Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-12-11
THE PROUD LADY OF THE CASTLE.
Harper 5 Weekly.


famed for brave men and lovely women,
was Adelheid, heiress of the castle and
broad lands that had been owned by
her ancestors, and, so far as beauty
went, she was worthy of her lineage,
but of a proud and naughty temper.
So proud was she that among all the
mobiles OF Brisgan she could find none
whom she thought worthy to call her
lord; and year after year passed on,
finding her still unwedied, and every
year some unfortunate lover or other
turned from the castle gates with looks
of gcorn and words of ridicule.
Among those whom she should, after
her fashion, first attach to her by every
art, and afterward repealed with bitter
derision, was young man of noble
family, but slender fortune, who had
long been in her service as page or
squire, as the fashion of those days de-
manded.
After years of patient waiting and
hope, the youth ventured to declare
himself, and was received by the lady
with q storm of sarcasms that literally
overwhelmed him. Stung to the heart
by her hard speeches, and by the sense
of his own folly and presumption, which
suddenly poured in upon him like a
flood, he left his mistress presence only
to write q word Of farewell to his
mother, whose son he was, ard whom
he tenderly loved, then threw himself
into the Rhine.
a few days afterward, a woman, mad
dened with rage and sorrow. q widow
whose only son had died a suicides
death, sought the Lady Adelheid in her
castle on the hill, accused her of being
the murderess of her boy, and heaped
upon her head the bitterest curses that
her outraged mother-heart could devise
or her woman's tongue utter.
"Unloved you shall live" she cried,
and unregretted die. Even in the
grave you shall find no peace; even
there my revenge shall follow you, and
send you forth to wander, a restless,
miserable ghost-restless foreverI"
"Ah!" cried Lady Adelheid, with
white face and feared eyes, all her
haughtiness flown, edo not utter such
terrible wOrdsl Have you no mercy ?'
The wretched mother smiled grimly.
eyes, | have mercy" she said. "Thus
shall your spirits wander through these
very halls until you find lover as true,
as honest, as pure-hearted as my poor
lost son, willing to WOO the phantom
for his bride. Then only you shall rest
III peace.
Under this curse, says the legend, the
Lady of Windeck lived and died. She
was the last of her race, and not many
years after her death the castle, unin-
habited and deserted, fell into ruins
Its new owners had, indeed made many
attempts to inhabit it, but had been ab,
solutely driven out of the place by the
unearthly sounds which disturbed the
stiffness of night, and which scarcely
allowed living soul in the building sc
much as to close an eye from midnight
TO cock-croW. Doors would open and
shut mysteriously, footsteps resound
through the silent corridors, lights
illumined by no visible hand, suddenly
burn in the windows, while over every
mirror in the house the shadowy form
of woman, clothed in white, with Ions
black hair hanging below her shoulders
would be seen-would pass-disappear.
ing in one place only to appear the next
moment in another
1t happened, however, that one day 9
young hunter of noble family,a stranger
guest in one of the neighboring castles
was led, in the excitement of the chase
up to the very gate of the deserted man
sion. The deer which he was pc y :.ns
rushed by him into the very run, az
though it were taking sanctuary. The
young man, by name Kurt Won Stein
had heard some curious legends as con
nected with a ruined castle on the
height, and possibly, half from curiosity
and half because he was hot and tree
with a day of specially poor sport, he
dismounted and led his horse, tireC
like himself, through the brambles anC
brushes that had overgrown the ruined
gateway, into the grass-grown court
yard
GA curious place to be sure" sai(
the young man seating himself for ;
moments rest on a fallen mass of brick
work 0yerlaid with soft moss, aud let
ting his horse meantime Craze at hi
will from the rank growth of the court
yard. "a very curious place. Look
as if no one had been here for a hun
dred years. | wonder ifthis can be til,
haunted castle my uncle was speakin!
about only the other night? If So" h,
added, 81 wish to goodness the spirit
lady would have the hospitality to wei
come me to her domains, ard offer M,
drink of something this hot day.
And as he took of his hunting cap to al
his heated brow, his thoughts reverted
lovingly to a certain glass tankard in hi
uncle's house, which when filled Will
yellow Strasbourg beer, was about a
pleasant sight to Kurt Won Stein q
the world could offer.
After while the idea occurred to tn
young man that as a chance ha,
brought him to the castle he might a
well pay his respects to the owner of
whether she was a phantom or not.
A turret stair broken and worn, wa
close at hand to the spot which he hat
chosen for his resting-place. Twiligh
was beginning to fall when he reache
the castle; now, suddenly, darkness
seemed to have come, and as he mount
ed the winding turret stairs he notice.
that the lights already showing through
many of the windows of what appeared
to be less ruinous part of the buildin
than that by which he had entered
''That is all right" said Kurt to him
self. 81 was wisesto try my forum
here. A supper or. even bed, woul
not come ..niss to me for | scarcel
know how l shall find my way back t
my uncle's house tonight. But at an
rate l shall get some directions. an
perhaps, if the people are not overhos
pitable, guide home"