Marie the Hermitess

Neruda tells this tale of the place. The daughter of the proud inspector at the Schwarzenberg Palace fell in love with a poor craftsman from Ostruhová Street; the lovers could see each other from their windows and used to meet on this very spot. But her father had the unwelcome suitor taken away for a soldier, and at their parting the girl promised him that she would wait in that place. Years passed, the inspector died — and the faithful girl, by now an old maid, came here daily, and in a dress of the fashion in which her lover had found her pleasing. The people of the neighbourhood knew her well and called her Marie the Hermitess. At last, one winter morning, she was found here frozen to death.