, and I prefer to take you my own way. So we go along the
crooked street past a bunch of churches, one of which is the longest in
Prague; you may see their bulbous towers from my terrace, or your own if
you get the right point of view. These churches do not interest me
particularly except for a lovely bit of wrought-iron railing belonging
to the Italian Chapel, just where the street takes a slight twist. Here
you have quaint old houses, with red-tiled roofs and dormer windows. One
of them seems inclined to impede the progress of the traffic, and the
street bends slightly away to the right to oblige this building. There
are quaint ornamentations on the narrow side of this house facing us,
human figures and wreaths, and in the centre of the design a star. This
old house has a little story to tell. Long ago, possibly in the
sixteenth century, it was an inn, or a lodging-house, was said to be
haunted, so the great-grandson of the last innkeeper there gave up
taking lodgers and became a confectioner. One winter's evening, probably
in preparation for Christmas, this confectioner was surveying the day's
handiwork. He was particularly pleased with two little sugar figures he
had fashioned; they represented a lady and her gallant in Spanish dress,
each draped in the heavy folds of a cloak. He was interrupted by a knock
at the door, and in came two figures, in Spanish dress, cloak and all, a
lady and her cavalier. The only thing strange about them were their
faces: they were like masks, beautiful indeed, but lifeless. However,
the couple were quite amiable; they took the proffered seats, and the
gallant spoke. "Have you, good master [gramercies, gadzooks, etc.,
according to taste], a couple of sugar figures in Spanish dress, each
draped in a cloak?" "Zounds!" or something equally effective (in Czech,
please) from the confectioner, "here is the very article!" The little
figures gave satisfaction; the gallant purchased them with much fine
gold, then proffered a request for a favour in return. "Granted," or
words to that effect, from the confectioner. "As it happens," continued
the gallant, "we have lost our heads, and would be much obliged if you
would recover them for us. You see, we called here about a hundred
years ago and were murdered in our beds, here in this house. It was your
great-grandfather's doing; he was a bit peevish that evening. We had
arrived with all our trunks, had searched the whole town for lodgings;
every place