CHAPTER II.


Following Sperver, who ascended the staircase with rapid steps, I was
still able to convince myself that the Castle of Nideck had not an
undeserved reputation.

It was a true stronghold, partly cut out of the rock, such as used
formerly to be called a _château d'ambuscade_. Its lofty vaulted arches
re-echoed afar with our steps, and the outside air blowing with sharp
gusts through the loopholes--narrow slits made for the archers of former
days--caused our torches to flare and flicker from space to space over
the faintly-illuminated protruding lines of the arches as they caught the
uncertain light.

Sperver knew every nook and corner of this vast place. He turned now to
the right and now to the left, and I followed him breathless. At last he
stopped on a spacious landing, and said to me--

"Now, Fritz, I will leave you for a minute with the people of the castle
to inform the young Countess Odile of your arrival."

"Do just what you think right."

"Then you will find the head butler, Tobias Offenloch, an old soldier of
the regiment of Nideck. He campaigned in France under the count; and you