return; the strain of trying to account satisfactorily for an unspecified
expenditure of sixteen thousand pounds spread over eight years
sufficiently occupied his mental energies. Here is Belgrad and another
custom house."




THE WOLVES OF CERNOGRATZ


"Are they any old legends attached to the castle?" asked Conrad of his
sister. Conrad was a prosperous Hamburg merchant, but he was the one
poetically-dispositioned member of an eminently practical family.

The Baroness Gruebel shrugged her plump shoulders.

"There are always legends hanging about these old places. They are not
difficult to invent and they cost nothing. In this case there is a story
that when any one dies in the castle all the dogs in the village and the
wild beasts in forest howl the night long. It would not be pleasant to
listen to, would it?"

"It would be weird and romantic," said the Hamburg merchant.

"Anyhow, it isn't true," said the Baroness complacently; "since we bought
the place we have had proof that nothing of the sort happens. When the
old mother-in-law died last springtime we all listened, but there was no
howling. It is just a story that lends dignity to the place without
costing anything."