The Press., 1884-10-16
MY ADVENTURE IN GERMANY.

from the street. and seeming to be unln- habited. I was on tour of adventure, and attended only by my little maid Liza. Giving signal for tho driver to halt, l motioned Liza to follow me after l allght- ed Ever prompt to obey my orders, she was in a moment beside me, and the old diligence went rattling on its way to Lelp- zig.
 'sLiza,' I said, "we will go and explore the contents of yonder old house, and then have ample time to reach Lelpzlg before dark, by the next coach"
 'True, !" replied Liza, "but Miss Olivia, supposing the house is haunted, or It may be inhabited by vicious people, and
 sThat'n do, Liza ; no more objections. I am bound to go."
 And on we went until we reached the enormous old building, and after some diff ficulty found an entrance. The first room we entered was of capacious dimensions, with huge bay windows and chimney piece of grotesque and costly workmanship, which, like all other portions of the house, bore marks of decay The ceilings were also superbly carved and must once have been elegant. From this room we Wend- ed our way through the long halls, mp the broad stairway, and through divers rooms of various sizes Some of the rooms were furnished with quaint, antique furniture, while others were entirely devoid of fur niture or ornament.
 We fingered sometime in room on the third floor overlooking the front portlco, tue walls of which were decorated with several portraits, also two or three faded and worn oil paintings of Swiss scenery. Why tine old family portraits should be suffered to hang there to decay was q wonder to Liza and I. We had now sur veyed the whole, as we thought, and were about to start to meet the afternoon stage for Leipzig, when we were startled by hearing the key turn in the lock ot the door. immediately sprang to the door and tried to open 1t, but to no purpose, we were held fast. Liza was terrified and begged piteously to be released from our prison but no one answered, although we heard footsteps, and demon1acal laugh in the adjoining room. opened win dow and was half mind to jump to the ground, but knew if did 1t would be instant death to me, so l sat down on an old sofa, and beckoned Liza to do llkewlse really turning comforter to the poor fright ened girl.
 We can do nothing for ourselves, Liza, I said, "but I think whoever fastened us in this room will release us; so keep uI your spirits, dear girl, we shall see Lelp zig before tomorrow night" In this sooth inc way continued to talk to Liza until was inclined to believe what I was saying myself. and really laughed as thought o1 our odd position.
 As night came on, however, l grew hun gry and impatient, and sincerely wished had never seen the inside of the huge olo edifice that then imprisoned me. 1t was nearly morning before either of us closed our eyes ill sleep. Even if our minds hac been free from anxiety, we could not have slept from the unearthly noises without Such grooming and screaming had never heard nor imagined before.
 '"Truly, Liza, you were right when you suggested that this house might be haunt ed,'' said I will never say again l dc not believe the weird old tales l have reac of places like this.'
 Lila did not answer she had tainted her hands were icy cold, and l feared she was dead from fright. l ssIn such 8 horrible place as this, thought I, and alone with the dead !'' Oh what agony pierced my soul, as sat chaf ing Liza's cold hands, imploring her te speak to me once more. The night was dark, there was no moon, and the few starssthat were visible lent faint light l just sufficient to expose the deathly coun tenance of my poor maid She must have remained in this condition nearl y an hour then at the bomming of a cannon in the region of the courtyard she made slight. hysterical move. In the course of half hour moro Liza had recovered her senses, and we sat mournfully condoling our con- dition until at last we both fell asleep. When we awoke the sun was up, and all around us was as silent as church-yard- no sound save the plaintive song of bird, that perched itself on the portico as if to look down upon our misery, was heard. I arose and went to the door, trying with all my might to open it, but 1t would not yield.
 -'Liza," said, "we must not, we can- not remain here now, before we become famished and weak, let us make desper. ate effort to regain our freedom, even Ii Ii costs our lives let us do 1t"
 Liza started. ''l am ready to do any | I stood in deep thought moment, then I bade Liza strip the large bay shawl she wore in pieces, and I did the same with mine, and after braiding the strips we found we had made two strong cables suf- fcient length to reach from the window to the ground then fastening the ends se- curely to some hooks that projected from the outer wall, I set aarift, as Liza had not the courage to start first. In less than a minute I reached the ground, then beckoned her to follow, which she imme- diately did. It was some moments before we reached the street, tired and exhausted, to await the diligence to convey us to Lelp- zig. Our hands were sore and nearly raw from descending the rope, but we did not complain, so rejoiced were we to have es- capped at all.
 After we had reached Leipzig and break lasted, we set ourselves diligently to work to find, if possible, some clew to the strange proceedings at the old house we had so unhappily visited. < We wereNreferred to an old woman who lived in a remote part of the town, who, we were told, was ia miliar with the history of the famil y who had occupied it, also of their ane> stors in long line down. Procuring cab Liza and were soon on our way to the res idence of the strange woman, whose name was Nancy schranberger. As we entered her humble domicile she welcomed us kind ly in her native tongue, and as l was fa- miliar with the language our conversation passed smoothly, and she related the fol- lowing story of the old house and Its form- CT inmates :-
 "Thirty years ago." said the old lady, after drawing her chair close beside me, and sitting down with her eyes bent on | the floor. fsI was A servant at the Gotsehed