Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/121

 wind made the waters of the lake moan and the branches of the pines crack with ominous sound; and in the midst of a kind of white sea was traced in black the profile of the manor, whose portcullis was down. A silence of death reigned in it; not a light escaped from its lattice-like loopholes.

"Hallo! Franz, Franz!" cried my great uncle, "Hallo! get up! The snow freezes in falling from the sky, and a fire even from hell would do us a great deal of good!"

A watch dog answered first to this appeal; then a little movement was heard; the reflection of a torch disturbed the shadows, keys turned heavily in the locks, and the old Franz saluted us with—

"Good morning, Master Justice; I give you a welcome this diabolical weather!"

Franz, accoutered with a livery in which his insignificant body moved about too much at ease, made one of the most comic faces on receiving us, as he was unbooted. A simple civility was impressed on his wrinkled features; but, in spite of all that, his ugliness was nearly compensated for, by the warmth of his welcome.

"My worthy sir," said Franz, "nothing is prepared to receive you; the chambers are frozen, and the beds are not furnished; and then, the wind blows from every quarter through the broken panes; you could not stay in them, even with fire!"

"How do you say, rascal," exclaimed my great uncle, shaking off the hoar frost from his furs, "how do you say, you the guardian of this barrack, and do you not watch over it and repair it when needful? So, my chamber is uninhabitable?"

"Very nearly," replied Franz, bowing to the ground, for I had just sneezed explosively. "The chamber of Mr. Justice is, at the present time, heaped with rubbish. Three days ago the ceiling of the audience hall fell with a violent shock."

My great uncle was about to swear like one possessed, but he restrained himself suddenly, and, turning towards me and tucking his ears under his foxskin cap: