For nearly twenty years the fine old castle had stood silent and deserted on the mountain-side.
On bright summer evenings the swallows whizzed as before about the corner gables, but no more merry eyes looked down from the balconies to the green meadows and richly laden apple trees in the valley.
But just now two merry eyes were searchingly raised to the castle from the mead.
In its neighborhood not a sound could be heard except the twittering of the birds and the soughing of the old pine-trees.
For nearly twenty years the fine old castle had stood silent and deserted on the mountain-side