Not a sound, save the soughing of the wind, was heard within God’s peaceful acre, for over the wrecks of Time Silence lay motionless in the arms of Death.

The moon’s pale rays illumined the buildings when Richmodis arrived at her house in the New Market.  She knocked repeatedly, but at first received no response to her summons.  After a time Sir Aducht opened the window and looked out, annoyed at the disturbance at such an hour.

He was about to speak angrily when the apparition looked up at him with a tender regard of love and asked him to descend quickly and open the door to receive his wife, nearly exhausted by cold and terror.  The bereaved husband refused to believe that the wife whom he had just buried had come back to him, and he declared that he would as soon expect his horses to climb upstairs as believe that his dead wife could return to him alive.

He had hardly uttered the words when the trampling of his two horses on the staircase was distinctly heard.  A moment or two later he looked from the casement and saw the steeds at an upper window, and he could doubt no longer.  Rushing to the door, he received his shivering wife into his arms.  The ring she still wore would have removed all doubts had there been room for such.

Husband and wife spent many years together in domestic happiness, and in memory of that remarkable night Sir Aducht fixed wooden effigies of two horses’ heads to the outside of the window, where they still remain for all to see.

The Magic Banquet

Another interesting tale of Cologne deals with the famous magician and alchemist, Albertus Magnus, who at one time dwelt in the convent of the Dominicans, not far from that city.  It is recorded that on one occasion, in the depth of winter, Albertus invited William of Holland to a feast which was to be held in the convent garden.  The recipients of the curious invitation, William and his courtiers, were naturally much amazed at the terms thereof, but decided not to lose the opportunity of attending such a novel banquet.

In due course they arrived at the monastery, where all was in readiness for the feast, the tables being laid amid the snow.  The guests had fortified themselves against the severe weather by wearing their warmest clothing and furs.  No sooner had they taken their seats, however, than Albertus, exercising the magic powers he possessed, turned the wintry garden into a scene of summer bloom and loveliness.  The heavy furs were laid aside, and the guests were glad to seek the shade of the spreading foliage.  Iced drinks were brought to allay their thirst, and a sumptuous banquet was provided by their hosts; thus the hours passed unheeded, till the Ave Maria was rung by the convent-bell.  Immediately the spell was broken, and once more snow and ice dominated the scene.  The courtiers, who had rid themselves of as much of their clothing as court etiquette would permit, shivered in the bitter blast, and looked the very picture of blank amazement—­so much so that William forgot his own suffering and laughed heartily at the discomfiture of his train.