THE RUIN IN THE GARDEN.
Mr. George said that he had come to ask Rollo to go and take a walk to
see an old ruin in the town, and he told Minnie that he should be very
glad to have her go too, if her mother would be willing.
"O, yes," said Minnie, "she will be willing. I'll go."
"You must go and ask her first," said Mr. George.
So, while Mr. George and Rollo walked slowly up towards the hotel,
Minnie ran before them to ask her mother.
Mr. George explained to Rollo in walking through the garden, that there
were two ruins that he wished to see while he was at Bingen. One was the
famous castle of Rheinstein, which stood on the bank of the river, a few
miles below the town.
"But it is too late to go there to-night," said Mr. George. "We will
take that for to-morrow. But there is an old ruin back here in the
village, which I think we can see to-night."
When they reached the door of the hotel, Minnie met them, and said that
she could go; and so they walked along together.
Mr. George groped about a long time among the narrow streets and passage
ways of the town, to find some way of access to the ruin, but in vain.
He obtained frequent views of it, and of the rocky hill that it stood
upon, which was seen here and there, by chance glimpses, rising in
massive grandeur above the houses of the town; but he could not find any
way to get to it.
"It is in a private garden," said Mr. George, "I know; but how to find
the way to it I cannot imagine."
"Perhaps it is here," said Minnie.
So saying, Minnie ran up to a gate by the side of the street, which led
into a very pretty yard, all shaded with trees and shrubbery, and having
a large and handsome house by the side of it. The gate was shut and
fastened, but Minnie could look through the bars.
There was a woman standing near one of the doors of the house, and
Minnie beckoned to her. The woman came immediately down towards the
gate. Minnie pointed in towards a walk which seemed to lead back among
the trees, and said to the woman,--
"_Schloss?_"
_Schloss_ is the German word for _castle_. Minnie could not speak
German; but she knew some words of that language, and the words that she
did know she was always perfectly ready to use, whenever an occasion
presented.
"_Ja_, _Ja_," said the woman; and immediately she opened the gate. By
this time Minnie had beckoned Mr. George and Rollo to come up from the
road, and they all three went in through the gate.
The woman called to a man who was then just coming down out of the
garden, and said something to him in German. None of our party could
understand what she said; but they knew from the circumstances of the
case, and from her actions, that she was saying to him that the
strangers wished to see the ruins. So, the man leading the way, and the
three visitors following him, they all went on along a broad gravel walk
which led up into the garden.
Mr. George asked the guide if he could speak English, and he said,
"_Nein._" Then he asked him if he could speak French, and he said,
"_Nein._" He said he could only speak German.
"He can't explain any thing to us, children," said Mr. George; "we
shall have to judge for ourselves."
The walk was very shady that led along the garden, and as it was now
long past eight o'clock, it was nearly dark walking there, though it was
still pretty light under the open sky. The walk gradually ascended, and
it soon brought the party to a place where they could see, rising up
among the trees, fragments of ancient walls of stupendous height. Rollo
looked up to them with wonder. He even felt a degree of awe, as well as
wonder, for the strange and uncouth forms of windows and doors, which
were seen here and there; the embrasures, and the yawning arches which
appeared below, leading apparently to subterranean dungeons, being all
dimly seen in the obscurity of the night, suggested to his mind ideas of
prisoners confined there in ancient times, and wearing out their lives
in a dreadful and hopeless captivity, or being put to death by horrid
tortures.
Minnie was still more afraid of these gloomy remains than Rollo. She was
afraid to look up at them.
"Look up there, Minnie," said Rollo. "See that old broken window with
iron gratings in the walls."
"No," replied Minnie, "I do not want to see it at all."
So saying she looked straight down upon the path before her, and walked
on as fast as possible.
"If I should look up there, I should see some dreadful thing mowing and
chowing at me," she added.
Rollo laughed, and they all walked on.
Presently the path began to ascend more rapidly, and soon it brought the
whole party out into the light, on the slope of an elevation which was
covered with the main body of the ruined castle. The man led the way up
a steep path, and then up a flight of ancient stone steps built against
a wall, until he came to an iron gateway. This he unlocked, and the
whole party went in, or rather went through, for as the roofs were gone
from the ruins, they were almost as much out of doors after passing
through the gateway as they were before.
Mr. George and the children gazed around upon the confused mass of
ruined bastions, towers, battlements, and archways, that lay before
them, with a feeling of awe which it is impossible to describe. The
grass waved and flowers bloomed on the tops of the walls, on the sills
of the windows, and on every projecting cornice, or angle, where a seed
could have lodged. In many places thick clusters of herbage were seen
growing luxuriantly from crumbling interstices of the stones in the
perpendicular face of the masonry, fifty feet from the ground. Large
trees were growing on what had formerly been the floors of the halls, or
of the chambers, and tall grass waved there, ready for the scythe.
There was one tower which still had a roof upon it. A steep flight of
stone steps led up to a door in this tower. The door was under a deep
archway. The guide led the way up this stairway, and unlocking the door,
admitted his party into the tower.
They found themselves, when they had entered, in a small, square room.
It occupied the whole extent of the tower on that story, and yet it was
very small. This room was in good condition, having been carefully
preserved, and was now the only remaining room of the whole castle which
was not dismantled and in ruins. But this room, though still shut in
from the weather, and protected in a measure from further decay,
presented an appearance of age wholly indescribable. The door where the
party had come in was on one side of it, and there was a window on the
opposite side, leading out to a little stone balcony. On the other two
sides were two antique cabinets of carved oak, most aged and venerable
in appearance, and of the most quaint construction. The walls and the
floor were of stone. In the middle of the floor, however, was a heavy
trap door. The guide lifted up this door by means of a ponderous ring of
rusty iron, and let Mr. George and the children look down. It was a dark
and dismal dungeon.
"_Prison,_" said the guide.
This, it seemed, was the only English word that he could speak.
"Yes," said Mr. George, speaking to Rollo and Minnie. "He means that
this was the prison of the castle."
The guide shut down the trap door, and the children, after gazing around
upon the room a few minutes longer, were glad to go away.
Just before reaching the hotel on their way home, Rollo told Minnie that
he and Mr. George were going down the next day to see Rheinstein, a
beautiful castle down the river, and he asked her if she would not like
to go too.
Mr. George was walking on before them at this time, and he did not hear
this conversation.
"No," said Minnie, "I believe not. It makes me afraid to go and see
these old ruins."
"But this one that we are going to see is not an old ruin," said Rollo.
"It has been all made over again as good as new, and is full of
beautiful rooms and beautiful furniture. Besides, it stands out in a
good clear place on the bank of the river, and you will not be afraid at
all. I mean to ask uncle George if I may ask you to go."
That evening, in reflecting on the adventures of the day, Rollo wondered
that Minnie, who seemed to have so much courage about going out in a
boat on the water, and in clambering about into all sorts of dangerous
places, should be so afraid of old ruins; but the fact is, that people
are in nothing more inconsistent than in their fears.
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