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76

THE BARON'S KNELL.

BY J. H. DANA.

In the old town of Rudenberg there stands a square, massive, stone tower, green with moss, and shattered by centuries. The superstructure, according to tradition, was the work of the EVIL ONE ; and there is that in its gloomy old walls, the deep embrasures of the windows, and the scarred and blackened appearance of the building, which would seem to corroborate the legend. In this tower hangs a bell, of strange uncouth shape, but immoveably fixed in masonry, so that no living mortal has heard it toll. The tradition goes, that bell and tower had the same origin, in the bargain of some erring soul ; but with whom the subtle enemy made the compact is not so certain. Some assert that it was an Eastern Magi, skilled in all the learning of the Chaldees. Others say that it was a fair-haired lady from beyond the seas, one whose queenly port and dazzling beauty seemed almost supernatural. And others again say that the old tower was the residence of a bearded warrior who had fought in the Holy Land, and who brought back with him a train of Saracen servants, dressed with barbarous magnificence, and speaking in an uncouth tongue. But all agree in one thing. The first possessor of the place attained unbounded opulence, but died miserably after every descendant in the direct line had perished by violence. And strangest of all, the wizard bell tolled at every death, as if rung by invisible hands. But from the day when the last of the race perished, no mortal ear has heard the knell.

It was from a student at Leyden that I first received the true version of the legend. We had been sitting over a stoup of wine all the evening, leisurely smoking our meerschaums, until at length we fell mutually into a reverie which lasted a full hour. The room where we sat was one of those large old rambling apartments found in antique buildings, with grotesquely carved cornices, and ample fire-places surrounded with dragon heads. The fire had been suffered to burn low, so that at length the chamber was left in comparative darkness. Now and then a falling brand would cause the flames to leap fitfully up, making strange shadows on the wall ; while ever and anon the sullen gusts without rattled the old casements, and wailed mournfully around the house. Suddenly the bell of the cathedral began to toll, and as the measured sound came booming across the night, we started involuntarily.

" Have you ever been at Rudenberg ?" said my companion. "Yes !" I replied, " and from your words, you were thinking ofthe strange old tower, with its bell." "I was," he answered, lowering his voice, "have you ever heard the legend ?"

I told him the versions that had been given me, but he shook his head. "They are none of them right. I believe one of my ancestors was present at the catastrophe, and so the true tradition has come down in our family. We rarely mention it, Gott gebe uns Gnade ; but you are a foreigner, and I will waive our secrecy for once. "The real builder of that tower," he continued, drawing his chair close to mine, and speaking in a low, but distinct tone, " was a needy Baron of the palatinate, who suddenly rose to great power and opulence. The superstructure was built by torch light, and with almost incredible rapidity. But the greatest mystery attended the hanging of this strange bell, for no mortal eye, it is said, witnessed the act. The bell was found one morning swinging high up in the old tower ; but, for many a long year, no one heard its voice. When the bells of the churches chimed out at wedding and christening, it remained silent. Other bells might toll at funerals, but not so it. While every steeple and tower in the palatinate rang inerrily at victory, the iron tongue of that unknown bell spoke not. Men came finally to look on it with strange awe. At length the townsfolk heard a wild toll at midnight, and their blood curdled at the sound, so unlike all others was its unearthly tone. There was that in the voice of the mysterious bell, as if the insensate metal struggled to reveal some untold horror. Men shuddered as they listened, mothers hugged their babes to their bosoms, and maidens rose from bed and knelt before the crucifix until the fearful tolling ceased. That night few slept in Rudenberg. When morning dawned, the citizens learnt that, at midnight, just when the bell began to toll, the beautiful young daughter of the Baron had died, it was feared, by poison, administered by some unknown hand. And the bell had tolled at her death, but by whom the knell was wrung, no man could tell. " From that day, it was noticed, that a dark shade settled on the brow of the Baron. Meantime his possessions continued to increase, and while others lost, he gained. Whatever enterprize he undertook was sure to succeed . But child after child perished violently, and at every death that mysterious bell was tolled by unknown hands. These things induced strange suspicions among the townsfolk. They called to mind the poverty from which the Baron had sprung, they remembered the singular rapidity with which the tower had been built, and they thought upon that fearful night when the mysterious bell broke its long silence, and tolled at the death of his child . Whispers, at first scarcely breathed, but finally given utterance to even in the market-place, charged him with having entered into a bargain with the Evil One ; and it was said that wealth and power was to be the portion of the Baron, but that one by one he was to lose his children as the forfeit, and that the