Chap. I

It was a gloomy evening of October 1792: the storm which had never ceased the whole day, continued to howl round the castle of Rosenheim; and the night approached with tenfold dreariness. The Baroness de Rosenheim and Madame D’Alberg her daughter, with their attendants and servants, tho’ wearied by anxiety, dared not think yet of repose. All day they had been listening to the sound of cannon, which a strong wind brought from the French frontier; whence they were seventeen miles distant. In the course of the last twenty-four hours they had received undoubted information, that the French army were following the Austrian and Prussian troops in their retreat, and would soon be in the dominions of the Emperor.¹¹ The Baron de Rosenheim, a General in the Imperial service, was at Vienna; and being detained there by his personal attendance on the Emperor, Madame de Rosenheim knew she had little reason to expect his return, whatever might be the danger to his private property. unwilling, however, to spread alarm by her example, or to abandon the castle to the care of servants, yet equally unwilling to await the arrival of the army of the enemy, she had sent off a courier to her husband several days before, requesting his direction how to act. She now hourly expected the return of the messenger, which could hardly be delayed longer than the present evening, unless he had fallen into the hands of the French; which was far from being improbable. Time wore away, but no courier returned; and fear and dismay gained every moment on the inhabitants of the castle of Rosenheim, where, besides the usual number of domestics, as many peasants were admitted as could be spared from their families in the village beneath. A regular guard was mounted within the walls; while, as night approached, each questioned his comrade as to the probable events of the next day. Some affected a contempt of the danger which they were far from feeling; and others apologized for the fears they could not conceal, by relating the cruelties that, according to their apprehension, would be exercised by the French on their prisoners. 112The castle, situated on an eminence, and once strongly fortified, could make but a feeble resistance now against the troops that had compelled the armies of the Emperor and the King of Prussia to retreat: and it was whispered by some of those who apparently had undertaken its defence, that if the French appeared before it, it could not be too soon surrendered.