he master of this little house must be away but
not far off and she made up her mind to wait till he returned home. Yet
one hour after another passed away and Henrietta was at last obliged to
go on further lest she should have to pass the night there and, only
when she was already some distance away, was she struck by the peculiar
circumstance that all round the hut grass was growing thickly and that
no path led up to it.

In a few weeks' time curiosity drew her again in the same direction.
Alone, without any escort, she stood before the forest dwelling,
fastened her horse to the fence and passed through the door.

Everything was just as she had seen it on the first occasion. In the
first room on the table was the earthenware pitcher full of water; in
the second room was the bed covered with a bear skin and in the third
room were all the guns and other weapons just as she had seen them
before.

Again she waited for a long time for some of the dwellers of this little
house to draw near, and again she waited in vain; even by eventide not a
human being had approached the hut.

These hut dwellers must be curious folks she thought, they leave
everything unlocked, evil disposed people might steal everything.

On the way back she met some charcoal burners and asked them about the
lonely little house in the midst of the forest. Three of the four
pretended not to understand: they did not remember ever seeing such a
house they said. The fourth, however, told the lady in reply that in
that house dwelt "Dracu."[51]

[Footnote 51: The Devil.]

This only made Henrietta more than ever curious. She asked the priest
about it and even he was inclined to be evasive. He evidently either
knew nothing about it or was casting about in his mind for some
plausible explanation. At last he said that rumour had it that a
huntsman's family had either been murdered or had committed suicide
there, and, ever since, nobody dwelling in the district could be
persuaded to cross its threshold, let alone steal anything out of it;
they would not even take shelter there during a storm, for they believed
that an evil spirit dwelt there.

Henrietta, however, did not believe in these invisible evil spirits. The
evil spirits she was acquainted with all went about in dress clothes and
surtouts. The atmosphere of mystery and enchantment which made the
little house uninhabitable only stimulated her fancy. She determined to
discover whether it was really un