FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137  
138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   >>   >|  
and pleasant talk and separated at half-past eleven. The hussar, however, only went to his room for form's sake; he loaded his pistols, and when all was quiet in the castle, he crept down into the court-yard and took up his position behind a pillar which was quite hidden in the shade, while the moon, which was nearly at the full, flooded the cloisters with its clear, pale light. There were no lights to be seen in the castle except from two windows, which were those of the Countess's apartments, and soon they were also extinguished. The clock struck twelve, and the hussar could scarcely breathe from excitement; the next moment, however, he heard the noise which the Count's body-servant had compared to that of bats, and almost at the same instant a white figure glided slowly through the open cloisters and passed so close to him, that it almost made his blood curdle, and then it disappeared in the wing of the castle which he and the tutor occupied. The officer who was usually so brave, stood as though he was paralyzed for a few moments, but then he took heart, and feeling determined to make the nearer acquaintance of the spectral beauty, he crept softly up the broad staircase and took up his position in a deep recess in the cloisters, where nobody could see him. He waited for a long time; he heard every quarter strike, and at last, just before the close of the _witching hour_, he heard the same noise like the rustling of bats, and then she came, he felt the flutter of her white dress, and she stood before him--it was indeed the Countess. He presented his pistol at her as he challenged her, but she raised her hand menacingly. "Who are you?" he exclaimed. "If you are really a ghost, prove it, for I am going to fire." "For heaven's sake!" the White Lady whispered, and at the same instant two white arms were thrown round him, and he felt a full, warm bosom heaving against his own. After that night the ghost appeared more frequently still. Not only did the _White Lady_ make her appearance every night in the cloisters, only to disappear in the proximity of the hussar's rooms as long as the family remained at the castle, but she even followed them to Vienna. Baron T., who went to that capital on leave of absence during the following winter, and who was the Count's guest at the express wish of his wife, was frequently told by the footman that although hitherto she had seemed to be confined to the old castle in Bohemia,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137  
138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
castle
 

cloisters

 

hussar

 

Countess

 

frequently

 
instant
 
position
 

heaven

 
rustling
 

flutter


witching

 

quarter

 
strike
 

pleasant

 
menacingly
 

whispered

 
exclaimed
 
raised
 

presented

 

pistol


challenged

 

winter

 

absence

 

capital

 

express

 

confined

 

Bohemia

 

hitherto

 

footman

 

Vienna


appeared

 
heaving
 

thrown

 

family

 

remained

 
proximity
 

appearance

 
disappear
 

acquaintance

 
windows

apartments
 

lights

 
scarcely
 
breathe
 

excitement

 

twelve

 
struck
 

extinguished

 
pistols
 

pillar