oday again he was not destined to have his object fulfilled. Before
he reached his mother, a woman approached her from the other side, and
both entered immediately into a lively conversation. If it had been
somebody else than his special old friend Mrs. Apollonie, Kurt would
have felt very angry indeed. But this woman had gained great distinction
in Kurt's eyes by being well acquainted with the old caretaker of the
castle; so he always had a hope of hearing from her many things that were
happening there.

To his great satisfaction he heard Mrs. Apollonie say on his approach:
"No, no, Mrs. Rector, old Trius does not open any windows in vain; he
has not opened any for nearly twenty years."

"He might want to wipe away the dust for once in his life; it's about
time," Kurt's mother replied. "I don't believe the master has returned."

"Why should the tower windows, where the master always lived, be opened
then? Something unusual has happened," said Mrs. Apollonie
significantly.

"The ghost of Wildenstein might have pushed them open," Kurt quickly
asserted.

"Kurt, can't you stop talking about this story? It is only an invention
of people who are not contented with one misfortune but must make up an
added terror," the mother said with animation. "You know, Kurt, that I
feel sorry about this foolish tale and want you to pay no attention to
it."

"But mother, I only want to support you; I want to help you get rid of
people's superstitions and to prove to them that there is no ghost in
Wildenstein," Kurt assured her.

"Yes, yes, if only one did not know how the brothers--"

"No, Apollonie," the rector's widow interrupted her, "you least of all
should support the belief in these apparitions. Everybody knows that you
lived in the castle more than twenty years, and so people think that you
know what is going on. You realize well enough that all the talk has no
foundation whatever."

Mrs. Apollonie lightly shrugged her shoulders, but said no more.

"But, mother, what can the talk come from then, when there is no
foundation for it, as you say?" asked Kurt, who could not let the matter
rest.

"There is no real foundation for the talk," the mother replied, "and no
one of all those who talk has ever seen the apparition with his own eyes.
It is always other people who tell, and those have been told again by
others, that something uncanny has been seen at the castle. The talk
first started from a misfortune which happened ye