Page:The Keepsake for 1838.djvu/231

 confidential, he confessed that he did not, himself, know the mystery; but that there was, undoubtedly, some connection between the preservation of the tower, and the Silver Lady. Such a connection did not appear very probable to me, from the experience I had had of the supposed apparition; but I allowed the old man to talk on; and I heard, from him, the following tale.

“In ancient times, when this domain was first inherited by the Bentheims, there lived a young lady of the family of the former possessor. She was of surpassing beauty, but also a cunning sorceress; and she terrified the new possessor to such a degree, by her necromantic arts, that he nearly lost his senses. The fair magician was consequently imprisoned in the old tower; and then, as she persisted in her incantations, she was accused of witchcraft, and condemned to justify herself, by a water ordeal.

“She was, according to custom, bound hand and foot, and laid on the surface of the lake of the castle; if she floated, the existence of her bond with the Evil One, was supposed to be established beyond a doubt. In the present case, indeed, she sank to the bottom, protesting her innocence; and thus was she clearly purified from all suspicion of having formed any connection with the devil. Yet her entire freedom from all blame, was not thought sufficiently proved; consequently, when her body was drawn from the lake, it was refused burial in the family vault, and ignominiously interred in a passage which led to the church. She now, therefore, it is said, finds no rest in her unholy grave; and incessantly persecutes the owner of the castle. She even tries to destroy the tower by her magic arts; because, during her imprisonment, she cursed the building, and prayed that, along with it, the new race of proprietors might be destroyed.”

The account of the trial for witchcraft made me a little 2