General Spielsdorf's schloss

General Spielsdorf's schloss is a remote castle situated nearly twenty miles to the right of Laura's family home, the schloss, deep in the Styrian forest. It is the residence of General Spielsdorf, an old friend of Laura's father, and it is from this isolated estate that the General had planned to bring his niece and ward, Bertha Rheinfeldt, for a visit that Laura had eagerly anticipated for weeks. The schloss is the setting for the tragedy that befalls Bertha, a tragedy that transforms the General from a cordial, serene old soldier into a man consumed by grief and a thirst for vengeance.

The General's Loss and the Masked Ball

The General's schloss is the backdrop for the events that lead to Bertha's death. The General and Bertha had accepted an invitation to a series of magnificent fetes at Count Carlsfeld's schloss, about six leagues away, in honor of the Grand Duke Charles. At a grand masked ball held there, a young lady in a mask, later revealed to be Carmilla under the name Millarca, and her chaperon, the lady in black velvet, approached Bertha and the General. The young stranger, displaying a remarkably beautiful face, quickly ingratiated herself with Bertha, who was taken with her at first sight. The General, charmed by the elder lady's conversation, agreed to take charge of Millarca while her mother departed on a journey of vital importance. This decision, made under the pressure of the moment and the persuasive appeals of both ladies, proved fatal.

The Fatal Guest and Bertha's Decline

After the ball, Millarca returned with the General and Bertha to his schloss. Soon, however, drawbacks appeared. Millarca complained of extreme languor and did not emerge from her room until late afternoon. She was also seen from the windows of the schloss in the early morning, walking through the trees in an easterly direction, looking like a person in a trance, leading the General to believe she walked in her sleep. More urgently, Bertha began to lose her looks and health in a mysterious and horrible manner. She was first visited by appalling dreams, then by a specter sometimes resembling Millarca, sometimes in the shape of a beast. She experienced sensations of an icy stream flowing against her breast, followed by sharp pains like needles piercing her throat, and finally a convulsive sense of strangulation leading to unconsciousness.

The Confrontation and Aftermath

Desperate, the General consulted a physician from Gratz who, in a sealed letter, diagnosed vampirism. Following the letter's instructions, the General concealed himself in Bertha's dressing room. He witnessed a large black object crawl over the bed and spread itself to Bertha's throat. When he sprang forward with his sword, the creature contracted and revealed itself as Millarca. He struck at her, but his sword shattered against the door, and she vanished. Bertha died before dawn. The General, now a hunter, devoted his remaining days to tracking the monster. His quest led him to the ruins of Karnstein, where he confronted Carmilla in the chapel, striking at her with a woodman's hatchet. She caught his wrist in a vice-like grip and escaped. The General's schloss, once a place of anticipated happiness for Laura, becomes a symbol of the vampire's reach and the devastating consequences of misplaced trust, its memory forever linked to the loss of Bertha Rheinfeldt.