Friederich lighted them through the vaulted hall; the pillars cast shadows upon the stone flags of the floor, and upon the old castle's strong walls. They ascended a stone staircase; the table was laid in the dining-hall of the Order. It was a magnificent room; a granite column in the middle supported the radiated arch. Faded glass paintings were still visible in the windows. Blanden opened them; his gaze wandered out over the wide lake.
"You must excuse me for a short time," said Kuhl. "I am a species of Aquarius, and must greet my native element; I am impelled like the late unhappy Melusine. I must away into the water!"
"Now, at midnight?" asked Blanden.
"Until I have had a dip in the lake, I cannot feel myself at home here. See how it lures me with those glistening lights which play upon its surface. There are probably no syrens in the lake; if there had been any, they would most likely have died long ere this of ennui. Can one not dive into it anywhere from a balcony or gallery?"
"That even at midnight would create great sensation."
"Well, then, I will go to the bushes on the banks."
Blanden sat at the windows of the dining-hall, lost in dreams; he pondered how the old castle would gain new life. He asked himself what impression the magnificent view over the wide lake and the tall woods, most of which formed part of his possessions, would make upon Eva, when she first sat here by his side?
Far away his friend splashed in the waves, and swam ever farther out into the lake; a considerable time elapsed before he appeared at the midnight repast. Then he was lighted to his room by the old servant, who was himself dismissed to rest by Blanden.
The master of the castle was in a condition of strange excitement; he could not sleep. He took the candle, and walked through all the apartments to plan their future distribution, and to find out where Eva would be most comfortable.
He first entered his library; it was a magnificent apartment, the shelves, containing books, reached up to the ceiling. The newest poets and authors of Germany, bearing well-known names, were not missing. Blanden esteemed it to be his duty to buy their works--a duty towards literature, which but few of his equals recognised.