to my charge, and with the localities of my new abode. Most fortunately I conducted my superintendence to the perfect satisfaction of the Baron; and where my knowledge failed, Adelaide assisted me with her advice.
Whenever I proposed any alteration in a ruined tower which was by far the oldest part of the castle, the Baron invariably interrupted me by saying,
“Let it remain as it is for the present.”
I soon observed that the most persuasive arguments failed to induce him to consent to any change or embellishment in the dilapidated building. On such occasions, recollection often occurred to me of that chamber, where, according to the gardener’s report, Adelaide’s bridegroom had suffered from the agency of some mysterious power. No one had been able to communicate to me any additional particulars on the subject. But at this period an unexpected occurrence brought it more under my view.
The Seven Years’ War at that time was frequently the cause of our receiving military guests. Two young officers were quartered in the castle; who were the more welcome as they were acquaintances of the Baron’s son, and could give much welcome information with regard to him. One evening, while they were present, the conversation chanced to turn on ghosts. Some of the assembled persons asserted, and others denied their existence, as is usually the case in such discussions. No one had ever actually seen a spectre; and all agreed in the wish to be ocularly convinced of the existence of supernatural beings. The younger of the officers at last mentioned having heard of a Silver Lady who haunted the castle; and asked the Baron whether she had ever appeared to him.
My curiosity was instantly intensely excited; but the Baron evaded the question, and related many anecdotes of apparitions which had always been eventually explained as deceptions, occasioned either by accident or by fear. The Baron, as it
