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In a frightened dreae, and in silence, for

we had each abundant ; we soonthe spacious cha stairs, and dark

corridors of the castle

"And this was once the palatial residence of the Karnsteins!" said the

old General at length, as froe, and saw the wide, undulating expanse of forest "It was a bad

family, and here its bloodstained annals ritten," he continued

"It is hard that they should, after death, continue to plague the human

race with their atrocious lusts That is the chapel of the Karnsteins,

down there"

He pointed down to the grey walls of the Gothic building partly visible

through the foliage, a little way down the steep "And I hear the axe of

a wood the trees that surround it; he

possibly ive us the inforrave of Mircalla, Countess of Karnstein These rustics preserve

the local traditions of great fa the

rich and titled so soon as the families themselves become extinct"

"We have a portrait, at home, of Mircalla, the Countess Karnstein;

should you like to see it?" asked h, dear friend," replied the General "I believe that I have

seen the original; and one motive which has led me to you earlier than I