and modest way, rebuilt and furnished, and he spent there many years of prayer and penitence over the ashes of his beloved wife. After his death a handful of old servants were left there as guards over the crypt of the Felsenburks; they lived in the Palace, eating the bread of charity, and paying no attention to the Castle.
The Castle extended to the edge of a rock which projected over a stream. For a whole century it had been uninhabited, and now a hundred dangers, such as plaster falling from the ceilings, loose floors, sinking stairways and falling chimneys threatened whoever might venture to go inside. To an observer it still appeared in the form designed by its founders. The rooms were large and high, the ceilings were arched, the winding stairways were made of marble, the walls were decorated with sculptures, and the windows were of many-colored glass. A great battlement adorned it like a crown on the head of a monarch, and over the ruin waved a tall fir tree, like a mourning banner.
