Page:The Castle of Wolfenbach - Parsons - 1854.djvu/55

 there, I know a very industrious couple hard by, the only friends we have, who will be glad to go with us." "By all means, (said the Count eagerly) but pray are you pretty quiet now; do the ghosts trouble you, as has been foolishly talked of?" "I am seldom disturbed, my Lord, (answered Joseph;) I never saw nor heard any ghosts." "I believe not, (said the Count;) the silly imagination of some people conjure up frightful fancies, and endeavour to impose them upon others as realities; but pray Joseph how soon can you leave this house? my man Peter will go with you to the other; you will find a much better habitation, and can take your friends with you." "In about a week, my Lord, I shall be ready." "Not sooner?" "I must speak to my friends; we must get our little domestic business put in order, and then we shall be fit to go comfortably, though 'tis a long journey for old folks, my Lord." "Nothing at all—nothing at all, (said his Lordship,) Peter will see you safe. We shall be with you next week—use all the dispatch you can, for I have alterations to make in the house, before I give it up."

The Count and his attendants mounted their horses and rode off, leaving Joseph in great perplexity. Bertha, ignorant of the events which caused his uneasiness, was well pleased to change her abode for a better one, and was in a violent hurry to call on Pierre and Jacqueline, but Joseph requested she would wait another day, 'till he had considered the matter. He well knew, that if the Count visited the other wing he must be sensible that it had been lately inhabited. If he was innocent of his conjectures, and unconcerned in the late transactions, he would judge unfavourably of Joseph; if, on the contrary, he had any hand in carrying off the lady and murdering her attendant, the removal of the body would convince him some person must have been there; his suspicions would naturally fall on himself, and perhaps he might be sacrificed also. These considera-