Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/120

 year 179–, the worthy advocate, whose silvered head counted more than sixty winters, said to me one day with a good natured smile on his face:

"Cousin," (I was his grand nephew, but he always called me cousin, on account of the similarity of our baptismal names,) "cousin, I have a desire to take thee to R—sitten. The north wind, the cold breezes from the water and the first frosts will give to thy organs a little of that vigor which would make thy health firmer. Thou wilt render me, there, more than one service in copying law papers, which accumulate every year more and more; and thou wilt learn, for thy personal gratification, the trade of a free huntsman."

God knows how joyous the proposition of my uncle made me! On the morrow we were rolling in a good coach, warmly equipped with ample furs, through a country which became at every step wilder, as we advanced towards the north, through great quantities of snow and interminable forests of pine. On the road, my great uncle related to me anecdotes of the life of baron Roderick, (the owner of the castle.) He told me with picturesque illustrations the habits and adventures of the old lord of R—sitten; and he complained at seeing that a taste for this savage life was forestalling all the thoughts of his actual successor, a young man, who until that time had shown himself to be good humored and in delicate health. For the rest, he recommended me to take my ease at the castle. He ended by describing the lodging that I should inhabit with him, which joined on one side the old audience hall of the lord of the castle, and on the other the habitation of the two ladies of whom I have already spoken. We arrived thus, in the middle of the night, on the territory of R—sitten.

There was a celebration at the village. The steward's house, illuminated from top to bottom, resounded to the music of dances, and the only tavern in the place was filled with gay guests. We soon found ourselves again on the road, already nearly impassable and covered with snow. The north