River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-12-11

thought, as he looked again at her over
the trimming wine-cup. The Vile,
too. was excellent; so was the whole re-
past-at which the lady waited upon
him with her own fair hands-the only
REGULARITY about it being that neither
bread nor salt was to be found upon the
table, but Kurt Won Stein was too much
cf gentleman to notice, the omission,
though he certainly ENJOYED his supper
the less by reason of their absence.
At length the young man ventured to
ask one or two questions of his kindly
hostess. "May / inquire" he said, ARE
you, fair lady, the daughter OF this
house~
yes" was the answer, given, as 1t
seemed, sadly and low.
sand your parents?
l"They are there" said the lady, point
ing TO the pictures on the walls.
"Do you mean to say that you live
in this house alone?' asked Won Stein.
"Alone," returned the lady, II am
the last OF my race"
Who shall say how it came about?
The lady was beautiful, the man was
Young. In such cases love is some
times found to be plant that does not
take long in growing. Moreover, Won
Stein, though noble, was poor, and the
| lady the last of her race, the heiress of
an apcient lineage. Possibly the notion
Of the inheritance the lonely girl might
bring with her had some part in the
sudden passion which filled the young
mans heart. Who can tell?
1t was not long before he found him
self kneeling at her feet and offering
tine beautiful maiden all that he had to
ofier-his devotion and his life.
The lady listened silently and with
| bowed head to his ardent pleading;
then she said, looking up, but away
from him, and speaking absently: 81
lave heard those words before"
"But never from lips so true, so hon
est, so disinterested," said the young
man warmly, forgetting in his fascina-
ton for the beautiful lady how he had
certainly taken her inheritance into ac-
count in the first place.
The lady sighed and was silent.
Then she spoke: eff yield to your
wishes we must be married at once"
"At oncep cried Won Stein. perhaps
little startled. Yet what lover ever
found the time between betrothsl and
marriage too short 81 am ready" he
said, CALAMITY, "and impatient"
The lady smiled, moved slowly away
to an old worm-eaten chest which was
set against the wall, took from it two
rings, and white veil and crown of
myrtle, which she laid upon her dark
flowing h&ir. Her dress was white.
"Come," she said to her lover and led
the way.
A little bewildered, after the fashion
OF bridegrooms in general, and scarcely
knowing whether to be happy or
alarmed, the young man followed his
bride through, as it seemed to him,
miles of dimly-lighted vaulted passages,
where the damp was trickling down the
walls, and where uuthought-of steps
up and down, were ready at every
moment to trip up the uDweary passer.
The lady, however, seemed to be well
acquainted with every turn and twist
of The place, and giving her hand to her
lover, she led him on step by step, until
at length they reached q vaulte&
chamber, which they had no sooner en-
tered than a great iron door shut
heavily behind them, with sound that
echoed through every arch of the dimly-
lighted building.
1t was the chapel.
@Your hand is cold, my love-" said
the young man, tenderlY, to his bride.
GNo matter; yours has warmth and
life enough for BOTH" returned the
lady.
Yet the life seemed actually to ebb
from the young mans heart as he OBJ
served the stone figure of a Bishop,
which was sculptured on a gravestone
in Che center OF the chapel, gradually
rise from its recumbent position and
walk up the steps of the altar.
The eyes of the Bishop famed like
glow-worms, the candles upon the altar
lighted of themselves, and the tones of
the organ rolled solemnly through that
vsalted building.
Kurt Won Stein, wilt thou take the
Lady of Windeck for thy lawful wife, ="
said the Bishop. IN a low sepulchral
tone, which sounded as though not he,
but some muffled voice q dozen yards
away, We're speaking.
At this moment the whole horror of
the scene seemed to break upon the
young man. Around him slowly rising
from their graves, he saw the shrouded
forms and f1eshless faces or the dead,
who came as witnesses to the ghostly
marriage. Even the face of his bride,
as his fascinated eyes fixed upon it,
wore the liyid hue of death. lie turned
in an agony to fly from the horrible
scene, tried to snatch his hand from the
cold, hard grip of the phantom lady,
fell, as he believed, senseless upon the
chapel foor-and awoke to find himself,
at dawn of day, lying at his full length
| or the moss-grown stone where he had
SAL to rest the night before, at the castle
dotr, and his horse intent upon an early
meal on the rank heritage of the grass
grown court.
When he told his tale in the village
and at the neighboring castles, no one
in the least doubted that he had almost,
if not quite, wed the unquiet irit of
I fba Tadv &C lNip6ppk