Writing competition - 1870 at Kyburg Castle
The image was bleak. It depicted a frightened woman in a dark room, like a dungeon, which receded into blackness in the background. She looked pleadingly at the viewer. Fear and despair lay in her eyes. Her hands stretched forward, as if touching an obstacle that neither the viewer nor she could see. Where was this woman? If it were a dungeon, she would be dirty and one would imagine her dressed in rags. But the woman in the picture was extraordinarily beautiful and well-groomed. Her blonde hair was artfully styled and pinned up. She wore an old-fashioned but elegant evening gown in a violet hue with black lace.