The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-07-18

speaking absently: al have heard those
words before"
But never from lips so true, so honest, so
disinterested," said the young man warmly,
forgetting in his fascination for the beautiful
lady how he had certainly taken her inherit
ance into account in the first place.
| The lady sighed and was silent
| Then she spoke: elf yield TO your
wishes, we must be married at once"
"At oncer' cried Won Stein, perhaps a
little startled. Yet what lover ever found the
time between betrothal and marriage too
shoftl 81 am ready" he said, CALAMITY,
"and impatient"
| The lady smiled, moved softly away TO an
| old worm-eaten chest which was set against
the wall, took from IL two rings and white
veil and crown of myrtle, which she laid
upon her dark flowing hair. Her dress was
white.
Come" she said to her lover, and led
the way.
little bewildered, after the fashion of
bridegrooms in general, and scarcely know
ing whether to be happy or alarmed, the
young man followed his bride through, as II
seemed to him, miles of dimly lighted
vaulted passages, where the damp was trick
ling down the walls, and where unthought Of
steps. up and down, were ready at every
moment TO trip up the unwary passer. The
lady, however, seemed to be well acquainted
with every turn and twist of the place. and
giving her hand to lover, she led him OH.
step by step, until at length they reached
vaulted chamber, which they had no
sooner entered than great iron door shut
heavily behind them, with sound that
echoed through every arch of the dimly-
lighted building.
TWAS the chapel.
"Your hand is cold, my love-" said the
young man, tcndefly, to his bride.
"No matter; yours has warmth and life
enough for both" returned the lady.
Yet the life seemed actually to ebb from
the young mans heart rs he observed the
stone figure of a bishop, which was sculp-
tured on the grave.stone in the centre 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 an organ
| rolled solemnly through the vaulted build
ing.
"Kurt Won Stein, wilt thou take the Lady
of Windeck for thy lawful wife ~ said the
bishop, in low sephulchral tones, which
sounded as though not he, but some
mufled voice dozen yards away, were
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 tho slrouded forms and fleshless faces
of 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
| livid hue of death. He 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. senselcss
upon the chapel iloor-and awoke to find
himself at the dawn of day, lying at his full
length on the moss-grown stone where he
had sat to rest the night before, at the
castle door, and his horse intent upon an
early meal on the rank heritage of the grass
grown court.
| When hc told his tale in the village
and at the neghboring castles no one in
the least doubted that he had almost, if not
quite, laid the unquiet spirit of the Lady of
| Windeck.