Fjallkonan #5 | 9 February 1901
THE MORNING AFTER THE GHOST SHIP STRANDED ITSELF on the sands,292 an old skipper was found dead on a bench in the cemetery. Judging from the expression on his face, he’d died of fright. He used to talk with the two young ladies, and it was a real blow for Lucia. She grew even more apprehensive than before and started sleepwalking again.
One evening Wilma walked with Lucia along the sea and up to the cemetery, as they often did. There they met Lucia’s uncle, named Morton, who was accompanied by a middle-aged foreigner of very peculiar appearance.
Morton introduced him as Baron Székely. He was a tall brawny man, with greying black hair, a black moustache, and black peering eyes. He started up a conversation with Lucia straight off and seemed to enjoy talking to her.293
The following night, Wilma was awakened when Lucia climbed from her bed and stepped to the window. She pulled the curtain aside and stood in front of the window in her undergarments,294 her hair blowing in the wind,295 saying, “I come, I come, but the door is locked.” At that moment, she tried to throw herself out of the window, but Wilma had arrived by her side just in time and put her arms around her friend, pulling her back to bed. Lucia didn’t calm down for a long time. She couldn’t sleep and muttered time and again, “I wonder what he wanted from me.” Wilma gave her a small glass of wine, after which she nodded off and slept well for what remained of the night.
The next day the girls found Baron Székely in the cemetery. He appeared to be in a very talkative mood. A group of Tatars (Gypsies)296 had just arrived in town, and the Baron told the girls several things about the habits of these wandering people in his home country. He said that there are countless natural forces and laws known only to a few, and that the Tatars were familiar with a variety of such secret ways.
He told them that women are endowed with the greatest and most valuable powers of all, and that the Tatar women also know how to wield them. “I am convinced,” he said to Lucia, “that you have those talents as well, and it’s up to you to use them.”
Wilma noticed that Lucia was completely distraught by this remark.297