Markov drove on, across the railroad tracks down the hill. Was there an abbey at Enzisweiler? He didn't know, but he couldn't help admiring the skill with which Herr Hochwald had guided them past a difficulty which might have proved embarrassing.
Below the hill Markov gathered new courage for familiar landmarks were all about him, and there on the border of the lake not half a mile away was their destination.
"I hope that you know where you're going, Herr Markov," said Hochwald with a laugh.
The words of Markov's reply were inaudible to Tanya, but there was a world of meaning in his tone. She lay in concealment while the cart rumbled across more railroad tracks over a rough road and finally came to a stop. At a word from Markov she emerged from her place of concealment and sat up looking around her. She was in a quadrangle or court yard paved with cobbles, the walls and buildings surrounding it in tumbled ruins. But in front of her upon the margin of the lake was a tower, once doubtless the keep of this ancient edifice, which still stood defying the tooth of time and at the present moment showed definite signs of occupancy, for upon a clothes line beside the handsome Gothic portal hung a variety of masculine undergarments, like Schloss Kempelstein itself, in various stages of disrepair. There were fishing-nets in the sunlight on the small jetty and piles of baskets and bottles under the protection of a wooden lean-to against a broken wall. Herr Markov had told Tanya something of Herr Gratz, the eccentric owner of this domain and so she was not unprepared for his greeting.
He emerged from the Gothic doorway almost immediately, an unprepossessing creature, in soiled flannel trousers and undershirt. He had a pointed nose, small eyes deeply set under shaggy gray brows and as he strode forth from the door peering at his visitors, he seemed far from hospitable.
"And what do you want?" he began.
"Food, Ludwig," said Markov.
Herr Gratz halted suddenly at the sound of Markov's voice and stared at him, the ugly shadows in his face lifting magically.
"You, Matthias!"
"The same----"