The Silver Castle Read Online Free

saw the Schloss some hundred feet below us at the lake’s edge. Against the water’s leaden surface the ancient building gleamed with pearly light, the hewn-stone walls and slated roofs seemed to float with no more solidity than a vapour’s breath. At one point rose a tall, square bell tower which was balanced on the diagonal corner by a circular turret, and other, miniature, turrets crowned the walls at capricious intervals.
    A silver castle, insubstantial as a dream.
    Despite my urgent need to learn more about my father, I felt curiously reluctant to make contact with this unknown woman who summoned me. While I hesitated, the enveloping silence was broken by a curious whirring, creaking sound which grew swiftly louder until two huge white birds came into sight, flying low over the fir trees.
    “Die Schwane,” the chauffeur explained, watching me.
    “Oh, swans.”
    I recalled having seen swans flying once before, in London, between two of the royal parks. The birds passed directly overhead and flew straight for the castle, almost as if pointing the way. As they descended to land upon the water, I gave myself a little shake.
    “Right, let’s go then,” I said briskly.
    We proceeded down the narrow track, the big Citroen gliding smoothly ahead, my Fiat lurching behind. After we’d crossed the main highway, I could see that the Schloss stood upon a spur of land which thrust out into the lake. High stone walls bordered the grounds but the crested gates, a tracery of wrought iron, stood invitingly open as if they were never closed.
    The driveway curved between beds of rosebushes, pruned and only just bursting into leaf, carpeted now with dark pansies and brightly flowering polyantha. The smooth lawns were starred with clusters of tiny daffodils, already lifting their yellow heads again after the battering from the rain. A line of blue-green Norway spruce threw long, pointed shadows.
    The Citroen passed through an archway into a cobbled courtyard and I followed, drawing up beside it. The chauffeur politely came forward to hold my door, then led me into the castle through a dark, medieval portal.
    The hall was large and lofty, panelled in a Gothic leaf design with fluted columns rising to the vaulted ceiling. A wide stairway, balustraded with carved dark wood, turned twice before disappearing out of sight. Tall spikes of yellow iris in a porcelain vase stood upon a circular marble table, and spread across the floor was a glorious Persian carpet in soft shades of red. The tallest grandfather clock I had ever seen ticked with ponderous gravity.
    “Please to wait here, Fraulein.”
    We had paused before a pair of panelled doors and the chauffeur knocked before entering, his cap under his arm. A moment later he was ushering me inside.
    Evening shadows were already advancing in the hall, but now I stepped into a lovely green and amber room, brushed with the gilt of sunlight slanting through a western window. A middle-aged woman in a wheelchair was propelling herself forward to greet me.
    She was arrestingly beautiful, only the gaunt outline of her cheekbones and the pallor of her ivory skin revealing the cost of a continuing battle against disablement. Her hair was a rich coppery brown, and she wore it twisted into a coil on the crown of her head. A gown of iridescent kingfisher blue had been draped in softly falling folds to conceal the crippled legs. Her face was alight with a charming smile of welcome, and I wondered if I only imagined a hint of wariness behind the smile.
    “So Karl has persuaded you to come. I am so glad.” She extended a hand to me, and the grip of her slender fingers was surprisingly strong.
    “You are Frau Kreuder, I take it?”
    “Ja, that is so.” A small, apologetic gesture indicated her chair-bound condition. “You will understand why I was obliged to send Karl to find you, rather than come myself.”
    “I’m curious to know why you wanted to see me,” I said. “Have you something to tell