to lead back among
the trees, and said to the woman,--

"_Schloss?_"

_Schloss_ is the German word for _castle_. Minnie could not speak
German; but she knew some words of that language, and the words that she
did know she was always perfectly ready to use, whenever an occasion
presented.

"_Ja_, _Ja_," said the woman; and immediately she opened the gate. By
this time Minnie had beckoned Mr. George and Rollo to come up from the
road, and they all three went in through the gate.

The woman called to a man who was then just coming down out of the
garden, and said something to him in German. None of our party could
understand what she said; but they knew from the circumstances of the
case, and from her actions, that she was saying to him that the
strangers wished to see the ruins. So, the man leading the way, and the
three visitors following him, they all went on along a broad gravel walk
which led up into the garden.

Mr. George asked the guide if he could speak English, and he said,
"_Nein._" Then he asked him if he could speak French, and he said,
"_Nein._" He said he could only speak German.

"He can't explain any thing to us, children," said Mr. George; "we
shall have to judge for ourselves."

The walk was very shady that led along the garden, and as it was now
long past eight o'clock, it was nearly dark walking there, though it was
still pretty light under the open sky. The walk gradually ascended, and
it soon brought the party to a place where they could see, rising up
among the trees, fragments of ancient walls of stupendous height. Rollo
looked up to them with wonder. He even felt a degree of awe, as well as
wonder, for the strange and uncouth forms of windows and doors, which
were seen here and there; the embrasures, and the yawning arches which
appeared below, leading apparently to subterranean dungeons, being all
dimly seen in the obscurity of the night, suggested to his mind ideas of
prisoners confined there in ancient times, and wearing out their lives
in a dreadful and hopeless captivity, or being put to death by horrid
tortures.

Minnie was still more afraid of these gloomy remains than Rollo. She was
afraid to look up at them.

"Look up there, Minnie," said Rollo. "See that old broken window with
iron gratings in the walls."

"No," replied Minnie, "I do not want to see it at all."

So saying she looked straight down upon the path before her, and walked
on as fast as possible.

"If I should