ns of the old monastery near the
village, Franz. The first Baron burnt it and put the monks to the sword.
The Abbot interfered too often with the Baron's whims. A girl sought
shelter and the Abbot refused to give her up at the Baron's demand. His
patience was at an end--you know the tales they still tell about him.

"He slew the Abbot, burned the monastery, and took the girl. Before he
died the Abbot cursed his slayer, and cursed his sons for unborn
generations. And it is the nature of this curse that is the secret of
our house.

"I may not tell you what the curse is. Do not seek to discover it before
it is revealed to you. Wait patiently, and in due time you will be taken
by the warders of the secret down the stairway to the underground
cavern. And then you will learn the secret of Kralitz."

As the last word passed my father's lips he died, his stern face still
set in its harsh lines.

* * * * *

Deep in my memories, I had not noticed our path, but now the dark forms
of my guides paused beside a gap in the stone flagging, where a stairway
which I had never seen during my wanderings about the castle led into
subterranean depths. Down this stairway I was conducted, and presently I
came to realize that there was light of a sort--a dim, phosphorescent
radiance that came from no recognizable source, and seemed to be less
actual light than the accustoming of my eyes to the near-darkness.

I went down for a long time. The stairway turned and twisted in the
rock, and the bobbing forms ahead were my only relief from the monotony
of the interminable descent. And at last, deep underground, the long
stairway ended, and I gazed over the shoulders of my guides at the great
door that barred my path. It was roughly chiseled from the solid stone,
and upon it were curious and strangely disquieting carvings, symbols
which I did not recognize. It swung open, and I passed through and
paused, staring about me through a gray sea of mist.

I stood upon a gentle slope that fell away into the fog-hidden distance,
from which came a pandemonium of muffled bellowing and high-pitched,
shrill squeakings vaguely akin to obscene laughter. Dark, half-glimpsed
shapes swam into sight through the haze and disappeared again, and great
vague shadows swept overhead on silent wings. Almost beside me was a
long rectangular table of stone, and at this table two score of men were
seated, watching me from eyes that gleamed d