suddenly, however, and this shocked the baron so mightily that he could
not remain in the castle. In order to find peace for his restless soul
he became a repentant pilgrim. So he took the emblem of a pilgrim into
his coat of arms and called himself Wallerstätten. Leaving his estate
and his sons, he nevermore returned.

"Later on two of his descendants lived in the castle. Both were well
loved and respected, because they did a great deal to have the land
cultivated for a long distance around and as a result all the farmers
became rich. But both had inherited the violent temper of their
ancestor, and the truth is that there always were members in the family
with that fatal characteristic. Nobody knew what happened between the
brothers, but one morning one of them was found dead on the floor of the
big fencing-hall. All that the castle guard knew about it was that his
two masters had settled a dispute with a duel. The other brother had
immediately disappeared, but was brought back dead to the castle a few
days afterwards.

"Climbing up a high mountain, he had fallen down a precipice and had been
found dead. These events threw all the neighborhood into great
consternation.

"That is when the rumors first spread that the restless spirit of the
brother murderer was seen wandering about the castle. All this happened
many years before my father and your grandfather moved into Nolla as
Rector. The rumor had somewhat faded then and all that we children heard
about it was that my father was very positive in denying all such reports
that reached his ears. Your grandfather was the closest friend of the
master of Wallerstätten, whom everybody called the Baron. I can only
remember seeing him once for a moment, but he made an unusual impression