Wilhelm Hauffs sämtliche Werke in sechs Bänden. Bd. 4

In the gentle autumn of 1822, a weary traveler finds himself lodged at the inn “Die drei Reichskronen” on the banks of the Rhine. The narrator describes the convivial yet restrained company of fellow guests, the fine wines and hearty meals, and a lingering sense of polite detachment that colours every conversation. As the days drift by, the atmosphere of easy camaraderie is suddenly unsettled by the rumble of a four‑horse carriage stopping directly beneath the narrator’s window.

The carriage, conspicuously without a servant, yields a tall, solitary figure whose arrival is announced by a deep, resonant voice. The inn’s steward, baffled, offers the stranger a vacant room while the narrator’s curiosity sharpens, wondering what purpose such an odd visitor could have in this quiet town. The encounter promises a chain of peculiar events that will test the limits of hospitality and reveal hidden motives behind the stranger’s silent carriage.