Francis Lathom

Francis Lathom. The Castle of Ollada. a Romance

London:  William Lane at the Minerva-Press, 1795; 2nd ed. 1831.

 

Synopsis of The Castle of Ollada

Published in 1795, The Castle of Ollada was Lathom's first novel. He wrote it at age twenty. Set in Spain, the story opens with Hugo, a tenant of the baron Garcia of Ollada, walking in the woods with Father Anselm. Hugo tells Anselm of a strange sighting-Hugo has seen a strange light and a shadowy figure in one of the windows of the castle, which is uninhabited. Hugo departs and Father Anselm meets Altador, the baron's nephew, who tells him that the baron recently received a nearly-fatal wound, and while he was injured he apologized to Altador for all the ills he had caused him, and begged forgiveness. He also told Altador to go, upon his death, to the castle. Overcome with pain, the baron could tell him no more. Since his recovery, the baron had simply dismissed his words. Prior to this, Altador's father had died, but had left everything to Garcia instead of Altador. Altador resolves to solve the mystery and explore the castle. Fr. Anselm does not mention what Hugo has just told him, fearing that Altador will suspect that his father's ghost haunts the castle.

The baron Garcia has one daughter, Matilda. His cousin, Hypolita, lives with them and helps raise Matilda. Hypolita notices that Altador has strong feelings for Matilda. Later that evening, Altador, along with the baron's steward Perez and Fr. Anselm, goes to the castle to solve its mystery. While they are waiting to explore the castle, Fr. Anselm relates the story of Altador's parents, Ferdinand and Fatima. He reveals that they had given birth to a son before Altador, who was also named Ferdinand and, entrusted in the care of a nurse, died at age 5. However, Garcia fell in love with Fatima, but did not act on his feelings and instead married Laura, Matilda's mother, who died in childbirth. Soon after, Altador's father died, leaving everything to Garcia. Fatima refused Garcia's hand and, leaving Altador with him, fled to a convent.

After telling this story, Fr. Anselm accompanies Altador and Perez to the castle. They hear strange noises, shrieks and voices, and Perez and Fr. Anselm disappear. Altador is forced to go back home alone. When he returns, Hypolita tells him that duke Gaspero of Gonzalez, who is of a rival family, desires to marry Matilda and put the rivalry to rest. Hypolita tells Altador that during a walk in the woods with Matilda, they saw two peasants, one of whom Matilda became enamored with, and vice versa. Matilda was distraught when her father informed her that the duke wished to marry her. Garcia was overcome with pity for his daughter, and wrote back to Gaspero apologetically that Matilda did not wish to marry him, but that they remained on friendly terms. Gaspero was disappointed, but later, when Garcia was critically injured, Gaspero was at his side. During this time, Matilda and Hypolita encountered Gaspero's men in the woods, who tried to take them captive. They were rescued, however, by a group of mysterious peasants, one of whom is the youth with which Matilda was infatuated. When the baron recovered, Hypolita told him of Gaspero's treacherous actions. The baron, angry, plans to send Matilda away. Meanwhile, Matilda rejoices over her father's recovery and Altador worries about his missing companions.

The next day, after a banquet celebrating Garcia's recovery, Matilda's waiting-maid Villetta frantically claims to have seen a ghost, which other servants have seen before. Matilda dismissed Villetta's hysterical assertions. In the middle of the night, Villetta awakens, claiming to have heard a noise. She rouses Matilda and the other servants, who claim to again have seen the ghost. They report the sightings to the baron. Garcia, wishing to prove that the castle is not haunted, arranges to take a group of the servants there to explore.

The next day, as they are preparing to go to the castle, Hypolita tells Altador that Matilda has become ill, because Garcia has insisted that she marry Gaspero. In and out of consciousness, Matilda laments her fate to be married to the cruel duke, when she really loves the mysterious young peasant. Matilda also tells Hypolita that the baron suspects that Matilda is refusing to marry the duke out of love for Altador, so he resolves to send Altador away. Altador reluctantly agrees, promising first to accompany Garcia to the castle. The group ventures to the castle, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. When Jerome, a servant, expresses skepticism, saying that if the castle is haunted, they surely would not see any spirits during the day, Garcia challenges Jerome or anyone who likes, to stay a night in the castle to prove that it is not haunted. Not surprisingly, no one takes him up on this offer.

That night Matilda, during a midnight walk in the woods, encounters the mysterious young peasant. He asks her to return to the same spot the following night, when he will give her a sanctuary from the duke. When Matilda returns the next evening, however, the peasant is not there. As volume one comes to a close, it is Altador, not the peasant, who meets Matilda in the woods.

Volume two begins with Altador professing his love to Matilda, who gently informs him that her heart is already taken. Matilda faints into Altador's arms, and the baron arrives on the scene to find the two alone in the woods at night. He suspects foul play, and is furious with Altador, though Matilda swears his innocence when she comes to. The baron vows to send Altador away immediately. The next day, a banquet is held to celebrate Matilda's engagement to Gaspero. Gaspero, in celebration, arranges a tournament. At the tournament, he defeats every opponent. He receives a letter from a mysterious knight, challenging him to fight. The following day, this mysterious knight defeats Gaspero; Matilda begins to suspect he is the peasant she loves.

Meanwhile, the banished Altador stops at Hugo's home. There he tells Hugo he is going to the castle to solve the mystery once and for all. He proceeds to the castle, and is only there a short time before he hears clanking chains. He encounters the terrifying spectre, dripping with blood and groaning, who gestures to Altador that he must leave. Voices yell at him to leave, and Altador retreats to the castle's kitchen, where in a closet he discovers the corpse of a man. He continues to explore the castle, and in one room he falls through a trap door in the floor.

The story shifts back to Matilda, who is talking with Villetta after the tournament. Just as she tells Villetta she does not believe in ghosts, she mysteriously hears her name being called, though they are alone in the room. The overdramatic Villetta fears it is a ghost, but then they realize that someone outside is calling her name. Matilda opens the window, and it is the mysterious peasant, who gives her a letter and quickly departs. The letter cautions her against the treachery of Gaspero, and the peasant, named Henrico, again offers her sanctuary from the duke. Henrico's letter begs Matilda to elope with him. Swearing the prating Villetta to secrecy, Matilda, collecting only a few belongings, goes with Villetta to meet Henrico at the designated location. However, they encounter some of the duke's men. Since it is dark, the men cannot see who they are, and they ride away after Matilda lies to them. Not long after, Matilda and Villetta meet Henrico. Henrico reveals that tonight was the night Garcia planned to hand Matilda over to Gaspero. Matilda realizes then that Gaspero's men will know it was her on the road, and come back for her. This is indeed what happens. All three, along with Henrico's friend Alphonso, are captured and taken to the duke.

The duke, upon seeing Henrico, is filled with terror and faints. The duke's men take the four captives to the dungeon. Estifania, the duke's "favorite paramour," informs Manfred, the leader of Gaspero's men, that she loves Henrico. She asks for Manfred's sword for protection, as she is going to the dungeon and wants to be protected should the duke discover her. Henrico informs Estifania that he wishes to kill Manfred, saying "His death is necessary to my peace of mind" (97). Estifania tells Henrico where Manfred is, and gives him the sword she took from Manfred. Henrico bursts in upon the weaponless Manfred, who curses Estifania. Instead of killing him, Henrico simply locks him up. Henrico proceeds to the duke's room to free Matilda. The duke again seems terrified, and Henrico ties him up. Using the still-captive Manfred as a guide, Henrico disguises himself in the duke's garb and he escapes with Matilda and Alphonso.

When they are safe, Henrico reveals his past to Matilda. He tells her that, according to Alphonso's word, he was abandoned as an infant in the woods, and rescued by Alphonso. He was raised by Alphonso, who lived as a member of a secret society in a cavern. Eventually Alphonso took over leadership of the men, and Henrico was inducted into the secret society which, among other things, forges weapons in their cavern. Henrico reveals that part of the cavern ran under the Castle of Ollada, and that the society's members had been staging the hauntings in order to keep the castle uninhabited. They had taken captive Perez and Fr. Anselm. One night while Henrico was posing as the spectre, both the baron and the duke visited the castle. The baron, afraid the duke will reveal what he knows about why the baron visited the castle late at night, attempts to befriend the duke yet again. The duke, however, demanded Matilda's hand in return for silence. When the duke was alone, Henrico furiously (and still in disguise) confronted the duke and ordered him not to marry Matilda. After the duke left, Henrico also saw Garcia visit a secret room in the castle. Henrico tells Matilda that the next day, he heard about the tournament and decided to challenge the duke. It was indeed Henrico who had posed as the mysterious knight. After this explanation, Henrico guides Matilda to the secret cavern, where she rests.

Alphonso informs Henrico that a youth who had been in the castle had fallen through the trap door, the secret entrance from the castle to the cavern. At this time, they hear men approaching, and Henrico knows they are the baron's men. Altador is leading the men, and Henrico and Alphonso give themselves up to be bound and taken to the baron. Lathom then reveals to readers that one of Garcia's men, Lopez, sent for Manfred when he realized Matilda had fled earlier that night. Garcia and his men arrive at the duke's home to find Manfred and Estifania both dead, the latter having been killed by the duke himself. The duke, who is by this time a raving madman, tells the baron that Matilda is a lustful traitor. He accuses Garcia himself of being a traitor, and stabs him. However, before fainting, the baron stabs and kills the duke. Garcia's men rush him to his mansion for medical attention.

After this, Alphonso sets out with two of the baron's men to retrieve Matilda. On his deathbed, Garcia begs forgiveness from Matilda. He also informs Matilda that Henrico is her brother, and begs forgiveness from Altador for banishing him. Another priest, Father Francisco, reveals that before Hugo's wife Rosala married Hugo, she bore a child to Garcia. Fr. Francisco reveals that this child, whom the baron believed to have perished, is actually Altador. Rosala at that time was nurse for Garcia's brother's first child, Ferdinand, and she wished to kill Ferdinand and replace him with her own child. She left Ferdinand in the woods, and Altador was the child who was mistakenly raised as Garcia's nephew when in fact he was Garcia's own son. The next morning, the baron Garcia dies.

Alphonso then reveals that he is really don Leon of Seville, and that he had long ago been a close friend of Garcia's, and incurred a large debt to him. Garcia allowed him to repay the debt by mixing a powder into a goblet of wine and taking it to Garcia's brother Ferdinand. The goblet actually contained poison and, blaming himself for Ferdinand's death, Alphonso withdrew from society and joined the band of men in the cavern. Alphonso then tells the group that the baron poisoned his brother in order to marry Ferdinand's wife Fatima. Since she refused, Garcia kept her locked in the castle, where she eventually bore him a son. Garcia left the son in the woods, and Alphonso presumably rescued him, assuming now that this child is Henrico. In order to straighten things out and free the still-captive Fatima, Altador and a group head to the castle.

Once there, they find Fatima hidden in the secret room, and realize that this is the reason why the duke blackmailed Garcia; this is why Garcia visited the castle late at night. They find Fatima and reunite her with Henrico, whom they believe to be her son. Fatima quickly realizes that he is not her son, because Garcia took the child from her when he was only three days old, yet the child Alphonso found in the woods was fifteen months old. Alphonso produces the cloak in which he had found Henrico wrapped, confirming that Henrico is not Fatima's child and thus not the son of the baron. Hugo realizes that the cloak belonged to Rosala, and was stolen from her around the time that Ferdinand's child supposedly died. Fr. Francisco realizes then that Henrico is the son of Ferdinand and Fatima. Altador also learns that the corpse he found in the castle was one of Gaspero's men that Henrico's secret society had killed in the woods and stashed in the castle, so as to avoid suspicions.
Fatima goes then to a convent to live peacefully. Henrico rushes to inform Matilda of all that he knows. Henrico and Matilda are married, because it has been revealed that they are indeed not siblings but cousins. Henrico is declared the new baron of Ollada, and from there on out, everyone lives happily and contentedly the rest of their days.

-- Prepared by Brenda Kluck, University of Nebraska, April 2006.
© Brenda Kluck, 2006.