Greifenstein

Greifenstein

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Greifenstein, by F. Marion Crawford
#5 in our series by F. Marion Crawford
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Title: Greifenstein
Author: F. Marion Crawford
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6446] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 14,
2002]
Edition: 10

Language: English
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GREIFENSTEIN ***

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GREIFENSTEIN
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD

CHAPTER I
Frau von Sigmundskron was not really much past middle age, though
the people in the village generally called her the old baroness. Her hair
was very white and she was thin and pale; her bold features, almost
emaciated, displayed the framework of departed beauty, and if her high
white forehead and waxen face were free from lines and wrinkles, it
must have been because time and grief could find no plastic material
there in which to trace their story. She was a very tall woman, too, and
carried her head erect and high, walking with a firmness and elasticity
of step such as would not have been expected in one whose outward
appearance conveyed so little impression of strength. It is true that she
had never been ill in her life and that her leanness was due to the most
natural of all causes; but these facts were not patent to the observer, and
for reasons which will presently appear she herself would have been the
last to mention them. There was something, too, in the look of her blue
eyes, shaded by long brown lashes which had retained their colour, that
forbade any expression of sympathy. The least experienced of mankind
would have seen at a glance that she was the proudest of women, and
would have guessed that she must be one of the most reticent. She
moved and spoke as though Sigmundskron were still what it had been
in former days, and she had brought up her only child to be as much

like herself, as it was possible that anything so young and fair could
resemble what was already a type of age and gravity.
Poverty is too insignificant a word to describe the state in which the
mother and daughter lived, and had lived for many years. They had no
means of subsistence whatever beyond the pension accorded to the
widow of Lieutenant von Sigmundskron, 'fallen on the field of honour,'
as the official report had expressed it, in the murderous war with France.
He had been the last of his name and at the time of his death had no
relations living; two years earlier he had married a girl as penniless and
as noble as himself, and had lived to see a daughter born, destined to
inherit his nobility, his penury, and the bare walls of his ancestral
home.
Sigmundskron had been a very grand castle in its day, and the half-
ruined walls of the old stronghold still rose majestically from the
summit of the crag. Indeed the ruin was more apparent than real as yet,
and a few thousands judiciously expended upon the masonry would
have sufficed to restore the buildings to their original completeness.
Many a newly enriched merchant or banker would have paid a
handsome price for the place, though the land was gone and the
government owned the forest up to the very foot of the rock. But the
Lady of Sigmundskron would rather have starved to death in her
vaulted chamber than have taken half the gold in Swabia to sign away
her dead husband's home. Moreover, there was Greif, and Greif was to
marry Hilda, after which all would be well again. Greif, with his money,
would build and restore and furnish the old castle, and bring back the
breath of life into the ancient halls and corridors. But in order that Greif
might marry