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and fully trustworthy. Moreover, the facts are copied from the police records of P---. The
eye-witness in question attributes it, of course, partly to divine interference and partly to the
Evil One. -- H. P. B.
In one of the distant governments of the Russian empire, in a small town on the borders of Siberia, a
mysterious tragedy occurred more than thirty years ago. About six versts from the little town of P---,
famous for the wild beauty of its scenery, and for the wealth of its inhabitants -- generally proprietors of
mines and of iron foundries -- stood an aristocratic mansion. Its household consisted of the master, a rich old
bachelor and his brother, who was a widower and the father of two sons and three daughters.
It was known that the proprietor, Mr. Izvertzoff, had adopted his brother's children, and, having formed an
especial attachment for his eldest nephew, Nicolas, he made him the sole heir of his numerous estates.
Time rolled on. The uncle was getting old, the nephew was coming of age. Days and years had passed in
monotonous serenity, when, on the hitherto clear horizon of the quiet family, appeared a cloud. On an
unlucky day one of the nieces took it into her head to study the zither. The instrument being of purely
Teutonic origin, and no teacher of it residing in the neighbourhood, the indulgent uncle sent to St. Petersburg
for both. After diligent search only one Professor could be found willing to trust himself in such close
proximity to Siberia. It was an old German artist, who, sharing his affections equally between his instrument
and a pretty blonde daughter, would part with neither. And thus it came to pass that, one fine morning, the old
Professor arrived at the mansion, with his music box under one arm and his fair Munchen leaning on the
other.
From that day the little cloud began growing rapidly; for every vibration of the melodious instrument found a
responsive echo in the old bachelor's heart. Music awakens love, they say, and the work begun by the zither
was completed by Munchen's blue eyes. At the expiration of six months the niece had become an expert
zither player, and the uncle was desperately in love.
One morning, gathering his adopted family around him, he embraced them all very tenderly, promised to
remember them in his will, and wound up by declaring his unalterable resolution to marry the blue-eyed
Munchen. After this he fell upon their necks, and wept in silent rapture. The family, understanding that they
THE CAVE OF THE ECHOES 54
Nightmare Tales
were cheated out of the inheritance, also wept; but it was for another cause. Having thus wept, they consoled
themselves and tried to rejoice, for the old gentleman was sincerely beloved by all. Not all of them rejoiced,
though. Nicolas, who had himself been smitten to the heart by the pretty German, and who found himself
defrauded at once of his belle and of his uncle's money, neither rejoiced nor consoled himself, but
disappeared for a whole day.
Meanwhile, Mr. Izvertzoff had given orders to prepare his traveling carriage on the following day, and it was
whispered that he was going to the chief town of the district, at some distance from his home, with the
intention of altering his will. Though very wealthy, he had no superintendent on his estate, but kept his books
himself. The same evening after supper, he was heard in his room, angrily scolding his servant, who had been
in his service for over thirty years. This man, Ivan, was a native of northern Asia, from Kamschatka; he had
been brought up by the family in the Christian religion, and was thought to be very much attached to his
master. A few days later, when the first tragic circumstance I am about to relate had brought all the police
force to the spot, it was remembered that on that night Ivan was drunk; that his master, who had a horror of
this vice, had paternally thrashed him, and turned him out of his room, and that Ivan had been seen reeling
out of the door, and had been heard to mutter threats.
On the vast domain of Mr. Izvertzoff there was a curious cavern, which excited the curiosity of all who
visited it. It exists to this day, and is well known to every inhabitant of P---. A pine forest, commencing a
few feet from the garden gate, climbs in steep terraces up a long range of rocky hills, which it covers with a
broad belt of impenetrable vegetation. The grotto leading into the cavern, which is known as the "Cave of the
Echoes," is situated about half a mile from the site of the mansion, from which it appears as a small
excavation in the hillside, almost hidden by luxuriant plants, but not so completely as to prevent any person
entering it from being readily seen from the terrace in front of the house. Entering the grotto, the explorer
finds at the rear a narrow cleft; having passed through which he emerges into a lofty cavern, feebly lighted
through fissures in the vaulted roof, fifty feet from the ground. The cavern itself is immense, and would easily
hold between two and three thousand people. A part of it, in the days of Mr. Izvertzoff, was paved with
flagstones, and was often used in the summer as a ball-room by picnic parties. Of an irregular oval, it
gradually narrows into a broad corridor, which runs for several miles underground, opening here and there
into other chambers, as large and lofty as the ball-room, but, unlike this, impassable otherwise than in a boat,
as they are always full of water. These natural basins have the reputation of being unfathomable.
On the margin of the first of these is a small platform, with several mossy rustic seats arranged on it, and it is
from this spot that the phenomenal echoes, which give the cavern its name, are heard in all their weirdness. A
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