Lady Chloe sniffed her kind, whinnied, and broke into a trot. She knew

sooner than I that there was life beyond the turn. We rode up to the

gate, and I dismounted and stretched myself. I tried the gate. The

lock hung loose, like a paralytic hand. Evidently those inside had

nothing to fear from those outside. I grasped an iron bar and pushed

in the gate, Chloe following knowingly at my heels. I could feel the

crumbling rust on my gloves. Chloe whinnied again, and there came an

answering whinny from somewhere in the rear of the castle. Somebody

must be inside, I reasoned.

There were lights in the left wing, but this part of the castle was

surrounded by an empty moat, damp and weedy. This was not to be

entered save by a ladder. There was a great central door, however,

which had a modern appearance. The approach was a broad graveled walk.

I tied Lady Chloe to a tree, knotted the bridle-reins above her neck to

prevent her from putting her restless feet into them, and proceeded

toward the door.

Of all the nights this was the one on which my usually lively

imagination reposed. I was hungry and tired, and I dare say my little

mare was. I wasn't looking for an adventure; I didn't want any

adventure; I wanted nothing in the world but a meal and a bed. But for

the chill of the night air--the breath of the mountain is cold at

night--I should have been perfectly willing to sleep in the open. Down

drawbridge, up portcullis!

I boldly climbed the steps and groped around for the knocker. It was

broken and useless, like the lock on the gate. And never a bell could

I find. I swore softly and became impatient. People in Barscheit did

not usually live in this slovenly fashion. What sort of place was this?

Suddenly I grew erect, every fiber in my body tense and expectant.

A voice, lifted in song! A great penetrating yet silkily mellow voice;

a soprano; heavenly, not to say ghostly, coming as it did from the

heart of this gloomy ruin of stone and iron. The jewel song from

_Faust_, too! How the voice rose, fell, soared again with intoxicating

waves of sound! What permeating sweetness! I stood there, a solitary

listener, as far as I knew, bewildered, my heart beating hard and fast.

I forgot my hunger.

Had I stumbled upon one of my dreams at last? Had Romance suddenly

relented, as a coquette sometimes relents? For a space I knew not what

to do. Then, with a shrug--I have never been accused of lacking

courage--I tried once more, by the aid of a match, to locate a bell.

There was absolutely nothing; and the beating of my riding-crop on the

panels of that huge door would have been as noisy as a feather. I

grasped the knob and turned it impatiently. Behold! the door opened

without sound, and I stepped into the hallway, which was velvet black.




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