The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-12-18
THE PROUD LADY OF THE
CASTLE.


been owned by her ancestors, and, SO far
as beauty went, she was worthy of her
lineage, but Of 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 unwedded, and every
year some unfortunate lover or other
turned from the castle gates with looks
of scorn and words Of ridicule.
Among those whom she should, after
her fashion, first attach to her by every
art, and afterward repelled 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 him
self, and was received by the lady with
storm of sarcasms that literally over
whelmed 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
food, he left his mistress presence only
| to write q word of farewell to his mother,
whose only son he was, and whom he
| tenderly loved, then threw himself into
the Rhine.
| A few DAYS afterward, a woman, mad
dened with rage and sorrow, widow
whose only son had died 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 cnrses that
her outraged mother-heart could devise
1r 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 snail follow you, and send
you forth to wander, restless, miserable
| ghost-restless foreverl''
"Ah!" cried Lady Adelheid, with
white face and feared eyes, all her
haughtiness flown, ''do 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 in
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. It's
new owners had, indeed, made many at
tempts to inhabit it. but had been abso-
lutely driven out of the place by the un-
earthly sounds which disturbed the still
ness of night, and which scarcely allowed
living soul in the building so much as
to close an eye from midnight to cock
| crow. Doors would open and shut mys-
teriously, footsteps resound through the
silent corridors, lights, illumined by no
visible hand, suddenly burn in the win
dows, while over every mirror in the
house the shadowy form of woman,
clothed in white, with long black hair
| hanging below her shoulders, would be
seen-would pass-disappearing in one
place only to appear the next moment in
another.
1t happened, however, that one day
young hunter OF noble family, 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 pursuing
rushed by him into the very ruins, as
though it were taking sanctuary. The
young man, by name Kurt Won Stein,
had heard some curious legends as con-
nected with ruined castle on the height,
and possibly, half from curiosity and
half because he was hot and tired with a
day of specially poor sport, he dismount-
ed and led his horse, tired like himself,
through the brambles and brushes that
had overgrown the ruined gateway, into
the grass grown court yard.
"a curious place to be sure" said the
young man seating himself for mo-
ment's rest on fallen mass of brick work
overlaid with soft moss, and letting his
horse meantime Craze at his will from
the rank growth of the courtyard. ga
very curious place. Looks as if no one
had been here for hundred years. I
wonder if this can be the haunted castle
my uncle was speaking about only the
other night? If SO, he added, 81 wish
to goodness the spiritually would have
the hospitality to welcome me to her
domains, and offer me drink of some.
thing this hot day." And as he took of
his hunting cap to air his heated brow,
his thoughts reverted lovingly to GER
tain glass tankard in his uncle's house,
which when filled with yellow Strasbourg
beer, was about as pleasant a sight to
Kurt Won Stein as the world could offer.
After while the idea occurred to the
young man that as chance had brought
him to the castle he might as well pay
his respects TO the owner of it whether
| she was phantom or not.
A turret stair broken and worn, was
close at hand to the spot which he had
chosen for his resting-place. Twilight
was beginning to fall when he reached the
castle; now, suddenly, darkness seemed
to have come, and as he mounted the
winding turret stairs he noticed that the
lights already showing through many of
the windows of what appeared to be