The Argosy — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

138 In the Black Forest. wherewith to guide one’s steps. ‘There, in a room that had once been the refectory of the monks, or something of the kind (for this portion of the abbey had been adapted to modern purposes), supper was not only ready but nearly over. At least thirty people were seated at a long table, busy with their knives and forks—especially the knives. I had thought to be alone in this out-of-the-world spot, and behold a crowd. <As usual where a number of Germans are assembled, conversation waxed animated and voices loud. ‘The German women know little of that excellent thing in their sex, a sweet voice, and to a shrill treble the men chime in with a firm double bass. Singular that so musical a people should neglect a charm we prize so highly. What spirits were abroad that night, hovering in the air, whispering in the rustling of the pines, the ceaseless murmur of the waterfall P Sleep brought no unconsciousness, no rest ; it was haunted by dreams. in which ghouls and goblins played a part, bears and wolves springing out from the depths of the forest, and it was a perpetual dance of death, as it were, to escape with life. All night long, even in sleep, the rush of the water never ceased; and when morning dawned upon another day I felt that I had verily and indeed been possessed by the unseen powers of the air. ‘The spirits of the monks were at work. Perhaps those who had shirked their dull, dry routine of duties in life were performing penance. Never was there so un- canny a spot: never a place so thoroughly given up to witchcraft. And—strange, corroborative fact—later on, in comparing notes with fellow pilgrims, I found they had had identically the same experiences, were haunted by the same terrible dreams, went through the same terrific combats. Yes, there was something mysterious and unearthly about Aller- heiligen. Whether the inn had been built on consecrated ground, and the ghosts of the friars resented the desecration ; whether it displeased them that a spot devoted to religious purposes for so many centuries: should now be given up to the vulgar and secular uses of public entertainment ; whether, in this out-of-the-world spot, sundry murders had been committed, and the victims, in unquiet resting places, were hovering about the world they had quitted too soon and tormenting mankind : this cannot be known. Certain it is, that I felt as if a month had passed away, battles and sieges and the crack of a hun- dred dooms, since the previous evening. In the early morning I went for a long look at the ruins, so singular a sight in this remote quarter. ‘There rose the crumbling walls that once had echoed with the mournful, monotonous Gregorian chants of the monks ; there at the midnight mass in days gone by, the lighted windows must have gleamed weirdly amidst the impenetrable outside darkness; whilst within, those members of a most austere order per- formed their duties, some possibly nodding wearily, and doing penance next day for the weakness of the flesh. Here, in those grass-grown courts, age after age, century after century, the long, cold, gloomy Gomichbooks (E() m