The Mysterious Sketch

fast asleep at the Cygne at Fribourg, my old friend

wo leagues from this place. You know Nideck, the finest baronial cast

a full beard in that time, a huge fox-skin cap covered his head, and he was holding

t us do things in orde

l, would you? Was it not I who taught you to set a trap, to lay wait for the foxes along the skirts of the w

left ear of yours has

back of his hand acro

now Ni

reputation; what ha

ount's chie

o has s

g Countes

How soon are

t is very ill, and his daughter has begged me no

ook out at the weather; it has been

buckle on your spurs, and let us prepare to start. I will order something

dhood he could do anything with me with a nod or a sig

t every bit of this slice of ham, and let us drink a stirrup cup, for

teau! what

o stay a few days at Nideck, that is indisp

down into t

ses in a perfect lather of foam. Sperver, who had always been a great admirer o

see, as finely formed as deer, and as swift. Nicholas, t

t as we were going to mount. I could only discern the long brown

tered t

the bridle. He wished us bon voyag

cob bred in the Ardennes, full of fire; we flew over the s

nor track. Our only company were the ravens of the Black Forest spreading their hollow wings wide over t

ed on ahead, whistling airs from the Freyschütz; sometimes as he turned I

oy, this is a fine

is rather severe;

tion. If our old minister Tobias had but the courage to start out i

am afraid, i

ce Sperver slackened his speed

you the object of this jour

hink I ought to know

tors have alread

dee

mined him another way. The doctors from Paris stared at their patient through magnifying glasses to learn somethi

you speak of us m

k my leg I don't know that there is another that I should prefer to yourself to treat me as a pat

you kn

at me doubtfully as if he thought me

s complaint is internal; it is a terrible kind of illness, something like madness.

ving noticed this myself,

There are singular works in this machinery of ours. Whenever this human clockwork is wound up

that; those periodical complaints

the same day, at the same hour; his mouth runs over with foam, his eyes stand out white and st

as had serious trou

of honours. He possesses everything that the rest of the world is coveting. Unfortunately his daughter persists in refusing every of

illness come

n years ago,"

collecting himself. He took from his pocket a

p and down the room with his chin upon his breast and his hands crossed behind him, like a man in profound thought. From time to time he stopped to watch the gathering snow on the high windows, and I was warming myself in the chimney corner, bewailing my dead hounds, and bestowing maledictions on all the wild boars that infest the Schwartzwald. Everybody at Nideck had been asl

o do with your master's

ils, Fritz, are still present in my memory. Scarcely had the bird of ill omen croaked its unearthly cry when the old clock struck eleven. At that moment the count turns on his heel-he listens, his lips tremble, I can see him staggering like a drunken man. He stretches out his hands, his jaws are tightly clenched, his eyes staring and white. I cried, 'My lord, what is the matter?' but he began to laugh discordantly like

ked the ashes out upon the pommel of his sadd

l pale and weak, and moves trembling from one chair to another, starting at the least noise or movement, and fearful of his own shadow. The young countess, the sweetest creature in the world, never leaves his side; but he cannot endure her while the fit is upon him. He roars at her, 'Go, leave me this moment! I have enough to endure without seeing you hanging a

moment, clapped both his spurs to his

ven impossible. It was evidently a mental disorder. To fight against it with any hope of success it would be

At about three we came in sight of the ancient castle of Nideck on the verge of the horizon. In spite of the great distance we could distinguish the projecting turrets, a

erver drew in his

ave to get there b

ed to the ground, his ears thrown back, his nostrils dilated, his s

?" cried Gideon in astonishment. "

is whip at a dark form in the snow fif

ith a voice of distress which almo

the snowy ground, with her arms clasped about her knees, and so tattered that her red elbows came through

n her knees, and her haggard eyes were direct

ideous object as wide a berth as he could,

hat is all this fo

serious matters. I am not given to superstition,

had not moved, and that her eyes were fixed upon the

is, that a man is in the wrong who laughs at a thing because he can't understand it. I have good reasons for calling this woman th

sued his way without

what you mean," I asked, "

a witch. She is the cause of it all. It

laimed. "How could she exerci

feel her coming.' I hold him by the arms and restrain the shuddering somewhat, but he still repeats, stammering and struggling with his agony, and his eyes staring and fixed, 'She is coming-nearer-oh-oh-she comes!' Then I go up Hugh Lupus's tower; I survey the country. You know I have a keen eye for distant objects. At last, amidst the grey mists afar off, between sky and earth, I can just make out a dark speck. The next morning that black spot has grown larger. The Count of Nideck goes to bed with chattering teeth. The next day again w

ding more widely. Unseen and unknown influences, marvellous correspondences, invisible bonds, some kind of mysterious magnetism, are, on the one hand, proclaimed as undoubted facts, and denied on the other with irony and scepticism,

by no means to fire upon the Black Plague, warning him that

t the very worst the

was a good deal for an

, that is all. I would just as soon die of that as of a hammer falling on my head, a

y beard, you have learnt a

ep a ball in my double-barrelled gun at the witch's service; fro

d an express

nd I say no bloodshed. Oceans cannot wipe away blood shed in anger. Thi

ession upon the old huntsman; he hun

ps which separate the poor village of

was again beginning to fall, heavy flakes dropped and melted upon our horses' manes, who w

myself was not altogether free from a feeling of apprehension in thinking of

ng than a gloomy forest loaded in every branch with thick snow and hoar frost, and moaning in the north wind. The gaunt and weird

e pillars, divided the dark green of the forest pines, when in a moment, as we issued from a thicket, the a

deep gateway between two towers

ed, throwing the rein

bell-handle, and the clear sou

, showing us in its semicircular frame of ruddy light the figure of a humpbacked

w, some gnome or evil spirit of earth realise

t features close against the massive grating, straining his eyes, a

rver?" he asked i

was the quick reply. "Don

"there's no mistaking you. You always spea

th "Willkommen, herr doctor," but which seemed to say besides, "Here is another who will have to go away again as