said that he had been unwell. He
did not wait upon us last night or the night before.”
Frau Esler answered very respectfully, with lowered
eyes. “I did not know the waiting at table was part of
his duties. I thought he only undertook it until Mr.
Forbes should have trained one of the maids."
"Oh, yes,” hastily cried Camiola. “I do not mean to
complain at all. I was most grateful to him, and I know
it is not part of his duties. I only asked because I do not
want to seem unkind, and because the gentlemen wanted
to know if he could go out with them this morning."
Frau Esler looked doubtful. “I think not,” said she.
“He has had to do things for me during the past two days
which have kept him busy. He has much that needs do-
ing in the garden.”
“I will tell them so,” said Camiola quietly. “You your-
self do not look well, Frau Esler. I hope you are not
finding the work too much for you.” In spite of her feel-
ing that Frau Esler had snubbed her, she spoke very
kindly.
"If the Fräulein is satisfied, I am also,” was the cold
and formal answer.
The young mistress again felt wounded, thrown back
upon herself, in the way in which the Eslers always made
her feel it. She was quite unused to such an experience.
Even the grumpy, taciturn Erwald had thawed percepti-


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
223
by under her gentle kindness. Only the Eslers remained
aloof, wrapped in their proud reserve.
Well, it could not be heped. She did all she could, and
if they would not meet her they must remain apart.
"I am well satisfied with all you do,” she replied, swal-
lowing down her mortification, “but I want you to promise
me that you will ask for more help if you require it. I
mention this because the Gräfin von Orenfels, when we
went to lunch with her, presented me to the gentlefolk
of the neighbourhood, and I should like to give a party
here."
"Certainly, gnädigste. On what day?"
“I have not decided. I wished to see you about it first.
If I give a party here, it is certain that nobody can return
home until the following day. I shall want many rooms
prepared.”
Frau Esler flushed and looked alarmed. "But what
rooms, Fräulein? There are only the one occupied by
the Herr Captain when he comes and the two small ones
near your own.'
“What about the ones we do not use ?” asked Camiola
calmly. “The ones you reach by means of a door in the
gallery?"
In the silence which followed, Frau Esler being unable
to help showing some symptoms of surprise, the girl could
hear her own heart beat. Her random shaft had gone
home.
“The Herr Graf keeps those closed," said the Frau, at
last. “They are only garrets, and in them are stored such
things as are not let with the castle. The rooms would
be quite unsuitable for the accommodation of visitors.
“Of course; but we might go up there ourselves for one
night and put our guests downstairs."
"Even if you did use those rooms, Fräulein- and I
assure you they are only garrets how would you get bed


224
A CASTLE TO LET
linen, and so on, for so many guests ?” She spoke swiftly,
and with some vexation.
“That is quite easily managed. I borrowed an idea
from the Watch Tower. Herr Neumann will send up
bed linen-beds also if necessary-he will also lend me
cutlery and plate and table linen. It will be quite easy.
If you please, I should like to see the rooms before I de
cide against using them."
Camiola spoke easily, but inwardly she was filled with
a queer excitement. The door which she had dreamed-
which Esler had shown her in sleep—really existed, then!
The long passage through which she had groped, the un-
ceiled roof-these were real! There was a range of
garrets in her domain which she had not yet explored.
Frau Esler took a moment to assimilate the plans pro-
duced so glibly by her young mistress. At last she spoke:
“The Fräulein will forgive me if I refuse, quite decidedly,
to show her the garrets without leave from the Herr
Graf.”
"Oh, certainly; but I am sure he will grant it,” was
the ready response. “I do not mind paying more rent, if
he likes. The Herr Captain is coming up to-day, and I
will ask him. He can give leave quite well.”
Frau Esler said no more, but she flashed a look almost
of hatred at Camiola. With a murmured assent, she
curtseyed and went out of the room, leaving the girl in a
state of the greatest indecision.
Why was Frau Esler so annoyed? Could it be that
these apparently trusty servants were doing in secret
something which they did not wish should come to the
ears of their employers? It really looked like it. From
the first it had been the same from the moment when
Frau Esler knew the castle was let right on until now.
Every forward step taken by the new mistress met with
rebuff, with opposition.


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
225
She turned away, sore and uncomfortable, yet trium-
phant too, and remembered suddenly that Bassett and
Nev were waiting to know if she could secure young Esler.
She ran to tell them that this could not be managed.
"I don't quite know what is the matter," said she, “but
something has upset Frau Esler. I think she is ill and
won't say so, and that the young man is helping her with
her work instead of doing his own. But you need not
bother about Captain von Courland. Nobody ever comes
up the mountain except ourselves. Write a note to him
and lay it in the middle of the path under a stone. He
simply cannot help finding it.”
Every one agreed that this was a good idea, and the note
was accordingly written, the two gentlemen immediately
afterwards departing to their fishing.
Camiola gave orders to Forbes to prepare lunch, and to
Erwald to carry it, and went away to write letters in her
own room before preparing to go out herself.
Seated at her lacquer table in the oriel, her eyes fixed
upon the lovely prospect without, the perfume of the gar-
den in her nostrils, the blue haze of settled summer heat
over all the fair land beneath her, she let her pen lie idle
while her thoughts wandered.
Something disquieted her. She was restless and suspi-
cious. What were the Eslers about? In her mind was
crystallising the resolution to tell von Courland all about
it. Their attitude from the very first needed explanation.
She saw that now.
As her mind worried itself over the question, a gentle
tap came at her door. “Come in,” said she.
It opened slowly, and Esler stood, hesitating, upon the
threshold.
Camiola flung down her pen. “Come in and close the
door," said she swiftly; "I want to speak to you.”
Like one entering a holy place which his presence dese-


228
A CASTLE TO LET
self, and added shamefacedly: "It is most unwillingly
that I bring myself to ask.”
Camiola Aushed warmly. “Esler," she cried impul-
sively, “do you really think you could make such a re
quest to me in vain ?"
He almost turned his back upon her. "I know I could
not,” he said, almost inaudibly, “but that makes it all the
harder to have to ask.”
There was a silence. She felt as if a dear brother of
hers were in trouble, and as if it would be natural to take
his hand, press it, and beg him to cheer up. She wanted
to throw her arm across his bent shoulders, and assure him
of her sympathy.
All that she could trust herself to say was: “You don't
know how glad I am that you told me. I knew Frau Esler
was in trouble, and I did not like to show impertinent
curiosity. I promise you I will not say a word, but you
will tell me if you want anything, won't you? I want to
help. Can't you see, I always want to help!”
He turned upon her suddenly, with so changed a look
that she almost winced. His hands were clenched, straight
down at his sides, his face was flushed, there was water
standing in his blue eyes.
“And it is I that ought to help you !” he burst out, “and
who can do nothing. I'm a servant, and I mustn't even
say "Thank you' as I want to say it."
Her bewildered face warned him. His look changed,
his head drooped. "I beg your pardon, gnädigste," he
said, moving away as soon as he had spoken.
She was too amazed to reply in any way; but, as he
reached the door, he turned, with a sort of dogged pa-
tience.
“My aunt told me to say that, if the Herr Captain gives
permission, I will show you through the garrets this after-
noon. There are only two rooms that are locked.”


200
A CASTLE TO LET
keen eyes searched the cortège as it filed past, and as she
remarked that young Esler was not there, a smile of satis-
faction curved her lips.
“Then the Herr General did find time before his de
parture to drop a hint,” she inly reflected. "I have put
a spoke in his wheel. A young upstart! Thinks himself
too good for my Lise, does he? Thinks he can go about
with his mouth shut, and that nobody can find out any-
thing about the things he wants to keep dark? He will
find that it is not so good a thing to make an enemy of
Marie Vorst! Why, my girl could marry anybody. She
will have a dot, too; and he is just the old Graf's gar-
dener, at twelve marks a week. A nice cock to think he
can crow over all the girls in Ildestadt!"
By this time they had crossed the Market Square, and
approached the little postern door of the tower.
It stood open to-day, and the old Graf himself was
just within. He came forward with hand outstretched in
welcome, and made a long speech which, owing to his
toothless condition, was difficult for foreigners to follow,
but which, as far as Camiola could grasp it, seemed to
contain no embarrassing allusions.
He greeted each lady elaborately as she was dismounted,
and then, bidding Otho follow with the Fräulein France,
he
gave his shaking arm to Miss Purdon, and led her up
the winding stair, their progress being so slow that the
younger and more frivolous members of the party behind
were in agonies of stifled laughter.
In the curious room into which the two ladies had been
ushered upon their previous visit, there sat in state three
antique survivals of the local aristocracy of an earlier
period. These were the wife and the two daughters of
the Graf von Orenfels, but they all looked exactly the same
age, and seemed all to have reached precisely the same
stage of decay. All three wore little caps of lace and


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
201
ribbon
upon
their
sparse
and faded hair, each had a large
lace collar and a vast gold brooch like a poached egg.
Miss Purdon, seeking for some point of differentiation,
observed that one lady wore mittens, and hoped that this
might be the mistress of the house, in which conjecture
she was fortunately right.
The old Graf presented her in due form, and then,
turning to Camiola, led her forward, and expressed the
hope that the friendship, so auspiciously began, might
continue unbroken for many years.
This was a hope which one could echo without feeling
too self-conscious; and when the whole party had been
received, with three precisely similar salutations, the ten-
ant of the castle sat down, and tried to tell her hostess
how pleased she was with her beautiful summer house.
The old lady was not expansive. She remarked, draw-
ing a little shawl more closely around her narrow shoulders
-her shoulders were the only part of her that was narrow
-that for her part she had found the Schloss draughty
and inconvenient, and, besides, so schrecklich entfernt.
She had been thankful to come down into the town, where
one could at least see a little life.
Camiola sympathised. She owned that she herself
could not face the idea of living always in so remote a
spot; but for one summer it was ideal.
All three of them surveyed her as if she were a phe-
nomenon they could not understand. Then one asked,
with a faint flutter of interest, whether she found Frau
Esler satisfactory. Her reply to this was prompt and
Frau Esler was a wonder. She kept the maids
in order, cooked well, and gave no trouble.
Arnold Bassett, as in duty bound, was making gallant
efforts to draw one of the daughters into conversation. He
found it practically impossible, because she was listening,
absorbed, to Camiola's account of Frau Esler.
warm.


202
A CASTLE TO LET
22
“And the young man! They say he is none too steady,"
went on the elder sister, craning her scraggy neck towards
Camiola. “But, however, he is in the garden, so you will
not have much to do with him. My father thought it
would be all right."
"Do you mean Eric Esler ?” asked Camiola in astonish-
ment.
Three old heads nodded in unison, and three voice re-
iterated “Ja, ja, ja,” till Conrad had to turn away to the
window, with shoulders shaking.
"We find him most helpful and obliging," said Miss
France, in wonder. "Do you say he is not steady? I
should have thought him a most respectable, quiet young
fellow.”
“Ach ja! Our father said it would be so. He said he
will not show off his airs and graces to the Herrschaften.
He knows which side his bread is buttered.”
This remark struck Camiola as being so conspicuously
unjust, judging the young gardener by her own experi-
ence, that she merely smiled.
Bassett, having abandoned his attempt to ingratiate the
ladies of the house, had gone to one of the window em-
brasures, and was talking with the old Graf.
“May I ask if you, sir; are the guardian of the so
amiable Fräulein France ?” asked the old gentleman.
The K.C., glad of this opportunity, proceeded to ex-
plain that the Fräulein was quite exempt from all tutelage,
and that he had laid down his command when she was
twenty-one.
"To whom, then, should one apply in any matter which
concerned—which concerned negotiations of too delicate
a nature to make it practicable to discuss them with a
young maiden? To the excellent Fräulein Purdon, per-
haps ?”
Bassett explained Miss Purdon's position, and the old


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
203
Graf was a little worried. “So also Otho told me," he
said, in a vexed way. "He said she was only a dame de
compagnie, and that it was not fitting that I should lead
her upstairs. He said I should have taken the Fräulein,
who is mistress of all. Now I have made a mistake, and
perhaps I have done great harm. Do you think that Meess
France will take offence, because I give first place to the
dame de compagnie?"
Bassett spoke on this point with brief but firm emphasis.
The Graf had done right, and exactly what Camiola would
have wished.
"But I must go change the places at table,” fussed the
little Graf, his hair seeming to stand more erect than ever.
“Nothing of the kind, Graf. Miss Purdon is a gentle-
woman, and always takes her place in Miss France's house-
hold as such. To slight her would be a sure way to offend
the young lady."
"I would not do so on any account. But if such is the
case, what is to be done ? One cannot approach a young
lady direct on so delicate a subject as her own marriage ?"
“Well, Graf, you may have heard that in England we
are so peculiar as to think that a young lady's marriage
concerns herself more than anybody else. We actually
hold that a girl who is of an age to be married, is of an
age to consider the question."
The Graf looked horrified. “Do you mean that I could
address the young Meess France, and say: I wish to con-
fer with you on the subject of your marriage with my
nephew ?"
“Oh, no; I do not mean that. You are going rather
fast, Graf, for my English ideas. Are you sure that
Captain von Courland desires to marry my late ward ?
If you are, you must leave it to him to do the arranging.
It
may sound nonsense to you, but it is the simple fact,
that Miss France will give her hand to the man she pre-


204
A CASTLE TO LET
fers, and that she will expect that man to ask her for it
himself."
It was a situation which left the Graf so astounded
that he had really nothing to reply. Bassett, however,
improved the occasion. He told him that in England it
was considered very bad form to seem to notice anything
beforehand in a situation of this kind. He warned him
that if any reference were made at table or in drinking
toasts to the chance of any such thing, Camiola would
most probably take offence, and nip the affair in the bud.
In England the relations and onlookers always affected
to see nothing and know nothing. By the way in which
the Graf listened to what he had to say, and the swiftness
with which he subsequently went up to his wife and spoke
privately to her, Bassett concluded that he had reason to
thank his stars for the chance he had been given to warn
the poor old gentleman. He felt sure that some allusion
to the idea of a match had been contemplated. He dared
not think what Camiola might have done under the cir-
cumstances.
What she was trying to do at the present moment was
to avoid catching the eye either of Otho or Conrad. The
conversation she had so arduously kept up with the three
ladies had languished, and she was wondering what she
could possibly say next, when the Gräfin remarked softly:
“You have a charming party of young people, Fräu-
lein.”
Camiola said that she thought it most kind of the Gräfin
to entertain such a formidable number.
“But they are such a charming party,” cooed Aunt
Linda.
“All such attractive young people,” concluded Aunt
Anna.
The faithfulness of their nephew's imitation that morn-
ing caused Camiola to be nearer the point of losing her


A PROJECTED ALLIANCE
205
manners altogether, and laughing aloud, than she had
ever been in her life. The situation was saved only by
the appearance of the head waiter from the Blaue Vögel,
who drew back a curtain, set open a narrow door, and
announced that dinner was served.
The room in which they dined was exactly the same
size and shape as that in which they had been received.
It was close quarters, and of course neither of the small,
deeply splayed windows was open. Looking back upon
that meal later on, Camiola sometimes wondered that they
had all escaped asphyxiation.
They were called upon to eat hot soup, venison, cran-
berries, roast ducks, and other viands of an equally sub-
stantial description. It was no wonder that, having fed
to repletion, the three old ladies should obviously desire
a nap. The rest of the party hailed with joy the sugges-
tion of Otho that they should go and have cigarettes and
sweetmeats in the guard-house, and summon old Johanna,
the family retainer, to tell them “bogey stories."


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 207
present until they rested upon Camiola with the same wist-
ful intentness which had drawn the girl's gaze upon her
first arrival in Ildestadt. Miss France felt a sudden
beating of the heart, accompanied by a curious sensation
as though invisible threads or cords surrounded her. She
took a deep breath, and had almost raised her hand to
her forehead to brush away the floating films. She was
glad when the odd silence caused by the old woman's
entry was broken by Otho's gay voice.
"Come along, Mütterchen," he cried. “Sit down on
this stool. We want you to make the company's flesh
creep with one of your awful stories.”
“About the skeletons they found in Otho's room," put
in Conrad, in breathless excitement.
“Yes, and that will mean my sitting beside you to
night, and holding your hand until you are asleep, re-
marked Camiola cruelly.
"Rot, 'Miola!” cried the slandered boy, crimson.
“Never mind, Conrad will have to get over it," said
Otho calmly. He had not much sympathy with nerves,
as far as healthy boys are concerned.
"If I tell you of the Prophecy of Ephrosine, the skele
tons come into that story,” announced the old woman,
laying her brown, wrinkled hands upon her knees. She
glanced again at Camiola. “It is all written in the Town
Records," she remarked softly. “There is no escape from
that.”. She moistened her lips, and went on: "I will
speak very slowly, that the ladies from England may
understand.”
“I'll interpret, if you don't,”? Bassett promised the
Thurlows.
"In the year 1611,” began Johanna, "the old lord of
Orenfels, which, then, was called Yndaia, had two sons.
In those days, you understand, the family lived at Oren-
fels all the summer, but in winter they usually came here


208
A CASTLE TO LET
to the tower. They used both houses as their own. The
names of the young men were Otho and Dmitri, Otho
being the elder.
“Halfway down the hill from Orenfels, on the very
spot--the cursed spot-where the Kurhaus was afterwards
built-you would see in those days the house of Cornea,
the gamekeeper, a Roumanian. He had a daughter,
named Ephrosine. She was not so much beautiful as
wonderful. Her mother had been a Tzigane (gipsy),
and was handsome, but Ephrosine was more. She had a
glance that sent men mad. There was one man upon
whom her heart was set, and that was Otho, the young
Herr. She laughed at all the others.
“Otho was young and hasty. All his life he had always
had what he had set his heart upon. He was determined
to marry Ephrosine, and marry her he did. How they
managed it is not known.
“Ephrosine still lived on in her father's cottage, for
the old lord would have killed his son had he dared to
confess that he was married to a peasant.
“Two beautiful boys were born to her, and it was not
known that they were hers, for her married brother and
his wife lived in the hunting lodge, and every one sup-
posed the boys belonged to them.
For several years
Ephrosine kept quiet. Her husband loved her, she saw
him often, if secretly, and she was not unhappy. But
when it was a question of a marriage for Otho, she would
not be silent any longer. He warned her that if she con-
fessed, they would be both ruined; but she was not to be
deterred. She waited until her husband departed, on a
visit to the lady whom he was to court; then she took her
two children, went up to the castle, and told the old lord
to his face that she was his son's wife, and these were his
heirs.
"Now at the time Dmitri, the younger son, was pres-


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 209
ent. He was full of cunning. He restrained his father's
anger, and by his advice the old lord said very little, but
took it so quietly that Ephrosine was in triumph, and
wished she had had the courage to confess long ago.
"The old lord said that if these children were his heirs,
they must be put into his charge, to be brought up as a
nobleman's sons should be trained. She was ready and
willing to do this, and to go back to her own home alone,
as he desired her to do, until he should have ascertained
beyond doubt that her story of the marriage was true.
"So she left her babes up at the castle and went home,
and the old lord and Dmitri plotted their scheme of re-
venge.
“In those days, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, any
person who was accused of being a witch was in great
danger. Two days after Ephrosine took her boys to the
castle she was arrested for witchcraft, on the complaint
of one Niklaus Urzsu, a ploughman from Maros, who had
been one of her disappointed suitors.
"I think I told you that she was of a wild kind of
beauty. When she was excited, it is said that she was like
one possessed by a devil. You may think how she raged
and fought when she was dragged to prison. Her gipsy
blood was against her in the eyes of the people. They
were obliged to do things quickly, if they wished all to be
over before the young Herr Otho returned. It was easily
managed. Several witnesses swore that the poor thing
had bewitched them, and the townsfolk went mad with
fear, and were ready and eager to have her burned. It
was never mentioned that she claimed to be the wife of
Otho and the mother of his sons.
“The family came down to Ildestadt from the Schloss
for the trial. She was condemned and she was actually
burned alive, out in the Market Square yonder, just be-
fore the place where the Ikon of St. Ildemund stands.


A CASTLE TO LET
It is said that the old lord took the torch, and lit the pile
that burned her, and that he stood there and watched her
210
As to her two children, they were never seen
torments.
.. Until
or heard of after that.
“Until,” burst in Conrad, “the Frau Gräfin made them
unwall the old cupboard, as you told us this morning,
Otho!”
Otho was looking rather white. “I never heard that
story before,” he said to the old woman. “It is certainly
bad enough for anything.
I did not know that there was
any story that would throw light on the dead children.”
“What did her husband say when he came back ?” cried
Betty, leaning forward, pale with eagerness.
"He killed his brother,” replied the old woman, shaking
her head. “I do not mean that he murdered him; he was
too brave a gentleman for that. He challenged him to
fight, and gave him a chance for his life; but Dmitri was
cowed by the knowledge that he was fighting in a bad
The elder brother slew the younger, out here in
this little courtyard, one moonlight night. He was obliged
to flee the country, and he died unmarried, being slain in
the Thirty Years' War. His sister's son inherited, and
since that there has never been an heir in the direct line,
as it is said that Ephrosine prophesied, while she stood in
he flames in the Market Square.”
"If that is all really true, Johanna, I think the breed
of the Vajda-Maros ought to be exterminated,” cried
Otho, flinging the stump of his cigar in among the flow-
ering geraniums with which he had filled his open hearth.
“They have paid for it long and bitterly, dearie,” said
“Please God, better times are
cause,
cently.
the old wom
coming"
“It
JJ
?” inquired Bassett briefly.
her keen eyes upon him, “The trial
osine are all to be found in the city rec-


212
A CASTLE TO LET
walls to the Castle of Orenfels-a fact to which Otho
drew the girl's attention before they went down again.
Miss Purdon and old Johanna were meanwhile confer-
ring eagerly, the servant being inclined to look upon the
Irish lady as a white witch. Camiola said no word of the
dream concerning the Black Dragon which had visited
her. She had kept that consistently to herself.
Johanna said that the whole of Ephrosine's prophecy,
uttered in her agony, was recorded in the town chronicles.
It explicitly stated that the curse was to endure for ten
generations, that the Orenfels estate should pass into the
hands of the foreigner and the stranger, that the family
blood should mix with the blood of aliens, and that the
Vajda-Maros who should do away the curse, and whose
children should inherit, would be a dragon-slayer, brave
and fair.
Miss Purdon could not but see how well this descrip-
tion might be said to fit Otho. The old woman pointed
out that it was not likely that he would actually slay a
dragon, but that the prophecy no doubt referred to the
very curious fact that Otho's mother, who knew nothing
of the prediction, had given her little son, as his second
name, that of the patron saint of the family—Ildemund,
the dragon-slayer.
“Yes, he is Otho Ildemund, Otho the dragon-slayer,'
said the old woman in a tone of quiet triumph and satis-
faction. "If we do not say too much, if we are quiet
and let things take their course, who shall say what may
happen?"
These last words were murmured softly and confiden-
tially after Camiola, who had heard the first part of what
was said, had turned away.
There was little time to reflect upon the marvels they
had just heard, for a messenger now arrived to announce
that the coffee-drinking company was assembling.


214
A CASTLE TO LET
horn sounded; and it was with a perceptible shock that
Camiola, coming downstairs on Bassett’s arm, found that
a plump handmaiden stood beside Forbes at the buffet in-
stead of the usual picturesque figure.
Afterwards, as the butler handed coffee in the drawing-
room, she asked if Esler was ill.
"I believe he is not very well, madam," replied the
old butler impassively.
“Find out if he needs anything or ought to have a doc-
tor,” commanded the young mistress, and Forbes replied,
“Yes, madam," in exactly the same voice.
The next day was extremely hot, and the party decided
that they were going to loaf and play tennis. Everybody
was lazy, and the hours drifted by on wings of sunshine
and peace.
Otho's absence made things a little dull, perhaps. He
was always the life of the party, Neville not being con-
spicuous for high spirits. Camiola was certainly moody
and abstracted, and Miss Purdon and Bassett looked mean-
ingly at each other as this symptom developed. The lady
felt glad, in this puzzling situation, that the ex-guardian
should be on the spot. She felt slightly guilty when she
thought of the wrath of Mr. and Mrs. Thurlow should
the golden prize really fall to the young
officer. Yet,
after all, what could they do? Nothing at all. Camiola
was her own mistress.
Irmgard remarked to Miss Purdon that afternoon:
“Isn't 'Miola queer? I mean, somehow, unlike her-
self? Brooding or something. Do you think it can be
that she misses Captain von Courland ? I thought yester-
day that the old people were very sugary, and so on. I
don't think I want 'Miola to be married yet."
"My dear,” said Miss Purdon, “I don't suppose either
you or I can stop it, but if you think you have any influ-


THE PROPHECY OF EPHROSINE 215
ence, I beg of you to use it. This curious fancy for an
old castle will pass over.
A young girl who finds herself
suddenly in command of great wealth is sure to be a bit
freakish at first. But very soon her present passion for
ultima Thule will be a thing of the past, and I should be
very sorry if she were to be entangled in any disagreeable
consequences.
Irmgard laughed. “The Captain is a nice fellow," she
remarked meditatively, “but his family! Think of hav-
ing Cousin Anna and Cousin Linda for one's nearest
kin!” She broke off with a little sigh. "I don't know if
I dare say anything,” she said, "for since I came up here
'Miola seems somehow different. She has shut
up:
I
can't describe it, but I used to feel as if she were a maze,
but I knew the way in. I was in the centre, but now I
am wandering about the outer circles."
"I know what you mean," replied Mizpah. “I too
have noticed it. I think, if I were you, I would make an
effort to find your way back again. Mental isolation is
not good for Camiola."
All that day Irmgard watched, but Camiola was never
to be entrapped. After tea Neville persuaded the girl to
go for a stroll with him up the Alp and into the birch-
wood. In the glamour of that stroll Irmgard lost all
memory of Camiola's affairs.
Nothing was said. It was what was left unsaid that was
so strangely sweet.


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
217
foreign idea that there can be no easy intercourse be-
tween young people unless a marriage is contemplated.
Her bed was unbearably hot. Sighing over the excep-
tional heat, she wondered if that was what had affected
young Esler. He had not appeared at all that day, but
Forbes had told her that he was all right, and that he
begged the Fräulein would not disquiet herself on his
account.
She felt much inclined to arise, put on some clothes,
and slip, by way of the secret stair, down into the garden.
She had just sprung up, with intention to carry out this
design, when she remembered that the garden cave was
always kept locked.
With a sigh of disappointment, she flung down the
stocking she had caught up, took a thin silk kimono,
slipped it on, and strolled to the window. Right across
the orięl stood one of the large, heavy sofas which are to
be found all over the country in any room in any old-
fashioned house. She had been lying upon it that after-
noon, reading. Now she fancied that it would be cooler
here, with all the casements flung wide, than in her bed.
She fetched a coverlet and her pillow and lay down.
Her thoughts, however, continued so active that she was
still wide awake when, about half an hour later, she heard
a sound outside in the garden, a step, crunching the gravel.
In a moment she had started erect, and she was in
time to see Esler come round the corner of the building
and emerge into the moonlight, which now flooded the
terrace. He was bareheaded, and wore only a shirt and
knee breeches, with the thick stockings and square-toed
shoes of the country. He came along so swiftly that at
first she thought he must be pursued. Running lightly
and fast, with even pace, he reached the flight of steps
leading down to the bowling green, cleared them at a
bound, and fled on down the hill, disappearing from view


218
A CASTLE TO LET
very soon owing to the steepness of the slope down which
he was rushing. She could perceive only that he was not
following the curved path, but leaping through flower-beds
and over boulders, going, as directly as he could, straight
down to the end of the garden.
This seemed to her very surprising. Esler, who had
been unwell—too unwell to do any work--for two days,
was running out of the house as though his life depended
upon it. Where was he going and what was be about?
She wondered whether he had had a touch of the sun and
was slightly deranged. It was so impossible to guess any
reason for his headlong flight.
What Neville had said of his running, on the day that
Conrad was lost, came back to her. "He runs like an
English public-school man.” And, as a matter of fact, he
ran like a conscript from the Austrian Navy!
She flung herself back upon her pillows in complete
bewilderment, but with an intention to watch and see if
he would return.
She settled herself cosily, her face turned to the win-
dow, feeling extraordinarily wide awake. But in a very
few minutes Nature asserted her authority, the lids
drooped over those wondering eyes, and Camiola slept the
sleep of healthy girlhood.
It was with a start that she awoke, to the conscious-
ness of early dawn. The light outside was hardly brighter
than the moon had made it, but of a different quality.
The air was full of the twitternig of countless birds, and
she had been awakened by the fact that a pretty little
chaffinch had alighted upon her window-sill, and was ut-
tering his long-drawn whistle like a call to rise.
As she stretched out her arms, he fluttered away, but
not very far, only upon the banksia rose, where he bal-
anced himself and sang so jubilantly that she felt con-


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
219
vinced his wife must have hatched a second brood that
very morning
Sitting up, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and admired
the faint opal of the misty sky. It was like looking at a
fire through a mother-o'-pearl shell-infinitely beautiful.
A sofa is apt to cramp one after sleeping several hours,
so she arose and took a turn about the room.
She was
vexed with herself for falling so soundly asleep, and so
missing Esler's return from his run, and was wishing she
had kept awake, when a sound struck on her ear so unex-
pected that she stood motionless a moment, then glided,
stooping, to the open casement.
She had heard somebody speaking in the dim garden
below.
Kneeling upon the floor of her room, sheltered by a
muslin curtain, she could see without being seen. It was
quite light enough for her to distinguish the figures of
two men coming slowly up the garden path as though they
had made great haste and were fatigued.
The sound of their carefully subdued voices came to
her, but no words. Esler she could easily distinguish,
for his shirt was white or light in colour, and he wore no
hat. The other was in black, with a soft felt hat dragged
rather forward over his face. As they approached nearer
she saw that Esler carried a bag. Soon after she per-
ceived that the stranger had a long dark beard. It was
nobody she knew-of that she felt sure. They were now
ascending the steps from the bowling-green. They had
fallen silent as they neared the sleeping house; but as
they gained the terrace the dark man paused to take off
his hat and mop his forehead, and Esler spoke.
His voice was low, but as Camiola was almost imme
diately above his head his words reached her in the still-
ness of the night.
“I could not bring you the short way,” he said, as if


220
A CASTLE TO LET
past three.
apologising. "The Herrschaften occupy the room at the
top of the stair."
"Ja, ja," said the other, nodding in comprehension.
“This way," softly added Esler, and they both moved,
stepping upon the grass edging to the corner of the wall,
and disappeared.
Camiola crept to her bed and lay down in a flutter of
curiosity.
She felt convinced that Esler had been down all the
way to Ildestadt and had fetched somebody thence! She
began to consider times. By the mule road it took about
an hour and a half to go down to Ildestadt, and two and
a quarter for a man who was a good walker to return.
She guessed that it must have been midnight, or possibly
later, when she saw Esler run. It was now ten minutes
He must have been down by that other
shorter road, by which the townsfolk had brought supplies
to the castle in the days of the famous siege.
Who could the mysterious stranger be? He, the invalid,
who had been unable to perform his duties for two days
past, he had dashed away in the night and brought back
a bearded ruffian with a bag-somebody as like a burglar
as any description could paint.
What ought she to do? Ought she to go and awaken
Uncle Arnold and tell him that she had seen a strange
man brought into the house?
As she considered the affair in her mind, she knew that
she did not seriously imagine that Esler would bring a
bad character into the castle. Moreover, if burglary were
contemplated, then they would not choose a moonlight
nightma night in which it had never been dark for a
single hour, since dawn and moonset had almost corre
sponded. Also, they would have begun their operations
earlier in the night. The burglar idea was nonsense, she


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
221
felt convinced. But who and what was the mysterious
stranger?
She lay considering this lazily, since she had decided
that, come what might, she was not going to awaken the
household. She had reached only one conclusion-name
ly, that she would ask Esler himself straight out who it
was-when sleep once more overtook her, and she next
became conscious when Marston stood pouring tea beside
her bed with so calm and contented an expression that she
felt sure no armed ruffian had made his wild entry into
the peaceful life of the staff.
It seemed that Bassett and Neville were both keen
about going fishing that day. The pool which von Cour-
land had showed them was so well shaded that it could be
fished even in fine weather; and they thought it would
be delightful to go thither if any kind persons would
bring then their lunch.
This the ladies promised to do. They thought it almost
certain that Otho would walk up from Ildestadt that day
to inquire how they were after their day at the Watch
Tower. Conrad would have to be posted on the main road
to tell him where they might be found, and prevent his
going all the way up to the castle for nothing. Conrad
objected. He wanted to fish. Erwald was required to
bring the ladies and the lunch, so Bassett said he supposed
they had better tell Esler to come along and do sentry.
Forbes, when asked to take a message, looked doubtful,
and said he did not think that Esler could be spared.
Upon Bassett expressing surprise, Camiola explained that
the young man was really not her own but the old Graf's
servant, and had quite as much work as he could manage
in the garden. She added that she would speak to Frau
Esler about it.
She thought, as the woman came to her in the servants'
hall, where she usually gave her orders, that it might well


222
A CASTLE TO LET
be she and not her nephew who had been ill. She had
black marks under her eyes, and all the aspect of one who
has not slept for some nights. The fanciful idea that her
nephew might have been doing the cooking for her during
the past two days floated through Camiola's mind. Per-
haps that was a cook whom he had smuggled up hill last
night!
"How is your nephew, Frau Esler ?" she asked. The
woman looked surprised, and answered that he was well.
"I thought Forbes said that he had been unwell. He
did not wait upon us last night or the night before.”
Frau Esler answered very respectfully, with lowered
eyes. “I did not know the waiting at table was part of
his duties. I thought he only undertook it until Mr.
Forbes should have trained one of the maids."
“Oh, yes," hastily cried Camiola. “I do not mean to
complain at all. I was most grateful to him, and I know
it is not part of his duties. I only asked because I do not
want to seem unkind, and because the gentlemen wanted
to know if he could go out with them this morning."
Frau Esler looked doubtful. “I think not,” said she.
"He has had to do things for me during the past two days
which have kept him busy. He has much that needs do-
ing in the garden."
"I will tell them so,” said Camiola quietly. "You your-
self do not look well, Frau Esler. I hope you are not
finding the work too much for you.” In spite of her feel-
ing that Frau Esler had snubbed her, she spoke very
kindly.
“If the Fräulein is satisfied, I am also,” was the cold
and formal answer.
The young mistress again felt wounded, thrown back
upon herself, in the way in which the Eslers always made
her feel it. She was quite unused to such an experience.
Even the grumpy, taciturn Erwald had thawed percepti-


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
223
by under her gentle kindness. Only the Eslers remained
aloof, wrapped in their proud reserve.
Well, it could not be heped. She did all she could, and
if they would not meet her they must remain apart.
“I am well satisfied with all you do,” she replied, swal-
lowing down her mortification, “but I want you to promise
me that you will ask for more help if you require it. I
mention this because the Gräfin von Orenfels, when we
went to lunch with her, presented me to the gentlefolk
of the neighbourhood, and I should like to give a party
here."
“Certainly, gnädigste. On what day?"
"I have not decided. I wished to see you about it first.
If I give a party here, it is certain that nobody can return
home until the following day. I shall want many rooms
prepared.
Frau Esler flushed and looked alarmed. “But what
rooms, Fräulein? There are only the one occupied by
the Herr Captain when he comes and the two small ones
near your own.
"What about the ones we do not use ?" asked Camiola
calmly. “The ones you reach by means of a door in the
gallery?"
In the silence which followed, Frau Esler being unable
to help showing some symptoms of surprise, the girl could
hear her own heart beat. Her random shaft had gone
home.
“The Herr Graf keeps those closed," said the Frau, at
last. “They are only garrets, and in them are stored such
things as are not let with the castle. The rooms would
be quite unsuitable for the accommodation of visitors."
“Of course; but we might go up there ourselves for one
night and put our guests downstairs."
"Even if you did use those rooms, Fräulein-and I
assure you they are only garretshow would you get bed


224
A CASTLE TO LET
linen, and so on, for so many guests ?” She spoke swiftly,
and with some vexation.
“That is quite easily managed. I borrowed an idea
from the Watch Tower. Herr Neumann will send up
bed linen-beds also if necessary-he will also lend me
cutlery and plate and table linen. It will be quite easy.
If you please, I should like to see the rooms before I de
cide against using them.”
Camiola spoke easily, but inwardly she was filled with
a queer excitement. The door which she had dreamed-
which Esler had shown her in sleep-really existed, then!
The long passage through which she had groped, the un-
ceiled roof-these were real! There was a range of
garrets in her domain which she had not yet explored.
Frau Esler took a moment to assimilate the plans pro-
duced so glibly by her young mistress. At last she spoke:
“The Fräulein will forgive me if I refuse, quite decidedly,
to show her the garrets without leave from the Herr
Graf.”
"Oh, certainly; but I am sure he will grant it," was
the ready response. “I do not mind paying more rent, if
he likes. The Herr Captain is coming up to-day, and I
will ask him. He can give leave quite well.”
Frau Esler said no more, but she flashed a look almost
of hatred at Camiola. With a murmured assent, she
curtseyed and went out of the room, leaving the girl in a
state of the greatest indecision.
Why was Frau Esler so annoyed? Could it be that
these apparently trusty servants were doing in secret
something which they did not wish should come to the
ears of their employers? It really looked like it. From
the first it had been the same from the moment when
Frau Esler knew the castle was let right on until now.
Every forward step taken by the new mistress met with
iebuff, with opposition.


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
225
She turned away, sore and uncomfortable, yet trium-
phant too, and remembered suddenly that Bassett and
Nev were waiting to know if she could secure young Esler.
She ran to tell them that this could not be managed.
“I don't quite know what is the matter,” said she, “but
something has upset Frau Esler. I think she is ill and
won't say so, and that the young man is helping her with
her work instead of doing his own. But you need not
bother about Captain von Courland. Nobody ever comes
up the mountain except ourselves. Write a note to him
and lay it in the middle of the path under a stone. He
simply cannot help finding it."
Every one agreed that this was a good idea, and the note
was accordingly written, the two gentlemen immediately
afterwards departing to their fishing.
Camiola gave orders to Forbes to prepare lunch, and to
Erwald to carry it, and went away to write letters in her
own room before preparing to go out herself.
Seated at her lacquer table in the oriel, her eyes fixed
upon the lovely prospect without, the perfume of the gar-
den in her nostrils, the blue haze of settled summer heat
over all the fair land beneath her, she let her pen lie idle
while her thoughts wandered.
Something disquieted her. She was restless and suspi-
cious. What were the Eslers about? In her mind was
crystallising the resolution to tell von Courland all about
it. Their attitude from the very first needed explanation.
She saw that now.
As her mind worried itself over the question, a gentle
tap came at her door. “Come in," said she.
It opened slowly, and Esler stood, hesitating, upon the
threshold.
Camiola flung down her pen. “Come in and close the
door," said she swiftly; "I want to speak to you.”
Like one entering a holy place which his presence dese-


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
227
“Not having been to bed last night?"
“I saw you run down the garden," she replied quietly,
keeping her gaze fixed on him, "and I also saw you return
-with a friend. I very nearly roused the house, to say I
had seen a burglar."
He met her eyes quite steadily. “I went to fetch the
doctor, Fräulein,” he said simply.
She gave a little start. The explanation was so simple,
yet to her unexpected.
“I am very, very sorry that I disturbed your rest,” he
"It was the Herr Doktor Stahlschmidt who was
with me."
"Your aunt?" broke in Camiola.
He shook his head. "It is not my aunt. It is a poor
woman to whom she has been very kind. She has been ill
during the past three days. This morning, thanks to the
Herr Doktor, she is better."
Camiola leaned back, with a look of relief. “Well!"
said she, "but why could not your aunt tell me that? I am
not a monster; I have some human sympathy. Isn't there
something I could do to help? Yon know I want to.”
"That is why,” he answered low, "that is why we will
not trouble the Fräulein. She is so heavenly good. There
is no need to trouble you, indeed. Since you pay us such
good wages, we are able to do all. But I He hesi-
tated, and grew red.
"Well, what is it?" she asked gently.
“I would ask something; but it is difficult.”
“Tell
me,
Esler."
"My aunt does not wish it known," he murmured low.
“The Herr Graf does not know, and the Herr Captain
does not know, that she has this pensioner. It is not
certain that it would be permitted. I wish to implore
you, Fräulein, of your great kindness, not to say to any
one what I have now told
you.” He struggled with him-


228
A CASTLE TO LET
>>
self, and added shamefacedly: "It is most unwillingly
that I bring myself to ask.”
Camiola flushed warmly. "Esler,” she cried impul-
sively, “do you really think you could make such a re-
quest to me in vain ?"
He almost turned his back upon her. “I know I could
not,” he said, almost inaudibly, “but that makes it all the
harder to have to ask."
There was a silence. She felt as if a dear brother of
hers were in trouble, and as if it would be natural to take
his hand, press it, and beg him to cheer up. She wanted
to throw her arm across his bent shoulders, and assure him
of her sympathy.
All that she could trust herself to say was: “You don't
know how glad I am that you told me. I knew Frau Esler
was in trouble, and I did not like to show impertinent
curiosity. I promise you I will not say a word, but you
will tell me if you want anything, won't you? I want to
help. Can't you see, I always want to help!”
He turned upon her suddenly, with so changed a look
that she almost winced. His hands were clenched, straight
down at bis sides, his face was flushed, there was water
standing in his blue eyes.
"And it is I that ought to help you !” he burst out, "and
who can do nothing. I'm a servant, and I mustn't even
say "Thank you' as I want to say it.”
Her bewildered face warned him. His look changed,
his head drooped. "I beg your pardon, gnädigste," he
said, moving away as soon as he had spoken.
She was too amazed to reply in any way; but, as he
reached the door, he turned, with a sort of dogged pa-
tience.
“My aunt told me to say that, if the Herr Captain gives
permission, I will show you through the garrets this after-
noon. There are only two rooms that are locked.”
27


THE MIDNIGHT ERRAND
229
He waited for no response, but went immediately out.
Camiola sat as he had left her, and wondered whether
the world had turned upside down.
Yet nothing had happened, except that a foreign rustic
had made her an unusual kind of apology.
1


CHAPTER XXI
BETTY'S ACCIDENT
OTHO reached the shrine of St. Ildemund in record
time from the city gate. He was growing so used to go
up and down the mountain that it seemed nothing at all.
He was hot, but hardly out of breath, as he paused to wipe
the dew from his handsome forehead.
As he did so, he became aware that in the centre of the
path, just where the road to Orenfels forked away from
that which led to the left to the Trollzähner Falls, some-
thing white lay under a stone.
He picked it up and read, to his great delight, the news
that the party was picnicking near the fishing-pool, and
would be found if he came along.
Turning gladly along the more level path he made good
pace, pondering as he went over various matters. He had
bad news to give that morning, and upon the question of
how Camiola received it would depend the immediate
urging or the postponement of his suit.
Striding along, after a while he began to whistle. The
notes rang out clear and bird-like above the murmur of
the stream, near whose bank he was now moving.
A cry came to his ears. Abruptly he ceased to whistle
and listened.
“Help, please !” said some unseen person, and after a
minute added these surprising words: “Wenn du Deutsch
bist, bitte zu Hilf!"
He could not help the smile that curved his lip under
his moustache at this appeal. Who could it be? Some
230


BETTY'S ACCIDENT
231
one whose German was of the most elementary descrip-
tion. He looked all around, but could see nobody. He
must not let the speaker--who was undoubtedly feminine
-become conscious of her colloquial solecism, so he cried
out:
“Wo bist du?” And was almost immediately answered:
“Oh, is it you, Captain von Courland? I am almost
in the water, down under the bank."
He flung down his hat and coat, which he was carrying,
and lowered himself from the path, looking this way and
that. Before long he saw the glint of a golden head and a
bit of the pale-green linen gown which Betty wore.
"I'm coming,” said he, hastening at his best speed.
He was horrified when he had reached her, to see how
pale she looked.
“Oh, please be quick. See if you can lift the stone that
is on my foot,” she implored him.
“Why, how on earth did you contrive to do this ?” he
cried, as he approached the great rock which held her
pinned. “Lie quite still for a minute. I don't know that
I can lift it alone. Yes—yes, it's coming! There”-as
the mass toppled over sideways, leaving her clear. “My
word, don't move. You have hurt yourself badly, I'm
afraid.”
The crushed grass was wet and slippery with blood, and
her delicate frock was stained. She was in a most un-
comfortable position, supporting herself on one elbow; and
as she experienced the sudden relief of having the weight
lifted, she turned white and her head sank sideways.
He was growing quite English in his habit of carrying
a folding cup in his pocket. He ran to the riverside, filled
it, and hastening back raised the girl very tenderly, hold-
ing the water to her pale and quivering lips.
She drank, and let her head rest against his coat, seem-
ing quite content to lie still for some minutes with eyes


232
A CASTLE TO LET
closed. He sat there looking down upon her, and watch-
ing with gratification the colour steal back into her face.
Then her lids were raised, and two grateful blue eyes
looked into his, first with relief, then with confusion, a
sudden blush, a turning away.
It was wonderful. In that moment the heart upon
which Betty's head lay pillowed gave a leap for which its
owner was unprepared. He thought it must be audible
to her, but she was too occupied in realising the fact that
Captain von Courland had her in his arms, and that his
vivid, handsome face was but a few inches from her own.
"Thanks so much. I am quite all right now," said
she demurely.
"Don't you think,” he began hesitatingly, “just a little
longer-
"Oh,” sighed Betty irrelevantly, “the German language
is simply awful! I am glad it was you, and nobody else,
that heard me say 'Du' when I ought to have said 'Sie.'
"Perhaps,” said Otho, “that was not a mistake, but
only a prophecy.”
Betty smiled. They all knew he was Camiola's suitor,
and thus he might one day be Betty's cousin-in-law. She
accepted the remark amiably, and said she hoped so.
Then she begged him to go and find the others, tell
them what had befallen her, and send Neville to the rescue.
He, however, thought it would be well to ascertain first
how much damage was done, and whether she was badly
hurt.
“I don't believe I am,” she replied. “What a good
thing I took Camiola's advice, and wore thick boots. I
think they have saved me a good deal!”
Indeed it seemed so, since the upper leather of her
boot had been torn completely down, and Otho was able to
slip it off without the formality of unlacing. The foot
within was grazed so as to present a mass of crushed tis-


BETTY'S ACCIDENT
233
sue, from which the stocking was with difficulty detached.
"How did it happen ?” he asked.
"I just strayed along, gathering willow gentian; it is
such a glorious blue. I saw that big clump, just by the
water, and I felt I must have it, so I swung myself down
off the path, stepped on this boulder, and set it rolling.
I fell as it gave way under me, and then I don't know
what happened. Either I or the stone seemed to tumble
head over heels. And down I came, and down it came,
too!”
“I'm going to carry you to the stream, to hold your
feet in the running water,” he said. “Then we can see
what mischief there is."
He did so with strength and care. She sat on the grassy
verge, watching the water slip away below; and the cold
stanched the bleeding in great measure.
"I don't think it's broken. I can move all my toes,”
said Betty gravely, suiting the action to the word.
"Fortunately you had soft grass and earth under you,
so the stone did not wholly crush you. When I first saw
it, I really thought your foot was pulp,” he cried, with
much relief; adding, after a prolonged contemplation:
“What a pretty little thing a girl's foot is!”
“I don't think you ought to make personal remarks,
replied Betty, with a very prunes-prism expression.
“Taking an unfair advantage of my position, isn't
it ?” he smiled.
"You would be better employed in going and calling
my brother.”
"I will; but first let me move you, in case you turn
faint again, and fall into the water."
"I shall not turn faint now. I am ever so much better.
The water is doing my foot no end of good. Do please go
and call Nev."


234
A CASTLE TO LET
He was obliged to go, though his movements at first
were very slow and unwilling.
His appearance, and the news he brought, caused con-
sternation in the camp. Conrad rushed away to summon
Nev from his fishing; and Otho and Nev hurried off,
armed with a white silk scarf to enwrap the injured foot.
They made a chair with their interlaced arms, in which
they carried Betty back to the picnic; and Miss Purdon
said that she must see a doctor. Erwald had better go
back to Orenfels for a mule, and after lunch she must be
placed thereon and taken to Ildestadt.
"By the good God's arrangement, the Herr Doktor
Stahlschmidt is to-day up at Maros,'
,” remarked Erwald.
Camiola, who had been hesitating between the desire
to say this and the fear of betraying confidence, was much
relieved.
“When he comes," went on the muleteer, "he arrives
and departs by the short route, crossing the Trollsbrücke.
If I go and wait there, I shall catch him as he comes
down.”
“How do you know that he has not already gone ?”
asked Camiola, somewhat anxiously.
"He was to stay until after dinner,” replied Erwald.
“Will he have anything with him?" asked Mizpah, "be-
cause I have all appliances up at the castle."
“Oh!” murmured Camiola, with the memory of the
black bag in her mind, "depend upon it, when he goes up
the mountain, he takes all he is likely to want with him.
He doesn't expect folks up there to keep a medicine chest."
“Very well, then; Erwald had better go to the Trolls-
brücke, stop him, and bring him here," decided Mizpah.
"We might,” suggested Otho, "after lunch carry Miss
Thurlow some of the way towards the bridge, so that the
doctor may have the less far to come.”
"But I am so heavy," demurred Betty.


BETTY'S ACCIDENT
235
"But we can carry you quite easily," he persisted
eagerly.
Bassett remarked that he badly wanted to see the
Trollsbrücke himself, but could not bring himself to leave
his fishing that day. Conrad also, who had been lent a
rod, was fixed upon the fishing with the fell determination
of a small boy with a new hobby.
Neville, who likewise desired to continue his sport,
which included the tuition of Irmgard, threw cold water
upon Otho's suggestion. The farther they carried Betty up
that way, the farther they would have to bring her back.
“Couldn't I go home by the Trollsbrücke?” asked Betty,
"instead of coming back again.”
“Oh, no,” cried Camiola, “it is frightfully steep,” and
checked herself abruptly, realising that she was not sup-
posed to know anything about it.
Erwald was the only person who took note of her slip.
She saw him glancing at her with interest.
“Oh!" sighed Betty, "I am so dreadfully sorry for
spoiling this beautiful day.”
"It is especially sad for me," replied Otho, "because
it is
my last.”
They all cried out. What did he mean?
"I have come to say "Good-bye,'" he remarked, in mel-
ancholy tones. “I have to go back to my regiment for sev-
eral days, perhaps for a week or longer. At the end of
that time, I shall, I hope nay, I am almost surebe
granted more leave. But I must be off to Hermannstadt
to-morrow.”
Camiola heard the news with an inward gasp of relief.
This gave breathing-time. This would enable her to test
her own heart, and see how much she missed him, how
ardently she desired his return.
To Betty, on the contrary, it seemed as if the light went
out of the sky at his words.


298
A CASTLE TO LET
all possible dancers. He could bring a couple of officers
from his own regiment, and there were two von Imbert
girls and two young von Glücksbergs quite nice. Herr
von Arnstein liked dancing, and it was said they had a
niece. Then there were the subalterns; and the von Arn-
steins might know of some one else. Camiola produced a
pencil and wrote down names, and nobody listened to Miss
Purdon's opinion, which was that no sane person of either
sex would come so many miles on mule-back merely for
the sake of an evening's entertainment.
"I see now why the American millionaire sheered off,"
she remarked. “This place is far too isolated to be of
any real use to anybody.”
Erwald now approached, to say that he was ready to
go and meet the Herr Doktor, and what should he tell
him ?
Camiola arose, and said she was going with him. Otho
looked from her to Betty and back again. Miss Purdon
was there to look after the invalid; his duty was clear.
He must go with Camiola. But Betty had seen the hesi-
tation.
It was an uncomfortable walk. Otho had thought it
his bounden duty to take his chance if he could get it.
Camiola was firmly resolved that he should not get it. She
kept things upon the plane of frank friendliness which
poor Otho found so baffling. He tried not once, but re-
peatedly, to bring back the talk to the direction it had
taken once and once only: on the day they walked to the
summit. Camiola frustrated his efforts as fast as he made
them. During all that he said, and all that he left un-
said, his mind held the picture of the raising of Betty's
lids, and the look which had dwelt in her large blue eyes.
If only Camiola and Betty could change places !
In desperation, after his fruitless attempts to be per-
sonal, he began to talk of Miss Thurlow, and Camiola ac-


CHAPTER XXII
XII
THE MYSTERIOUS CRY
THE arched stone bridge spanned the ravine, not so
very far below the awful spot at which she and Esler
had emerged from the home cave.
It was known to be eight centuries old, and some con-
sidered it older. It was a relic of the times when all stores
went up that way to the castle. The other road, past St.
Ildemund's, had probably been taken into use on account
of the great danger and difficulty of this one.
As far up as they had come, the way was safe though
steep. It was above that it grew almost precipitous, as it
led up to the cave mouth on the side of the ravine. For
many years now it had been wholly neglected, and was in
bad condition.
Under the bridge the water rushed in a cataract, gath-
ering impetus for its plunge below over the falls.
Not far from the bridge was the crumbling remains of
a stone shelter, erected for the use of travellers in bad
weather. The sun beat down to-day so fiercely on the hill-
side that Camiola, assured by Erwald that the Herr Dok-
tor had not yet come by, went into the hut and sat down in
its shade. Otho did the same, and they began talking de-
sultorily about the wild scenery, until they heard the sound
of voices. By leaning forward, Camiola could descry that
the doctor was laboriously descending, and that Esler was
with him.
"How surprised they will be to find us here!" she
laughed. "Don't move; they won't see us until they ac-
tually pass by.”
240


THE MYSTERIOUS CRY
241
In a minute more they did pass by, and came to an
abrupt halt.
Camiola rose, and stepped out into the sunshine with
her hand outstretched. “The Herr Doktor Stahlschmidt,
I think ?” she said courteously. As she spoke she caught
sight of Esler's face, and had difficulty in repressing an
exclamation. He grew so white that she thought he would
faint. He looked like a man who has received a blow.
His eyes were fixed upon Otho.
For a moment she felt her thoughts distracted from
what she had come to say, but almost at once she knew that
she must take no notice of what she saw. She continued
to speak to the doctor, indicating Erwald as her authority
for knowing that he was up the mountain, and telling him
of the accident to a member of their party. The doctor
professed himself quite ready to go and attend to the
young lady, and took his bag from Esler, who carried it.
Camiola turned to Otho, and held out her hand. “As I
am going up home this way, I will take leave of you
here,” she said kindly. “You tell me that you cannot
spend the evening with us, owing to your early departure
to-morrow, so I will say Auf Wiedersehen, and hope to
see you back in as few days as duty permits."
Otho took leave in his best manner, but with joy in his
heart. He was going to have another glance at Betty.
He was thanking his kind stars that he had not committed
himself with Camiola.
The doctor, Erwald, and he turned away down the pre
cipitous path, leaving her standing in the sun, motionless,
and Esler beside her like a statue. She said nothing at
all until the three men had disappeared behind the inequal-
ities of the mountain-side. Then, without looking up:
"Will you take me home, Esler ?”
“Assuredly, gnädigste.”
She gave a long sigh, and stole a look at him. "Have


242
A CASTLE TO LET
you found the sun too hot ?" she asked. “You don't look
well.”
“I am quite well, thank you !” he replied mechanically.
"I decided," she remarked, "to come home this way, in
order that you and I might arrange our plans. Fate has
played into my hands in a most unexpected manner. The
Herr Captain has to go away for a week-perhaps more.
He asked me to promise not to have an expedition to the
Gaura Draculuj until his return, which, of course, I did
with delight. Now we can settle a time to go there to-
gether first.”
He made no reply of any kind. She glanced up to see
what was the matter.
“Come and sit down in the hut,” she remarked abruptly.
“This sun is perfectly grilling."
In sponse to her imperious order, he did approach the
hut, but would not enter it. He stood in the shade, staring
at the ground.
Just as she was thinking for the hundredth time how
eccentric he was, he spoke huskily.
"It is a great pity that the Herr Captain must go away.
You will miss him."
“We shall all miss him," she replied, with simple di-
rectness. "He is a nice fellow.”
There was another silence, and when Esler spoke again
his tone was perceptibly more cheerful.
“This is where folks say that the party was lost," he
remarked.
“I know.” At once her tone was eager.
This was the
keen guide, the trusty mountaineer, the person whom she
liked, and in whose society she felt comfortable.
Quite naturally they began to discuss things. He took
her down to the cliff's precipitous edge, and pointed out a
place, rather below the bridge, where was a pool of un-
known depth. How nine sane persons could have drowned


244
A CASTLE TO LET
"I did not like to point that out, but, of course, you are
right.”
"I cannot very well disappear from view for a whole
day,” she laughed, "and even for half a day the headache
device is very thin. I am so desperately well and strong;
I don't think they believed me last time. If we started as
soon as I am supposed to be in bed, we should have plenty
of time, and nobody would suspect anything."
He agreed. “The moon will soon be full,” he said, "and
if we go, we ought to take advantage of that. Just above
there”-he pointed to the height—"it makes all the dif-
ference; the cliff path is dangerous in the pitch dark.”
"I think,” she reflected, "that I can keep them all quiet
for a few days. Mr. Bassett is quite content to fish, and
the heat makes the others prefer tennis to climbing. I
mention this, because if I am out all night, I shall not be
good for a hard day afterwards."
“Certainly. I will do all I can so that you may not be
over-tired again, as you were the other day. I will take
food and wine. As for precautions, I have fixed another
rope; and as well as my revolver, I have a more powerful
weapon-an elephant gun-given me by a traveller on
board ship. I have put that on a ledge of rock, so that I
know where to find it."
"Splendid! Shall we go to-morrow night?”
He hesitated. “Might it be a little later? It would
be better if I could get some sleep before we venture, and
I have not been to bed for two nights. If you are set upon
to-morrow, I will do my best, and I dare say it would be
all right; but, in a case like this, I don't want to take
risks, and sleeplessness spoils one's aim, and makes the
hand shake."
She applauded his caution. “Of course, you must have
sleep. The third night from now shall be the time. Oh, it
makes one shudder, even in this sunshine, but I promise


THE MYSTERIOUS CRY
245
>>
not to lose my nerve. I shall know the path quite well,
as we are going back by way of the home cave now.” She
rose to her feet. “By the way, I hope your invalid is
going on well?"
A smile broke over his face, and his voice sounded full
of pride and exultation as he replied: "I thank you, Fräu-
lein, very well indeed," adding, half shyly: "May I say
how much obliged I am to you for not letting any one
know that you knew the doctor was up the mountain.”
“Oh,” cried she, with a sudden intonation of compre-
hension, "was that what you were so afraid of ?”
“So afraid of ?”
"Just now, when you came suddenly upon me, waiting
in the hut there, you turned so white I thought you were
going to faint. Surely you did not think I would betray
you when I had promised ?”
“Most certainly not,” he replied warmly. "I–I did
not know I looked white. It is very hot weather, is it
not ?"
“Yes, perfectly lovely,” she answered slowly, gazing
down the valley before turning to breast the hill above
them. “I feel so happy," she remarked, hardly conscious
that she spoke aloud. “Everything seems going so well,
just as I could wish; and I am going to have such an ad-
venture!"
“It's a glorious world !” cried Esler impetuously.
Bassett was annoyed when Erwald and the doctor came
back without Camiola, and he was told that she had gone
home by the Trollsbrücke with Esler. On the way home
a mule having been fetched, and the duly bandaged Betty
placed thereon--he told Neville that he thought they
would have to give their hostess a hint.
"I don't like to do it,” replied Neville. “Camiola's
charm is her frank unconsciousness. To her Esler is just


246
A CASTLE TO LET
>>
a peasant, and I must say I have found his manners uni-
formly excellent. As the General laid stress upon it, I
am keeping Conrad out of his way, but I am more than
half inclined myself to look upon the whole thing as gos-
sip. If there were any truth in it, I think von Courland
would have heard of it, but evidently he knows nothing.
"No, that's true. He told me that his uncle put com-
plete confidence in young Esler, and that he is a first-rate
servant."
"If he ever forgot himself or was rude, Camiola would
soon take order with him; but I know she likes him,"
went on Neville.
“At the Watch Tower the other day the women were
hinting something about him to her. I overheard it,
Bassett confided. “They spoke of his being stuck up, as
far as I could judge, and she laughed in their faces. I
see no justification for interfering. No doubt he has a
sort of devotion to Camiola, and does all he can for her;
but then, she is a rich mistress who pays well, and may
pay, better, besides being young and attractive. He would
be a surly young ruffian if he were not anxious to do bis
best."
“Then you agree with me that it would be better not
to repeat gossip to Camiola ?” demanded Neville; and ac-
cepted Bassett's assent with relief.
"We should have some trouble to replace the chap,”
commented the K.C. "He knows all the ropes, and is on
good terms with Erwald. Let us continue to pursue a
watching and waiting policy.”
Next day Camiola found Frau Esler not perhaps will-
ing, but submissive in regard to showing the locked rooms.
They went together to the gallery, accompanied by
Irmgard; and Camiola felt more than ever as though
moving through the pages of a story book, when the


218
A CASTLE TO LET
“What an odd place !" sighed Irmgard. “I think I
should be afraid to sleep up here, if it were not that the
men will be next door."
"I don't see what there is to be afraid of,” replied
Camiola, glancing round. "It is all quite clean, and there
are no dark corners.'
"N-no," replied Irmgard, half laughing, "but-"
"But the Fräulein Maldovan has not that love for old,
strange places which possesses the Fräulein France," said
Frau Esler dryly.
Both girls laughed. “Well, Frau Esler, are you going to
show us the whole extent of the place ?" asked Camiola,
coming out into the passage and pointing to the door at
the far end.
“That room is closed, Fräulein. In it are stored such
family property as cannot be taken to the Watch Tower.
The Fräulein will perhaps be graciously pleased to allow
the old family to reserve just one garret for their private
use ?"
The tone was superficially respectful, but the irony
which underlay the plea was perceptible enough.
Camiola could not help colouring. “I am sorry to have
shown impertinent curiosity," she remarked, a trifle
warmly. Frau Esler did not contradict her. She stood
awaiting further orders with her mouth firmly closed, and
her hands folded over her large apron.
"I think everybody who lets a house furnished keeps
one room to store away things in, 'Miola,” said Irmgard
deprecatingly, not quite understanding the frown upon
her friend's face.
“Of course.
One would think that I was trying to
break open the door!” cried Camiola impatiently. “At
least, there is no reason why these rooms should not be
used, if we want them. There is nothing in any of them.”


THE MYSTERIOUS CRY
249
“I had them cleared yesterday,” remarked Frau Esler,
with a slight suggestion of patient martyrdom.
“Oh, why did you take the trouble? The things could
have been piled up; we shall not want all these stables,”
replied the girl, with an angry laugh, turning away to
walk downstairs.
At the foot of the winding staircase she remembered
that she had laid down a small pocket-book, in which
she had taken notes, upon one of the old chests. Frau
Esler had gone down first to open the door at the stair-
foot. Irmgard was next, and Camiola last.
"Tell Frau Esler to wait a few minutes. I have left
my book and pencil up there,” said she. And, turning,
swiftly retraced her steps.
“Let me go !” cried Irmgard, but in the narrow space
it was not easy to pass, and she allowed her friend to
have her own way. With a curious sort of satisfaction,
Miss France found herself once more in the passage and
alone.
It was very still and very warm under the old roof.
The sunlight entered in shafts like glittering sword-blades
athwart the narrow alley, and as she whispered to herself:
“Powdered with gold its gloom's soft dun.”
She could hear the cooing of wood-doves somewhere
close by. Very likely they nested in the rafters, since
they could fly in and out at pleasure.
She opened the door of the first dormitory timidly, as
though some effluence from the past might meet her. All
was still and dimly quiet. On this side the sun did not
enter, and the light was not very strong.
She searched this room in vain, then the next, and
finally found what she sought in the farthest of the three.
Emerging from this last, and softly closing the door behind


OHAPTER XXIII
THE BLACK DRAGON
ALL Europe lay bathed in the light of the splendid
August moon, which moved across the heaven with trail
of silver like a queen in a state procession.
The radiance revealed the mighty limbs of the huge
mountains, stretched out in dazzling masses, interspersed
with nightmare gulfs of terrible shadow, of darkness un-
speakable.
As Camiola and Esler emerged from the home cave,
and stood upon the narrow road which led upward to
the Gaura Draculuj, or downward to the Trollsbrücke,
the effect of the majestic night suddenly displayed before
them was almost too much for the girl.
Sitting down upon a stone on the inner edge of the
path, she cupped her chin in her two palms, resting her
elbows upon her knees, while her wide eyes drank in the
glory of the night, and her bosom heaved with feelings
she could not utter.
Esler stood at her side, with arms folded. He was
never talkative, but this evening he said less than ever.
After an interval of motionless waiting, he seated himself
near her, took a peach from his pocket, and began to
peel it very carefully. Having halved it, and removed
the stone, he laid it upon her knee, dished up on a paper
mat with a lace border. "I expect you are thirsty," he
remarked.
She smiled her thanks. “How perfectly delicious! I
had no idea that I could eat anything out here in this
251


254
A CASTLE TO LET
“Yes, I know. But I can dismiss eternity from my
thoughts, and not be afraid of being myself dismissed
from its infinite consciousness," she retorted, in the same
half-playful, half-serious vein. “It is quite true what
you said: I cannot bear it long. The glorious thought
is that it will go on bearing me all the same."
He was about to speak eagerly, but he pulled himself
up.
With an evidently intentional return to the de-
meanour and speech of a servant, he remarked: "I think
there never was anybody like my Fräulein.”
Once more he had put himself and her back into their
respective places, but this time she had no resentment.
They turned away from the moon into the black gully,
and flashed their torches from side to side.
With many precautions they advanced, steadily but
slowly, until they stood at the outer arch of the cave lead-
ing to the Gaura Draculuj.
Here they stopped, and the guide unwrapped a large
package which he had been carrying carefully.
"It is the acetylene lamp off the motor,” said he trium-
phantly. “I asked Reed to get it for me when he went
down to Ildestadt yesterday.
“Oh, what a grand idea!” cried the girl. “You think
of everything!"
“I am on a fool's errand,” he answered h! riedly, "and
all I can do to excuse myself to my own (science is to
take every precaution I can think of."
She sat down to watch him kindle tb ght, and soon
its rays poured over them and over 1. rocky spot in
which they found themselves. She leaned forward, her
face earnest, her manner grave. “Esler, tell me the truth.
Look at me, and tell me the truth. Do you think there is
any reasonable possibility of our rousing the Black
Dragon ?"
He was kneeling on the grass beside her, and their


THE BLACK DRAGON
255
eyes were on a level.
He faced her quietly enough.
"No," he answered, "I do not.
I have spent so many
hours in the cave that I have grown almost sure that
there is nothing there which could rise out of the abyss.
If it were not for that one time, when some one moved
the box and scattered fresh sand, I should be quite sure;
but I tell myself that the some one who did this was
almost certainly human. I know, in the bottom of my
heart, that if I thought it in the least probable that there
would be danger for you, I would not bring you.”
She nodded. “I thought that was how it was. Well,
I won't be too disappointed. But, you know, I have heard
it laugh."
He smiled as if reluctantly. "Do you really think a
dragon would be likely to laugh ?"
“Then what is it?"
“Ah! What is it?"
He rose as he spoke lightly to his feet, and took up the
flaming motor lamp. They entered the cave, and found
untouched the first landmark left by Esler-Camiola's
initials-upon the sandy floor. This was reassuring, since
it had been placed so that no creature of any bulk could
have passed in or out of the cave without erasing it.
They went on in confidence, and he noted, as they ad-
vanced, that pery smallest mark he had made was wholly
intact. He crept first through the tunnel, into the cavern
e candles, and then allowed her to enter.
“The first t. g I shall do,” he said, “is to put you up
there, out of a
er, and fix this acetylene lamp beside
you. Then, if I drould by any wild chance, have to make
a quick dash for safety, I shall be able to see exactly what
I am doing.” She agreed, and his plan was duly carried
out, she being helped to climb to a point where a wide
shelf of rock gave space upon which to sit. He arranged
the lamp carefully upon a convenient projection above
within, lit ako


THE BLACK DRAGON
257
“Can you guarantee your nerve ?” he entreated doubt-
fully. She held her wrist to him. "Feel my pulse if
you like! I am as steady as this rock.”
“If that is so, here goes,” he replied; and slid down
his
rope
like a monkey.
Curled upon her shelf she watched him eagerly. He
had made a collection of big stones, and piled them con-
veniently near the mouth of the chasm, as used to be done
by the guides during the brief time in which the cave
had been shown to visitors. He chose a fairly small one
first, and launched it from about the middle of the edge.
It rolled over, and they heard it orash, first on one side,
then the other, of the gulf, the thunder of its descent
reverberating in the confined space, and dying away by
slow degrees, until it merged in a confused noise of
mingled sounds below. These sounds, which were best
to be described as snarls or mutterings, died away by
degrees, as the two in the cave listened, breathless.
Esler now took a larger stone, and rolled it in from a
different point. Again they listened to its descent, with
sounds like the former; but when it finally fell, no noise
resulted. It simply died away into distance.
Two more were launched, with varying result, and
Camiola's tension of nerve began to relax. In spite of
the awe-inspiring circumstances which surrounded her,
she was living in the twentieth century, and, after all,
she must have known all the time that the dragon idea
was ridiculous. When first they entered the cave, she
had been the victim of an attack of panic. She felt
trapped, shut in, with the evil thing lurking in the bowels.
of the earth. This now passed, and she cried out to
Esler to roll down larger stones.
“I have been listening keenly,” he said, "and it is true
what old Hoffman said: the stones I put in at this end
go down the farthest. I will send over this enormous


258
A CASTLE TO LET
one, launching it at the extreme end; and if that has no
result, we may as well go home again."
It was a block which he could but just set in motion,
and it had taken him hours to roll it in from the outer
cave where he had found it.
He maneuvred it very
carefully forwards, for, as has been said, the central por-
tion of the floor of the cave sloped slightly towards the
chasm. The moment the stone was on the slope, it seemed
to escape from his control like a thing alive--if he did
not wish to be carried with it, he must let go—and he
jumped backward, watched by Camiola with her heart
in her mouth, as the huge rock bounded on over the verge
at the extreme end of the chasm, and plunged upon its
downward course. They waited. Fainter and fainter
grew the sounds; it was still descending; it had ceased to
fall—no! Still they heard the echo of its mad career;
now it was silent-no, not yet. Surely now. ...
Then broke on the ear a sound they had not heard as
yet—a hiss so loud, so piercing that it was almost like
the steam whistle of a train. It grew louder, it was
coming nearer; and Esler, after standing a moment like
a man struck dumb, leaped across the cave for his life.
Seizing his rope he swung himself up, yet climbed with
his head over his shoulder, and hung upon the line, await-
ing what should come. The hissing increased with in-
credible velocity, now smoke was arising from the pit-
yes! Old Hoffman had told the truth. Smoke and such
heat as could be felt were rushing upward. With a spring
Esler gained the shelf where Camiola crouched.
The girl neither spoke nor moved, but fixed her eyes
upon the mounting vapour.
With a roar it burst into view; it reared itself over
the verge of the fissure. She saw--oh, merciful Heaven!
she saw the shiny black column of its neck, the flat head,
gleaming in the light!


THE BLACK DRAGON
261
him, even in happiest hours, would bring the sweat to
his forehead and set his heart knocking. No less than
four times did he slip, and each time recover himself as
by a miracle. The condensed steam was now pouring in
trickles off the rock, rendering it terribly precarious.
Below he had left the girl, and he did not know whether
he or the agonising death would reach her first. He had
deposited the lamp beside her that the horror of darkness
might not be added to her plight. It still burned, so all
was well, so far.
Just as he was beginning to despair of finding any
foothold, let alone resting-place, upon the formidable bas-
tion of rock, he found that his hand, extended to grope,
was slipping over a kind of lip. Raising himself with
a new hope he crawled over, and found himself in a place
of vantage. The cave at this point sloped gently upward
and backward, in a long shoot, or arched tunnel, strewn
with loose stones, where evidently at times flood water
poured through.
If he could get his companion up here they were saved.
Would time and strength suffice for the wild venture ?
To his unspeakable thankfulness, he found a jagged
tooth of rock strong enough to hold the rope. Inspired
with his new hope he secured it with speed and effectively.
Then, still with extreme caution, he let himself down bit
by bit until he was able to reach the girl and the lamp.
The sound of the swirling water was certainly plainer
now—the heat appalling. He guessed that the mass of
mineral matter spewed forth in the first burst must have
silted up-altogether or in part—the tunnel of exit, so
that the torrent was mounting more quickly than it could
pour away.
He stooped over the brink, and drew up a bit of the
lower rope. The part which had been immersed was so
hot that it almost scalded his fingers. Hacking off a


THE BLACK DRAGON
269
of its prey.
the loose stones, until they reached a point where he felt
sure she would be safe for the moment.
“You must sit down and wait here," he told her
hoarsely, “while I go back once more just once more
for the lamp.”
This had been too large for him to dare attempt to
bring it up with them. But he felt he ought to return
and fetch it. The pain in his hands was so acute that he
was half afraid to try his weight upon the rope again.
Yet that was contemptible. He crept to the verge, and
sat down, tearing his handkerchief in two, winding it
round his wounds, and securing it with his sailor neat-
ness that ability to tie a rope so that it would hold,
which had saved two lives that night. As he sat he could
hear the roar and bubble of the flood, like a beast baulked
The steam was still so thick that he could
not see anything below, except the radiance of the
acetylene beams illumining the vapour; and even as he
gazed, suddenly the light went out. Darkness fell over all.
The water had already reached the place they had so
lately left!
So narrow a plank between themselves and that eter-
nity upon which they could not bear to gaze too long!
He found, to his surprise, that the thing struck him as
funny. He even began to laugh a little, feebly at first,
as he brushed aside, with hands that shook, the moisture
which streamed from his forehead down into his eyes.
Then he realised that if he once gave way to laughter he
would yell. He could fancy his own voice ringing through
the pitch black cave in wild peals of mirthless cachinna-
tion. The thought recalled him to Miss France. She
would be afraid, if she heard him making a fool of him-
self. She was probably afraid now of the sudden dark-
ness. He pulled his small electric lamp from his pocket,
and dragged his weary feet back to her through the stones.


264
A CASTLE TO LET
By the time he reached her, he had succeeded in con-
trolling the muscles of his mouth, and he said, in a trem-
bling voice: “We were only just in time.”
She lifted pathetic eyes to his, and held her hands to
the sides of her head. “We have been in danger, haven't
we?” she said stumblingly, using her own language.
He could see that she was not herself, but the sound of
her voice, asking a rational question, reassured him
little.
“Yes, but I think we are safe now.
however, let us go on a little farther."
He picked up the rücksack, and motioned to her to
follow him. She did so, obediently and in complete
silence.
a
To make sure,


CHAPTER XXIV
ESLER HOLDS OUT
The girl's thin garments, like his own, were drenched
with steam as though she had been immersed in water.
Down the tunnel they were ascending came a distinct
draught of air. While they were still moving, they were
not so sensible of it; but when at last they paused, quite
worn out, for a rest, the wind blew keenly upon their
damp bodies through their summer clothing.
“We had better not stop here,” said Esler uneasily,
"we shall catch our death.”
“Oh, please let me stop,” pleaded the girl's voice meekly.
“I-I don't quite know why, but I feel as if I could not
move. The the awful thing can't get us here, can it ?”
“No, no," he answered, "we are safe enough here, I
am sure.
“Then I must wait—a little," she almost whispered.
"I will go on soon as soon as I can.”
He looked round. Presently he spied a recess in the
rock where they would be screened from the down-draught
which traversed the chimney.
Stooping down and feeling the ground, he found that
it was covered with a dry and faded moss. He led her
thither, and made her sit down. Then, unfastening the
rücksack, he took out her coat and wrapped her in it.
He produced a flask of wine, and made her drink. She
did so obediently. He filled up the cup and drank him-
self, where her lips had touched.
265


266
A CASTLE TO LET
That did him good, and he began to collect his thoughts,
and to try and decide what he must immediately do.
The shoot, some way up which they were now situated,
was in shape rather like the trumpet of a gramophone,
widening out immensely at the mouth. The Gaura Dra-
culuj at that height was at least twice as wide as it was
on the level of the cave floor. The water must spread so
far when it reached the lip of the shoot that he thought
it almost certain that it could not rise much higher, espe-
cially as it must by now be escaping, to some degree,
through the low tunnel of entrance. They had ascended
at least a hundred feet up among the loose stones; and
he was so utterly exhausted by his recent effort that his
very limbs were shaking.
Above them, as he could see by turning the beam of his
torch upward, the tunnel grew much smaller. He looked
doubtfully at the girl, who was leaning against the rock,
quite motionless, but with widely opened eyes, which
seemed to see something invisible.
"Fräulein," he said softly, speaking in German now,
"do you feel ill ?”
She turned then, and looked at him fully, passing her
hand over her brow. “There is such a pain in my head,”
she faltered. “What has happened? I am so cold and
wet."
He took his own coat out of the rücksack and ap-
proached her. “I am going to climb higher, and see
what is up there," he said reassuringly, though he was
devoured with a terrible anxiety. "Meanwhile, you lie
down here and rest. You are perfectly safe. Have you
your own lamp ?”
She had it with her, but on account of the powerful
light of the motor lamp she had not needed hitherto to
use it. She now produced it, and he fixed it alight.
"I won't leave you in the dark,” he said. He scraped


ESLER HOLDS OUT
267
hold
up handfuls of the dry moss and withered vegetation
remains of some inundation—which grew in the depres-
sion of the rock, and made her a sort of pillow with the
empty rücksack laid over them. Then, bidding her lie
down, he covered her with his coat, and, promising to
return as quickly as he could, he went on up the shaft.
For some distance it was large enough for him to walk
upright. Then he had to creep, and the pain of his hands
made his progress severely penitential. The fresh, cool
air which blew down convinced him that he was not fol-
lowing a blind alley; and before very long he had wriggled
himself out of a jagged-edged hole, and saw the stars.
He returned with a lightened heart, and much quicker
than he had gone. He had been away about half an hour.
He found Camiola sleeping deeply and calmly. She
was curled up in what looked like a restful attitude, and
appeared both warm and comfortable. If she was safe, it
seemed more humane to leave here where she was. TO
ascertain whether this was wise, he crept carefully down
all the way to the lip of the shoot, and found the volume
of steam less. He could still hear the water, and the heat
was still great, but he was practically certain that not
only had the flood not risen since he last examined it,
but that it had perhaps fallen slightly.
If it had not risen, it was fair to assume that it would
not now come any higher. No doubt it had, by its own
force, washed a passage clear for itself below, and was
now escaping almost as fast as it rose.
Once more he dragged himself back to the niche where
he had left Miss France. Still she slept, and he felt it
might be unwise to awaken her. She had suffered acute
shock, and nature was avenging herself. He sat stifly
down, his back propped against a rock, his arms folded.
The rays of the lamp showed him her delicate little
profile, which looked very young and soft and childish


268
A CASTLE TO LET
in the relaxation of sleep. Her hair lay in rings, damp
on her white forehead; her lashes showed dark and thick
upon her pale cheek.
For some minutes he sat, chin propped on hand, gazing
at her. Her failure of nerve had surprised him, but it
had also given a new aspect to his feeling for her. She
seemed a being in need of cherishing and tenderness.
There was no trace at all of the spoilt, domineering heir
ess in this helpless, badly frightened girl.
With a little start Camiola awoke. For a long minute
she did not know where she was, nor what had awakened
her. She perceived a grey glimmer of twilight and two
tiny green lamps at about the level of her own eyes.
Lying without motion, she made out the shape of some-
thing that crept on all fours, something that showed
patches of black and white an animal of some kind.
How came an animal, with eyes that gleamed in the dark,
in her own bedroom? She made a movement, lifted a
hand; like a shadow the creature was gone, melting into
the surrounding gloom.
Was she still asleep? Her pillow must have got pushed
away, for she was cramped and stiff and aching. She
raised herself cautiously into a sitting posture and felt
about her. Though the light was dim, she could, after
a while, distinguish objects, and by degrees her surround-
ings impressed themselves upon her.
She was sheltered in a niche, behind a projection of
rock, and beyond this nook a rocky passage sloped up-
ward, making a shaft down which there slanted a ray of
faint light.
Quite near her Esler sat, his back propped against the
rock, in the profound slumber of complete physical ex-
haustion. His electric torch was on his knee, his revolver
lay under his hand.


ESLER HOLDS OUT
271
"Forgive you? For saving my life ?”
"For bringing you into such awful danger.”
“The danger was my doing,” she answered. “The
rescue was yours.
“To put it like that is just your angel-goodness.? He
was too much moved to say more.
Presently she spoke again. "At least, we have pierced
the heart of the mystery,” she began, then checked her-
self and gave a cry so sudden and piercing that he sprang
to his feet, thinking the water must be rising still. "Oh,
I beg your pardon, I could not help it; the thought struck
me like a stab! Was that what happened to them to
those poor souls who were lost ?”
He knelt down and spoke soothingly. “Obviously it
was what happened to them, only the guide on that occa-
sion did not, I suppose, do the trick as thoroughly as I
did last night. There must be a boiling spring down
there, and I stopped up its course. It collected in the
tube, and was thrust up by the enormous pressure of the
water behind. Yes, the same thing doubtless happened
then. They were caught like rats in a trap. The water
rushed up, swept round, gathered them all in, and then,
having somehow got rid of the obstructing stone, sank
again, with them in its clutches, leaving only the silt
and fine sand deposit behind it. Its own fierce heat
dried everything up, so that two days later there was no
sign of anything having happened out of the way.”
"No, no," she sobbed, wringing her hands, "that's too
awful! I can't believe it! Oh, think what a death!
What a death! . . . And those poor little bits of things
you found !”
“Yes. I suppose during those weeks that I did not
come here at the time when my box was washed away
and the new deposit came up—there must have been an
overflow of some kind. It was in the springtime, when


272
A CASTLE TO LET
all the streams are flooded, and something must have got
into the hot spring which partly stopped it up for a few
hours. I expect it was then that a bit of rock gave way
down below and let the bones through into that cave
where Conrad went."
There was no answer but her tears.
"Fräulein, it must have been a quick death— -Very
rapid; they cannot have been for long in pain," he sug-
gested pleadingly.
“And that is the death we only just escaped last night?"
she cried.
He assented.
“Let us be quiet a minute and thank God," she sobbed.
So they knelt side by side in silence for a while, and
she managed to subdue her weeping.
“What time is it now?" she whispered presently.
He found his watch unbroken in his breeches pocket.
“I wound it up before we started,” he remarked. “It is
now a quarter past five."
"How are we going to get home?” she asked.
“We can get out up above, Fräulein. I ascertained that,
before betraying my trust and sleeping at my post. Even
if the water has gone down, which I doubt-I am afraid
I stopped it up too completely--we could not descend that
way without very great difficulty. But before we set
off, I will go and look down and see what is happening.
"Let me come too,” she begged. And they rose and
descended the shoot together as far as the edge.
All below them was dark as Erebus, but they could
hear the slapping and clucking of water. Esler held his
torch as far out as he could, but only curling mist was to
be seen. "I'm afraid the motor lamp is gone,
" he avowed
regretfully. "I intended to go back for it, but I was too
late; the water reached it first."


ESLER HOLDS OUT
273
“Esler," she cried passionately, “how could you do it?
How could you get me up this place ?”
"I don't know. I was half mad, I think. The cour-
age of despair," he returned with a curious smile. "Come,
let us get home as fast as we can.”
He rose and pointed up the shaft.
“See !
There is a perceptible beam of light coming
down! The hole is big enough for you to be able to get
out, and I think I know about where we shall find our-
selves. But before we start let us eat some breakfast."
They went back to their niche, and while she spread
out the food she told him how she had been awakened
by the visit of a weird black and white person with
green eyes.
“A badger," he told her; "there are plenty hereabouts,
and they bite like fiends. I am glad he was afraid of
you! Luckily they are the shyest beasts ever made. But
it makes me all the more ashamed to think that I fell
asleep while on guard.”
"I don't wonder you did! Tired is a poor word to
express what you must have felt.”
"Oh, it wasn't tired! It was the horror! I don't
mean the horror of the thing itself, but your collapse
and the dread lest I should not be able to save you. For
a time I really did think we were hopelessly trapped and
should share the fate of those others."
“I can't think what happened to me," she said won-
deringly.
“You said your head pained you. I was horribly
alarmed. I thought the shock had been too much for
your brain. Have you any pain in your head now ?”
“A bad headache, but those I often have. Food will
do it good.”
They sat down accordingly, ate and drank, and felt im-
measurably refreshed. When they had done, Esler packed


274
A CASTLE TO LET
up all with his accustomed neatness, though he could really
hardly use his hands. Camiola, who had a length of band-
age
with her in the little wallet she carried at her waist,
urgently begged to be allowed to bind them up more scien-
tifically, but he refused on the ground that the blood had
now caked upon them, and would be better undisturbed
until the wounds could be bathed.
She gave in, and they set out to breast the slope. The
loose stones made it a nasty climb, and when the hole
grew small it was anything but pleasant going. The air
and the increasing light, however, cheered her on, and at
last they emerged into the glorious pearly dawn, on a
desolate mountain side, whereon Camiola, by herself,
would have been hopelessly lost.
Esler, however, knew his bearings, and after a long
scramble, during which they were obliged once or twice
to retrace their steps, they came out upon the path to the
summit, a little above Mezo Bolo, whence the descent
home was easy.
They sat down to rest for a few minutes beside the
way, for they had been doing strenuous work, and had
been obliged to face some awkward bits of scrambling
which he would have wished to spare her.
They both looked more natural now-the colour had
come back to Esler's face, and Camiola's eyes had lost
their pathetic stare. They were both oddly dishevelled,
and their clothes, hands and faces caked with whitish mud
and flecked with green smears.
There had been a long silence between them, when
suddenly the girl turned to him and spoke in a puzzled
way:
“But you said it in English !"
He jumped perceptibly. “I beg your pardon, Fräu-
lein ?"


ESLER HOLDS OUT
275
"You said: 'It's water! It's boiling water! I know
you did; I remember it clearly."
He smiled, looking down at his knees. "It is my mis-
fortune that I have no English,” he said primly.
Camiola contemplated him. He had not changed
colour, and he sat quite still. His mouth was set obstin-
ately.
The tears rushed into her eyes. She turned her head
from him, and tried to swallow them down. After all
they had been through together, after their having looked
death in the face, still he shut her out, still he lied to her,
still he acted a part before her.
She had been through a great deal, was exhausted, and
not quite mistress of herself, and she trembled on the
brink of an outburst. She controlled herself, however.
She had her pride. Slipping down from the stone whereon
she sat, she told him briefly that she was going on.
They proceeded in silence some short way. Then Esler
paused. “We must leave the path here,” he said, "and
go through the wood—that is, if you wish to get in by
the secret stair without being seen.'
She followed him, with a bare assent, and went on,
still not speaking.
She could see that her silence dis-
turbed him, for he several times looked anxiously, half
pleadingly, at her. She disregarded this completely, and ·
thus they passed together through the fairyland of the
birch wood, while the sun peeped over the peaks and
slanted down upon the beauty of the Ildenthal.
Suddenly Camiola paused and gave a little cry.
He was going before in order to be ready to help her
in steep bits of the descent, and he looked back quickly,
“What is it?" he asked anxiously.
“A sudden, sharp, mysterious pain,” she faltered in
English, holding her hand to her side.
"Where?" he cried in German.


ESLER HOLDS OUT
277
I could. I cannot see that it really matters to you whether
I speak English or not."
She stood listening, and her lip quivered. "I will try,"
she remarked, "not to take any interest in you, since that,
apparently, is what you do not like.”
He made a small sound, indicative of distress, but did
not speak for a minute. At last he said, as if to encour-
age himself: "It is only for another week.”
She looked up. "Another week ?"
"I am going away,” he murmured, staring at the
ground.
Camiola felt a most disconcerting sinking of the heart.
“Going away in a week ???
“Yes. I have a job-a better job. I am leaving my-
aunt. You will not, I hope, be inconvenienced by my
going. I have arranged with the under gardener to do
my work here."
Camiola went slowly onward as if her feet moved me-
chanically, without her will. There had come to her a
flash of insight, and she saw clearly that Esler had much
better go-the sooner the better.
"If that is so," she told him, “there is no more to be
said. I shall repeat nothing of what you inadvertently
allowed me to discover just now. As you point out, it is
no concern of mine."
"That is like your usual goodness,” he said humbly.
"I owe you more than I could repay in a lifetime.”
"I think you repaid it last night,” she replied coldly,
"I fail to see what I have done for you in any way. I
have wanted to help and sympathise, but you have shut
me out."
Even as she spoke she was telling herself how unwise
she was to talk to him like this.
“Yes," he replied huskily. "I have shut you out, I am
glad to say. It has been hard, but I have done it. I


278
A CASTLE TO LET
thought to-night would be the last time, and that I could
go on doing it just till this morning." He took a great
breath, and looked at her with hard, flashing eyes and a
heightened colour. "In spite of what has happened to
night I am going to hold out still," he said, very low.
“You wouldn't have me behave like a-like amcad ?"
She met his look. Something passed between them-
some message-she hardly knew what. She only knew
that he was offering her the chance of safety, that the
present moment was fraught with danger, that she was
weak, and that he was taking pity on her weakness. To-
morrow she would be glad-yes, glad to have been saved
from madness.
“You are right,” she said, almost inaudibly. “You
and I have nothing to say to each other.”
“Good-bye,” he muttered breathlessly.
They were not home yet, but she knew what he meant.
All was to be finished now. She gave him her hand. He
took it, raised his cap from his curly fair head, and bent
over the grubby little fingers. She felt his lips, gentle
and considerate.
Then, with a slight bow, he let fall her hand, replaced
his cap, turned his back, and went on.


CHAPTER XXV
RED BROCADE
“A QUARTER to eight, miss,” observed Marston, Ainging
back the casement curtains and letting in the glory of
the morning.
"Oh, Marston, please draw those curtains! I can't
bear the light! My head aches like everything!"
“Why, what is the matter? You were very well last
night ?" demanded Marston in displeasure, coming to the
beside. "Shall I bring you some aspirin ?"
"No, thanks. I got up and took some a while ago.
Give me a cup of tea; that will do me more good than
anything, and I won't get up for an hour or so."
Marston laid her hand upon the girl's forehead, and
remarked that she had no fever. "But what in the world
have you done with your arm ?" she cried in consterna-
tion, pointing to a long mark, partly cut, partly graze,
partly scratch, which streaked the white flesh for several
inches.
"Perfectly disgusting,” said Camiola fretfully. "I did
it against the bedpost, reaching over in the dark. I didn't
know it was so bad!”
"Dear, dearthere must be a nail in the wood," fumed
Marston. "However came you to be so clumsy? Did
you knock your head against it too? Here's a nasty little
cut on your forehead."
“Oh, I did that yesterday against a rock in the garden.
It never rains but it pours, you know, Marston. Did you
ever in your life knock yourself about that you did not
279


280
A CASTLE TO LET
infallibly repeat the process within the next few hours?
Oh-b-h, I do feel so stupid ! Pour out my tea and let me
go to sleep again.”
"I'll just get some hot water and bathe that nasty
scratch," said Marston, as she prepared the hot and fra-
grant cup. “It looks quite angry, that it does, and a nice
thing it would be to have your arm scarred just above the
wrist where it shows so badly.”
She moved about the room, preparing a fomentation,
and finding lint and boracic ointment.
"Goodness me,
how you carry up the mould and such out of the garden,
miss! Here's a lump of soil on your nice rug as big as
a walnut."
“Oh, Marston, what a fuss you are making this morn-
ing just because I tell you I feel seedy! Do please leave
off talking and draw the curtains."
Marston obeyed with an ill grace. She did not like
her young mistress to have headaches. It was unlike her.
She finished her bandaging of the arm, and went on into
Miss Purdon's room to grumble to her of the fluctuating
condition of Miss France's health and temper.
Camiola sipped her tea, with wide eyes that saw noth-
ing outwardly. She was confronting all the time, in
thought, the set lips and obstinate jaw of a young man
who was going away in a week.
Why, she asked herself, had she been so weak, so in-
effectual? Why had she not insisted upon an explanation
from him?
She knew that it was because she was overwhelmed
with a torrent of sensations to which, so far, she had been
a stranger. The ground had been giving way under her
feet. Her gay confidence in life, her absorption in the
present moment, her vehement interest in the Black
Dragon, and the secret of the Great Disappearance all
alike were whelmed and smothered under the weight of


282
A CASTLE TO LET
aristocratic family in consequence. Could this young man
be her son ?
A moment's reflection showed this to be a most unlikely
conjecture. Mrs. Westonhaugh had displeased her family
by her marriage, but it was a valid marriage for all that.
If
young
Esler were her
son, then he was heir of Orenfels
in place of Otho, and there seemed no conceivable reason
for his concealing his identity.
No, that was nonsense. He must be something differ-
ent. She could only suppose that he was a social outcast
of some kind, who, seeking a hiding-place, had come upon
Orenfels, and had so kindled the affections of Frau Esler
that she consented to pass him off as her nephew and give
him an asylum. The spot was so isolated that they might
well look upon the risk of discovery as but slight. The
theory accounted for the Frau's avowed displeasure when
the castle was let, her unwillingness to allow Esler to
come into contact with the English visitors, and so on.
Then there broke upon Camiola's mind the fact of the
concealed woman who had been ill. In immediate suc-
cession to this, the doctor's visit, the cry of the newborn
infant which she had heard.
The answer to a part of her puzzle stared her in the
face. Esler was a married man. The child was his
child. She remembered the exaltation with which he
had answered her inquiry as to the health of the patient.
She remembered his face as she had seen it in her dream,
full of joy and triumph.
No wonder he had felt that the intercourse between
himself and her must cease! She had shown him-yes,
actually shown him--glimpses of what she felt!
hands clenched, her face crimsoned as she thought of
this. She flung herself prone upon her pillows, hid her
eyes, shook with mortification and rage. She wished with
all her heart that Otho had not taken it upon himself to
Iler


284
A CASTLE TO LET
I am sup
as had been called to life by this man she could never
marry.
“So all the wretched novels are right,” she thought
despairingly. “They always tell you this.
posed to be free to choose, to be able to marry as pleases
me best. And it is a vain boast. I cannot marry as I
choose. I shall probably end by marrying some one to
whom only half of me, or less, can ever belong."
It sounded very tragic, so tragic that it brought the
tears flowing. Seldom, indeed, was it that Camiola wept;
and on this occasion she made her pillow quite wet.
Mizpah knocked by and by to know whether she might
come in, and was pettishly refused. Camiola cried her-
self to sleep
She woke about midday, feeling more normal. She
drank some soup, had her bath, and dressed. She would
not admit Marston until she had clothed herself com-
pletely, for her body bore marks of more abrasions and
bruises than could be at all accounted for by any amount
of ingenious fibbing.
The sound of merry voices from the tennis-court with-
out came to her ears as she sat at her toilet-table, and
made her think how lonely she was how far outside the
easy lives of these happy young people.
She had taken the precaution, when she crept into her
room that morning, to brush out her hair and pick the
bits of moss from it. But Marston, as she smoothed and
coiled it, paused now and then to examine the white scalp
in a most annoying way, and once contemplated some
thing in the brush so earnestly that Camiola grew quite
nervous.
The maid said nothing, however, and about a quarter
of an hour before the lunch horn blew the mistress of the
castle strolled out upon the terrace.


290
A CASTLE TO LET
think we may take it as certain that she does not go alone.
Of course, miss, I know it is all right-she is a young
lady with a dignity of her own; it is the danger I am
thinking of, if she goes into places where she gets herself
in such a state."
Miss Purdon went downstairs again in a bewildered
condition of mind. Camiola, she supposed, was on the
track of the Black Dragon. It was a curious, she now
thought a significant, fact, that of late the girl had been
silent on the subject. Bassett had not said anything to
Mizpah of the suspicions of young Esler which Neville
had imbibed from General Maldovan. She was not un-
easy on that account, but the idea of the girl's secret noc-
turnal expeditions gave her a little shock. Every now
and then she came upon some such evidence that she did
not understand Camiola, and had never enjoyed her con-
fidence.
She advised Marston to say nothing at all upon the
subject, either to Miss France or to anybody else; but
she herself determined to speak a word to Mr. Bassett as
soon as she could get a convenient chance. She had
noticed, at dinner, as Esler handed plates, that his fingers
were bound up as though he had injured them. If he
was really taking Camiola, at night, into dangerous
places, it must somehow be stopped.


CHAPTER XXVI
THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
night of the Orenfels ball had come. The guests,
ring eighteen in all, had ridden up on mules during
cernoon, had tea, and then retired to dress for the
iniola, Mizpah, Irmgard and Betty were dressing
1 great difficulties, and with enormous hilarity, in
zarret which they shared with Marston and Rahula
he night. Each had a cubicle, with a bed, a chair,
ry small washstand with a truly Continental ewer and
in, a tiny looking-glass hung upon the wall above the
shstand, a little table, and a strip of rug beside the bed.
That was all!
Nothing daunted, however, the girls rigged up a big
ilet-table, with a mirror of useful size, in one of the six
ivisions, and took it in turns to have their hair done.
rmgard had assured them that, in spite of Otho's dec-
aration to the contrary, very few of their visitors would
desire the luxury of a bath in the morning, so they had
brought their beloved tin tubs upstairs with them.
Otho, in capital health and wild spirits, had arrived
that morning, and, with Neville, Bassett and Conrad, was
sharing the next big garret. It was a glorious picnic for
everybody, and the K.C. seemed to be enjoying it as much
as anybody.
Miss Purdon and he had been carefully on the watch
during the past week for any nocturnal wanderings on
the part of Camiola. Nothing of the kind had taken place.
291


292
A CASTLE TO LET
They also watched unremittingly for any signs of com-
munication between her and Esler. Of this likewise they
had seen nothing. The weather during a part of the week
had been wet, but on every fine day they had gone on
some expedition. Esler was not present on any of these
occasions. Except for his daily attendance at the buffet
of an evening, he might as well not have been in the house
at all.
Camiola was absorbed in the preparations for her party,
the polishing of the gallery floor, the consultations with
Herr Neumann, who in person was to superintend the
supper arrangements, the contrivance of extra sleeping
accommodation, and so on.
She kept a brave front, but inwardly she suffered a
great deal. It had not seemed possible to her that she
could feel such keenness of pain, and for such an ap-
parently inadequate reason.
She had allowed her feelings to escape from her con-
trol, and the effort to gather them in again was severely
painful.
During the half-hour or so each day that Esler was in
the same room with her, she neither looked at him nor
spoke to him. At other times, if she saw him in the
grounds, she walked the opposite way.
One day she was sitting, as she often did, in the oriel
window of her own room, gazing out upon the sunny gar-
den. She noticed, idly, that she had left her novel upon
the marble seat on the tennis lawn, with her handkerchief
between the pages as a marker. As she gazed she saw
Esler coming up the hill with a basket of French beans on
He was not looking well. The effect of his
effort that night in the cave, his wonderful achievement
in bringing her out of danger, had not yet worn off. There
were purple shadows under his eyes, and his face looked
thinner.
his arm.


THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
293
He passed slowly before the bench, and his eyes turned
upon what lay there. He stood still a moment, looking;
then, as if reluctantly, he went on.
His feet lagged, he hesitated, turned back, stood a mo-
ment with his back between her and the things she had
left lying there. When he moved away the handkerchief
had been abstracted from the book, and he walked off
rapidly, with bent head, holding something to his lips.
Camiola felt furious. That night, when he set her
soup-plate before her, she said, in the tone of abrupt com-
mand which she rarely if ever used to a servant:
“I left a handkerchief in the garden this afternoon upon
the marble seat. Please fetch it."
He finished carrying round the course, went out of the
room, and in a minute or two reappeared with the hand-
kerchief, neatly folded, upon a tray. She took it without
comment, without daring to look at him; but she knew she
had hurt him cruelly.
That was best. He was going away in a very few days
now—each morning brought the time nearer.
nothing to her, had refused her his confidence. It was
best that they should not be on friendly terms—they who
never could be friends.
On this night, in spite of the excitement of the moment,
in spite of the fact that Otho was back, and that she meant
--fully meant—to give him his chance some time during
the evening, the thought of Esler was haunting her. She
dwelt on the memory of his white, exhausted face, and
the cold of his limbs when she had awakened, warm and
safe, in the tunnel above the Gaura Draculuj. She
thought of his faultless behaviour, all that night, and on
every occasion when they had been alone together. He
was a gentleman-an English gentleman; then what was
he doing masquerading as a peasant at Orenfels? The in-
sistence of the question was 'maddening. Yet she never
He was


294
A CASTLE TO LET
once for a moment dreamed of sharing her distress of
mind with Irmgard, still less with Mizpah.
She looked upon the whole matter as a disgrace, a stain
upon her girlhood, a lamentable deviation which must be
smothered in her own heart forever. She had only to be
strong for a couple of days more-to "hold out,” as he
himself had said and it would be all over. Her aberra-
tion would be a thing of the past, and she would in process
of time forget it.
She was dressed and ready to meet her guests.
Supper was laid out in the dining-hall, the drawing.
room was for couples sitting out, and a bridge table was
also arranged there for the sake of one or two elders who
were present. At one end of the gallery was a buffet for
light refreshments, and the steaming coffee urns had just
been carried in, when Camiola pushed open the secret
door which led from the garrets and emerged into the
long, clear space, the floor gleaming in the light of lamps
and clusters of wax candles.
She was looking her very best. Since that evening in
Truro Gardens, so few weeks ago, she had gained much.
In spite of her having grumbled, while being dressed this
evening, that living on the mountains spoilt you for wear-
ing evening-dress, the effect of her gown was perfect.
It was white and silver, and she wore La France roses in
compliment to her own name.
One solitary disc of court plaster, very small, upon her
left shoulder was all that was needed to cover her scars,
her long white gloves concealing the cut upon her arm.
Conscious—as what girl is not conscious--of being ad-
mirably gowned and looking remarkably nice, she went
up to Herr Neumann and congratulated him upon his ar-
rangements. He replied with voluble compliments upon
her beauty, and an emphatic wish that the Ildenthal might
never lose so fair and generous a patroness. She smiled


THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
297
but it seemed to her to indicate quite clearly that they
were lovers. The thought made her pulses tingle. Was
this the second man who might have had her and who
said, "No, thank you”?
On the heels of that thought came other calmer, far
more sensible reflections.
To engage herself to-night,
while still her heart was sore, while still that hateful
madness held her, would be a counsel of despair.
It was not written in the Book of Fate that she should
love and mate here at Orenfels, though never had she
seen a place so suited to such things as love and marriage.
She laughed at herself. There was plenty of time be-
fore her. She need not feel so disturbed. She had always
meant to wait until she was twenty-five before falling in
love, and this unpleasant experience which she was un-
dergoing was a fortunate thing in reality. It would put
off her romance for some time to come.
In spite of all these wise and sober reflections, she was
restless and miserable, so out of tune and unfit to play
her part, that presently she felt a few minutes' respite
imperatively necessary. Dismissing her partner on the
plea of the duties of the hostess, she slipped downstairs as
if to survey the supper room, to which in half an hour's
time the company would resort. All was in order and
looking charming, and she passed on through the main
door of entrance into the flagged courtyard.
This was in solitude and darkness. No moon this week
lit
up the sky. The stars were the only light. The Milky
Way lay like a wreath athwart the deep blue heavens, and
every now and then a shooting star darted across like a
falling diamond.
Camiola sat down upon the lowest of the semi-circular
steps, and leaned her chin on her hand. She strove to get
a firm grip upon herself. There was within her so strange
a turmoil that she was frightened. She did not know


THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
299
of a chair, and wore an air of feeling himself a fish out
of water.
Camiola was in dense shadow where she stood. There
was a dark-coloured portière across the chapel door on the
inside. She drew it across her sparkling white dress, so
that the priest—whom she knew to be very near-sighted
would not notice her if he looked that way. The others
all had their backs turned to her.
She stood enthralled as the words of the service went on.
Esler was evidently prompting Forbes with his replies.
He was apparently anxious concerning the strength of the
girl who knelt beside him. He leaned towards her with
wistful solicitude, and once put out his hand and laid it
across her waist behind as if to support her.
The service was soon over, and Forbes scrambled with
alacrity to his feet.
“You'll excuse me, sir, won't you ?" she heard him say
to Esler. "I am all in a fuss lest I should be wanted any
minute."
The girl spoke in a clear, soft voice: “Yes, go, Forbes,
and many
thanks.'
.” She held out a delicate hand.
Forbes took it, and stammered out: "I am sure I wish
you joy, ma'am, both you and the gentleman and the dear
little baby, too.”
Camiola had waited to this point, too devoured with
flaming curiosity to reflect. Now, as the butler turned
ponderously on his heel, she slipped like a shadow behind
the portière and let herself out into the courtyard.
Her head was in such a whirl that she felt she could
not be seen and spoken to just then, yet Forbes's heavy
tread was crossing the chapel floor, and he would be out
upon her in a moment. She glanced along the side of
the quadrangle which faced the main building, the side
of which the keep formed the corner.
In a flash she saw
that the door of the keep stood ajar. She ran noiselessly


300
A CASTLE TO LET
along the yard and slipped within the welcome doorway,
just as Forbes came out of the chapel, and, crossing the
yard with urgent haste, entered the castle hall.
She waited; the others were following close upon him;
she must remain where she was until they had passed by.
She glanced round her. A dimly burning and evil-smell-
ing lamp was hung upon the wall of the rude guard-room
wherein she stood. There were no signs of occupation,
except for various bags and bundles, apparently contain-
ing the bandsmen's night apparel, which lay in a heap
upon the floor. She pushed the door to and stood by it,
listening intently, heard a faint sound of voices, footsteps
pattered on the flags, somebody went to the little door in
the big gateway, opened it with caution—she was so near
that she could hear the rustle of departing petticoats—
and then a step echoed close at hand; somebody was com-
ing towards the door behind which she stood.
Panic assailed her. She felt like a trapped spy. She
could not be caught thus, listening behind a door!
Her eye flashed round, she saw the foot of the cork-
screw staircase in the corner. On noiseless feet she fled
thither, and had just run lightly up one twist when she
heard the door pushed open, then shut and barred.
Somebody walked across the floor below.
She could not possibly descend; the only thing to do
was to go on to the room above, which she vaguely re-
membered as communicating with the next.
She might
go along and descend by a different stair. She pursued
her way, and entered the upper room.
This, too, was lit, and she saw a camp bed, a table, a
washstand. There was, however, no second door. On the
table stood some objects which caught her attention almost
to the exclusion of all other considerations.
On a table easel of well-carved oak was a picture frame,
also of carved oak. In this frame was a sketch of her-


THE MIDNIGHT BAPTISM
301
self which Irmgard, who drew very well, had made in the
garden some days back and discarded as "not good
enough."
Camiola, at the time, thought it good. Now, in its en-
casing oak, it looked even better than she had supposed
it to be. On either side of it burned a tall candle, such
as was used in the chapel. Before it was a vase containing
La France roses.


CHAPTER XXVII
THE WILD SWANS
-
Taken in conjunction with the scene she had just wit-
nessed below in the chapel, this seemed to Camiola little
short of an outrage. Her eyes flashed with fury, she
stretched her hand to snatch the picture from its shrine
and fling it out of the window. Then a sound from below
struck on her ear, and she realised her own plight. To
get out of this place was what she had to do to disappear
unseen from what was evidently the emergency quarters
of Esler for the night.
Creeping to the head of the stair, she listened. Noth-
ing stirred below. She stood there, hardly daring to
breathe, wondering what would happen next.
After a
long minute she heard the person below walk deliberately
across the floor, open the door, go out, and shut it after
him. The revulsion of feeling was acute. She was saved.
She had only to wait a moment, and then make a dash. It
was almost time for supper to be announced, and she must
be present to take the arm of the old Graf von Orenfels,
who was the sole member of the family, except Otho, to
accept her invitation.
First, however, she would gratify her rage. She
snatched the portrait, laid it on the ground, stamped upon
it with the heel of her white suede slipper, stooped,
dragged the paper from beneath the broken glass, and
tore the sketch into tiny fragments. Then she gathered
up her glittering draperies and stole softly down the stair.
302


THE WILD SWANS
303
Slowly she rounded the lowest curve of the corkscrew,
and stood transfixed, facing Esler, who, with arms folded,
was leaning against the barred door.
For one instant she felt inclined to act like a fishwife---
to run to him and strike him on the face. In the next she
was the great lady, and, drawing herself up to her full
height, she said in German:
“I was looking round to see what accommodation they
have made for the band. I think I have come in at the
wrong door."
He answered in English: “You are mistress here. I
suppose it is your right to go in and out of all doors in
this castle as you please.”
"Certainly,” she continued, with flashing eyes, still
speaking German; “if I see a light in the chapel, I may
enter to find out what can possibly be going on there in
the midst of
my party.”
His face altered, he looked conscious.
“As you said the other day, the private affairs of my
servants are no concern of mine," she went on. "I am
no eavesdropper, but I do consider I have a right to over-
look the carrying out of my orders.”
He said nothing
"Let me out, please," she commanded, coming a step
into the room.
He gazed upon her with a curious expression. In that
dim, rough place she looked like a vision. Pride and
outraged dignity glowed in her like a flame. Her head,
crowned with a small tiara of diamonds, was held proudly.
He gazed as a man before being led to execution may
gaze upon all he holds dearest.
"I have been hoping-trying for one word with you,"
he pleaded chokingly, "for the last three days. I-I-
shall not be here to vex you after to-morrow, and there is
something rather important I wanted you to know.”


306
A CASTLE TO LET
out, flew swiftly across the flags, and up the steps into
the hall.
Forbes, standing just within the door, most correct,
looked relieved on seeing her. “You are waited for, miss,"
he told her anxiously. She hastened upstairs to the gal-
lery, where all the couples were assembled. With a few
words of laughing excuse, she took the old Graf's arm,
and in a few minutes they were all descending the oak
stairs, and filing into the hall, where the supper table was
spread in the form of a big T, Camiola being seated at
the crossing point.
The band, leaving the dancing hall, filed into the musi-
cians' gallery, and accompanied the meal with beautifully
subdued music.
"It is like the olden days come to life once more!" cried
the old Graf, looking with eager eyes upon Otho.
Otho avoided the avuncular glance. Betty was his
partner, and he was sitting by her. Camiola's glance
wandered from this couple to another. Neville and Irm-
gard were also together, and Irmgard's face was alight
with happiness.
The mistress of the castle felt old and cold.
She was, however, determined that her own lack of
spirits should not affect her guests. She roused herself
to be exceptionally merry, and the banquet passed off most
successfully. Everybody seemed pleased. With Irm-
gard's help she had been able to settle all the minutiæ of
precedence. Everybody had his or her proper place at
table, and their national etiquette had been consulted
wherever possible.
From all her guests she had the most gratifying atten-
tion, and she could congratulate herself upon a popularity
quite surprising for one of her race. Yet, ah, how she
ached for something more than this!


THE WILD SWANS
309
ment with folded arms and lowered eyes. His expression
did not change.
Camiola did not speak again, and after a long pause he
asked a question:
“Did you ever read Hans Andersen's story of the Wild
Swans ??
“I think so-yes. Why?”
"Do you remember the princess who could not deliver
her brothers unless she kept a complete silence ?"
“Yes."
"It's rather a pathetic story, I think, don't you ?”
“Yes."
“When you are thinking extra bad things of me, will
you remember it ?” he asked, raising his eyes to her face.
She flashed a look at him, but dared not prolong it. At
the moment Bassett came up to them.
“Now, Esler," said he good-humouredly, "coach me on
this matter. With whom must I dance next?”'
He spoke German, of course, and Esler, with a bow
to his late partner, went off with him at once.
Camiola was left for one long, surprising moment by
herself. She no longer felt old and cold. In her blood
was the fire of the dance, the pulsating excitement of feet
that moved in concert—and the thought of the princess
in the story, weaving coats of nettles, hurting her hands,
bruising her delicate fingers, silent in face of calumny, all
for the sake of rescuing those she loved.


THE SECRET INTERVIEW
311
As you
morning as you know one of the young gentlemen had it
last night. The reason was that I had got all your dia-
monds in a hand-bag, and though the people hereabouts
seem very honest, still there were a good many strange
waiters and such up at the castle last night, and one can't
be too careful. I wanted to slip into my own room the mo-
ment it was left vacant and lock the bag up in the wall
cupboard there.
“We had breakfast late in the hall this morning, not
until most of the ladies and gentlemen were down, and
I stole up, before our breakfast was over, leaving every-
body else at table, and hastened to my room.
know, miss, my door is just facing yours, and as I went
into my room I thought I heard somebody moving in
yours. That surprised me, because everybody was down-
stairs so far as I knew. Certainly none of the housemaids
could be there. So I pushed the door of my room almost
shut, and peeped out.
“I heard a soft rustling noise, and three people were
coming along the passage from the door that opens on the
gallery. They were coming towards me, and I saw them
all three quite distinctly. One was a woman in the cos-
tume these folks wear hereabouts. She carried a little
infant in her arms. The other was a lady of the most un-
earthly beauty.” Marston paused, and her eyes rolled
with the combined effect of memory and imagination.
“She wore a white dress, and a hat such as you see in old
pictures, miss!
I noticed that she glided more than
walked. Her eyes were fixed in a kind of terror, and as
the sunlight fell across the gallery I could see that her
draperies was, as you may say, kind of transparent. The
three went straight into your room for all the world as if
it belonged to them. I was so taken aback that for a long
time, or what seemed a long time, I could not move. But
as soon as I had collected my thoughts a little, I stepped


312
A CASTLE TO LET
boldly out into the passage and followed them. I knew
they was strangers and had no right in the house, and I
knew it was my duty to ask their business. One does not
realise, miss, all in a minute that
you have seen something
that is not of this earth. Well, miss, I walked in as bold
as you please, and nobody was there."
"Nobody was there ?"
“No, miss. Your room was empty. Of course, thinks
I, they have gone through into Miss Purdon's room; and
then, all of a sudden, I remembered.”
"You remembered what ?"
"I remembered that when we were turning out of our
rooms for the visitors, Miss Purdon locked the door be-
tween your room and hers and gave the key to me. It was
in my pocket at the moment. Of course, I tried the door
to make sure. It was locked right enough, and if anybody
had locked and unlocked it I must have heard them, for
it is a noisy affair. I looked under the bed and behind
the window curtains. Of course, there was nothing, and
then I knew I had seen a ghost.”
This piece of news vexed Camiola. She did not at all
wish Marston to go about saying that the house was haurt-
ed, but, on the other hand, she was most unwilling to
reveal the secret of the way out of her room. Moreover,
if she did explain, if she did say that the individuals seen
were friends of Frau Esler and had gone out by the secret
way to the garden, then what reason for such secrecy
could she give? Why should not Frau Esler's niece go
out by the ordinary methods of exit?
She tried the cowardly expedient of persuading Mar-
ston that her senses had deceived her that some trick of
sunlight and shadow had produced the unlikely little
group of fugitives. Marston was naturally very indig-
nant. She said she had not been five years with Miss
France to have her word disbelieved, and that she should


THE SECRET INTERVIEW
313
go to Miss Purdon and lay the matter before her. In
broad daylight, at breakfast time, how could she possibly
have imagined two women and a baby?
Camiola, driven to bay, said she had reason to believe
that there was a baby in the house-some relation of Frau
Esler's-she had not thought it her business. This made
it so much more unlikely that the persons in question could
disappear from view that Marston grew suddenly suspi-
cious. Something, she could hardly tell what, made her
apprehensive. Camiola was concealing something, she
felt sure. With some abruptness she suddenly concluded
the interview, saying she supposed she must have been
dreaming, and went off, as Camiola well knew, to find
Miss Purdon.
Miss France felt annoyed. Esler was reckless. No
doubt it was a stroke of genius to have his child baptised
at a moment when the attention of everybody in the house
was distracted from his proceedings. No doubt the chances
of the women's reaching the secret door unseen while the
whole household was at breakfast was a very good one
but with so many people about such risks could not be
run with safety. In both
persons
who so myste-
riously seemed to desire to remain hidden had been seen.
She was not left very long to consider the matter, for
Irmgard was heard calling to her; and, upon Camiola's
replying, burst eagerly in to tell her of her engagement
to Neville. The girl was in such a state of bliss, mingled
with anxiety as to what her father might say, that Cami-
ola's whole attention was engrossed.
She did not think that Irmgard would receive a very
effusive welcome from the Thurlow family, and deter-
mined that she herself must do all she could to atone for
their possible shortcomings. To have Irmgard married
to a relation of her own was a delightful thing. She be-
cases the


CHAPTER XXIX
GRAVE SUSPICIONS
ARNOLD BASSETT had dressed in a hurry, and nearly an
hour before his usual time. These circumstances com-
bined to flurry him, even without the mysterious and
urgent message sent to him by Miss Purdon, that he
should come down and interview her in the garden.
When he appeared, he found the lady pacing to and
fro upon the flagged terrace with haggard face.
They sat down together in the covered pergola where
often tea was served, and he asked, with real anxiety,
what was the matter.
"It is Camiola,” faltered the poor lady, with every
symptom of disorder. “I have been blind, indeed. I am
in a state of mind which I can hardly describe to you. She
seems to have been carrying on a course of deceit and
duplicity ever since we came to this detestable spot-and
I have known nothing of it. And the awful part of it is,
that I can do nothing. If I remonstrate with her, what is
there to prevent her from dismissing me, and hiring a
companion who will be more complaisant?"
She ceased from sheer lack of breath, and Bassett, in
horror, begged for a detailed account of what Camiola
had been doing.
“It is some time ago now“I really forget exactly how
long—that Marston showed me a suit of Camiola's clothes
-mountain clothes—in a most frightful state. They had
apparently been wet through, and dragged through the
mire; they were stuffed away, as if to hide them, in a
320


GRAVE SUSPICIONS
321
corner of her wardrobe, and Marston only found them
accidentally. She told me she was certain that Camiola
went out-at night-in secret, for the clothes had been
cidy and brushed and put away the previous evening.
Well, you know Marston sleeps just across the passage,
and she is a light sleeper. So am I. We determined to
be on the watch, and to make sure if the girl left her room
during the night. During several nights not a sound did
we hear, and I was beginning to think it was all nonsense,
when Marston had a curious experience.” She then re-
lated Marston's ghost story-how she had seen three peo-
ple enter Camiola's room who did not emerge again. “This
put an idea into Marston's head. She became certain that
the girl had a way of leaving her room without coming out
into the passage at all. She determined to find out, so
she invented an errand—an excuse to go into her mis-
tress's room, late last night. She knocked at the door
about half-past twelve. There was no answer.
She went
in, and Camiola was not there. Looking round in per-
plexity, she suddenly saw that a panel in the wall was
open. That was enough. She called me. I took a candle,
saw that stairs led down from the secret door, descended'
them, and found"
“Yes--yes—you found ?”
"I found Camiola sitting in a cave--an underground
cave in the company of-of the young gardener-Esler.”
"Good Heavens!” Bassett sprang to his feet, and in his
turn began to pace the terrace. “Thurlow and I have been
to blame greatly to blame," he said, at last, in tones of
bitter self-reproach. “General Maldovan gave Thurlow
a hint, when he first came here, that that fellow was not
to be trusted. We thought it best to say nothing to Cam-
iola, but I see now that there was one person we ought
to have told, and that was yourself !”
“Oh, Mr. Bassett, indeed I think you ought! What is


326
A CASTLE TO LET
actually seen the Black Dragon, and found out what be
came of the tourists, and very nearly lost my life in the
process, only Esler saved me. This is sober fact that I
am telling you. He saved
my
life at the risk of his own,
by a feat of daring which, when you see that place, you
will say was almost superhuman. I own that, in view
of what I owe him, I am inclined to shield him to the best
of my power. He is a brave man, and I am very loath
to believe that he can be base."
"It is, of course, possible,” said Mizpah tentatively,
looking at Neville, “that this Mrs. Cooper may be a kind
of boarder? This place is temptingly remote. The Eslers
may have been persuaded to increase their income by tak-
ing in a guest, unknown to the Graf von Orenfels. This
would naturally give rise to the gossip in the town."
Neville had to own that this was probable.
"Will you wait a few hours, Nev., before taking any
action ?" suggested Camiola. “You see, I promised Con-
rad and Captain von Courland, that they should go to the
Dragon's Chasm to-day. Esler is waiting to go with us
before his own departure. When
you
have seen and heard
all that he and I have to tell you, you can question him.
I am sure he will answer honestly."
The three looked at one another. They all felt that
Camiola's view of the question was the sensible, the proba-
Neville in the new softness of heart which his
own happy love-affair had engendered in him, was by no
means anxious to hand over an unhappy wife to such a
man as Cooper. In an interchange of glances, it could be
seen that the other three were willing to wait awhile; and
Camiola jumped up with glee, clapping her hands.
"Oh, you are all so kind and so nice!” She actually
hugged Uncle Arnold. "Now I will go and give orders.
We will start off in half an hour from now, all the good
old party, Esler and Erwald included. Assemble in my
ble one.


GRAVE SUSPICIONS
327
room in half an hour's time, and you will see what you
will see!”
She flew out into the corridor, calling to Conrad and
Otho. Her happy voice rang through the old house in
girlish gaiety.
“Tut, tut,” said Bassett, wiping his gold-rimmed pince-
“This is all a mare's nest. The girl is right. Let
us forget it for a time, and join in her grand discovery."
nez.


CHAPTER XXX
THE DRAGON-SLAYER
In Camiola's room they all assembled, even Mizpah,
with alpenstock and mountaineering attire. With dra-
matic solemnity Camiola flung open the secret door, and
they all filed down the winding stair, amid squeaks of
utter joy from Conrad. In the gardening cave stood
Esler and Erwald, with various lanterns, including the
new acetylene lamp. Reed had been also invited to be
of the party, that he might learn the fate which had over-
taken his old one! Esler, needless to say, was once more
clad in his accustomed habit as a guide.
It was in the greatest trepidation that Mizpah suffered
herself to be escorted by the K.C. down the tunnel. When
they came out of the home cave, above the Trollsbrücke,
they were afraid she would have to turn back, so dizzy
did the ravine and the unprotected path make her feel.
However, she was coaxed along, and in due course they
all found themselves at the mouth of the outer cave, where
they waited, while the two guides and Reed went in to
make sure that the water was down and that it was safe
to bring in the party.
At last all was announced to be ready, and they entered.
At the mouth of the low passage leading to the Gaura
Draculuj, Mizpah again required much reassuring, but
upon the other girls all going through without difficulty,
she plucked up heart, and at last entered the fatal spot.
It was brilliantly lit to-day, and on one side the guides
had rigged up a kind of table, with boards and trestles,
328


330
A CASTLE TO LET
time, with that black gulf underneath me. I wonder I
wasn't ill.”
Conrad was not content until the actual apparition of
the Black Dragon had been many times detailed. "How
simply fearful!” he kept on remarking, with ever increas-
ing relish. "I can imagine how the column of black
water looked like a huge neck! And that was what poor
old Hoffman saw and it sent him off his head !”
“I don't wonder. It nearly sent me off mine,” replied
Camiola. "I sat like an idiot and should have been killed
in a few minutes if Esler had not run-if he had not
seen, that very instant, that we must go up higher. Had
he waited, even a minute or two, we should both have been
boiled-think of it, Conrad, boiled alive!”
“Oh, don't let them stay here, it may still be dangerous,”
pleaded poor Mizpah. “And this smell is so horrible, like
vaults! And the heat-take me out into God's blessed
daylight!”
She was escorted forth, but had to wait a long time
before the curiosity of the others was satisfied, and they
joined her.
There ensued a great setting out of lunch, and eating
and drinking and discussing the great discovery. When
the meal was nearly over Conrad suddenly cried out that
he thought everybody should drink Esler's health. This
was enthusiastically received, and they all sprang to their
feet, Neville and Bassett being, as Camiola noted, as keen
as anybody. They gave tremendous "Hochs,” and the
young guide stood bareheaded in the sunshine receiving
the ovation with his usual modesty and quiet.
"Now you must make a speech, Esler!” cried Conrad,
when the cheering had died down.
"I will not make a speech,” said Esler, "but I will ask
you all to drink to the health of the Fräulein France. I
thank you humbly that you have not given me the blame
/


THE DRAGON-SLAYER
391
I justly deserve for having led her into danger. That I
was able to keep her safe will always be to me the best
thing in my life. May God keep her-always, every-
where."
He held up his glass, and Bassett, raising his own in
the sunshine, repeated the toast in English: "Camiola!
May God keep her—always, everywhere!"
They stood round her smiling, cheering enthusiastical-
ly; and suddenly she could not see for the mist of tears.
She glanced up, smiled, wavered, then said: "I can't
thank you! I want to cry,” and turned her face against
Irmgard's shoulder.
Esler's eyes were fixed upon Otho, but Otho seemed to
be occupied with something which was wrong with Betty's
shoe-string
After lunch, when they had smoked and talked, and
were about to return home, Camiola went up to Esler and
said:
“Before you go, Mr. Thurlow wants to speak to you.
He intercepted a letter this morning, and would like to
know if you can tell him anything about it.”
She spoke in German, quite formally; and with his
usual manner of the respectful servant he rose and fol-
lowed her to where Neville and Bassett were smoking, a
little apart from the rest.
“Neville,” she said, "will you please show Esler the
letter you found this morning ?”
Neville coloured a little awkwardly, but he produced
the letter and gave it to the young man, explaining care-
fully, with Camiola's help as translator, his reasons for
retaining it for a few hours.
Esler listened, with a half-smile upon his face, and when
Neville had finished he looked at Camiola with an apolo-
getic air of mischief.


334
A CASTLE TO LET
“Camiola's fancy for taking the castle was certainly a bit
of cruelly hard luck for you!"
Eric looked at Camiola. His
eye met hers. “Yes," he
said. That was all; but his whole heart seemed to escape
in the word.
"And I even invaded the garrets," she said, laughingly,
nervously, speaking for the sake of saying something.
“Poor Frau Esler! How rude she was! How she hated
me! How faithful she has been! ... And we were play-
ing and picnicking and making demands upon your time,
when all this was going on! We ought to beg your par-
don, I think!”
Neville rose. "I understand that you consider your sister
to have serious grounds for dissatisfaction against her
husband ?” he asked.
Esler looked grim. “That is so," he replied shortly.
“You and I must have a serious business talk later on,"
suggested Neville.
Esler made a restless movement, as of one caged. "I
am leaving the castle this evening,” he said. He dared
not look up as he said it.
Neville took out a pocket-book. “Then had I better
make a note here and now," he said, "of theer-terms
upon which I think you said Mrs. Cooper might be in-
duced to consider the idea of reconciliation ?"
Eric hesitated, then sat down. "If you will be so kind,”
he murmured.
“Come, Camiola, we are de trop," observed Bassett,
and, putting his arm within that of the girl, he drew her
away.
The peace of the afternoon brooded over the kitchen at
Orenfels.
It was a big, bare room, beautifully clean and tidy, and
the kitchen-maid, in her picturesque costume, was dishing


COMING HOME
347
"How wonderful!” sighed Camiola.
"Perhaps it would be a good moment to make a confes-
sion," murmured Eric, holding her close.
"Confess away.”
“I kissed you.”
“A good many times, silly !"
“Ah, but once, before I had any right to!”
“When was that?”
“It was here.”
“Here!”
“The first day. You were fast asleep on the grass.
Miss Purdon was out of sight. I thought I should never
see you again, and you were the girl of my dreams. I
said, 'It can't hurt her, she will never know.'”
"Well, upon my word! On my face ???
“No. I hadn't quite the impudence for that. I knelt
down and kissed your arm, a little above the wrist-just
here."
"I suppose that made me yours.”
"Johanna came up the hill that night. She was the
only soul, except Bertha, who knew who Clare and I were.
She was sitting in the kitchen when I went in, and she
said calmly:
"This day you
have kissed
your
wife that will be.'”
"Eric, she is a witch."
“We call it clairvoyance now," he said, "and telepathy.”
"I call it something else,” she whispered, and added,
laughing, “love at first sight."
>>
THE END


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Girl From His Town, The, By Marie Van Vorst.
Girl of the Blue Ridge, A. By Payne Erskine.
Girl Who Lived in the Woods, The. By Marjorie Benton
Cook.
Girl Who Won, The. By Beth Ellis.
Glory of Clementina, The. By Wm. J. Locke.
Glory of the Conquered, The. By Susan Glaspell.
God's Country and the Woman. By James Oliver Curwood
God's Good Man. By Marie Corelli.
Going Some. By Rex Beach.
Gold Bag, The. By Carolyn Wells.



DATE DUE
To renew
call 292-3900
INTERLIBRARY LOAN SERVICE
The Ohio State University
Form 10620



The Ohio State University
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STATE UNIVERSITY BOOK DEPOSITORY
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