The Last Lords of Gardonal

The Last Lords of Gardonal
by William Gilbert
THE AUTHOR OF "DR. AUSTIN'S GUESTS."
1867


Part I
ONE of the most picturesque objects of the valley of the Engadin is the
ruined castle of Gardonal, near the village of Madaline. In the feudal
times it was the seat of a family of barons, who possessed as their
patrimony the whole of the valley, which with the castle had descended
from father to son for many generations. The two last of the race were
brothers; handsome, well-made, fine-looking young men, but in nature
they more resembled fiends than human beings--so cruel, rapacious,
and tyrannical were they. During the earlier part of his life their father
had been careful of his patrimony. He had also been unusually just to
the serfs on his estates, and in consequence they had attained to such a
condition of comfort and prosperity as was rarely met with among
those in the power of the feudal lords of the country; most of whom
were arbitrary and exacting in the extreme. For several years in the
latter part of his life he had been subject to a severe illness, which had
confined him to the castle, and the management of his possessions and
the government of his serfs had thus fallen into the hands of his sons.
Although the old baron had placed so much power in their hands; still
he was far from resigning his own authority. He exacted a strict account
from them of the manner in which they performed the different duties
he had intrusted to them; and having a strong suspicion of their
character, and the probability of their endeavouring to conceal their

misdoings, he caused agents to watch them secretly, and to report to
him as to the correctness of the statements they gave. These agents
possibly knowing that the old man had but a short time to live
invariably gave a most favourable description of the conduct of the two
young nobles, which, it must be admitted, was not, during their father's
lifetime, particularly reprehensible on the whole. Still, they frequently
showed as much of the cloven foot as to prove to the tenants what they
had to expect at no distant day.
At the old baron's death, Conrad, the elder, inherited as his portion the
castle of Gardonal, and the whole valley of Engadin; while to Hermann,
the younger, was assigned some immense estates belong to his father in
the Bresciano district; for even in those early days, there was
considerable intercourse between the inhabitants of that northern
portion of Italy and those of the valley of the Engadin. The old baron
had also willed, that should either of his sons die without children his
estates should go to the survivor.
Conrad accordingly now took possession of the castle and its territory,
and Hermann of the estates on the southern side of the Alps which,
although much smaller than those left to his elder brother, were still of
great value. Notwithstanding the disparity in the worth of the legacies
bequeathed to the two brothers, a perfectly good feeling existed
between them, which promised to continue, their tastes being the same,
while the mountains which divided them tended to the continuance of
peace.
Conrad had hardly been one single week feudal lord of the Engadin
before the inhabitants found, to their sorrow, how great was the
difference between him and the old baron. Instead of the score of armed
retainers his father had kept, Conrad increased the number to three
hundred men, none of whom were natives of the valley. They had been
chosen with great care from a body of Bohemian, German, and Italian
outlaws, who at that time infested the borders of the Grisons, or had
found refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains--men capable of any
atrocity and to whom pity was unknown. From these miscreants the
baron especially chose for his body-guard those who were ignorant of

the language spoken by the peasantry of the Engadin, as they would be
less likely to be influenced by any supplications or excuses which
might be made to them when in the performance of their duty.
Although the keeping of so numerous a body of armed retainers might
naturally be considered to have entailed great expense, such a
conclusion would be most erroneous, at least as far as regarded the
present baron, who was as avaricious as he was despotic. He contrived
to support his soldiers by imposing a most onerous tax on his tenants,
irrespective of his ordinary feudal imposts; and woe to the unfortunate
villagers who from inability, or from a sense of the injustice inflicted
on them, did not contribute to the uttermost farthing the amount levied
on them. In such a case a party of soldiers was