Count Magnus

In 1863 a British travelogue writer, Mr Wraxhall, travels to Sweden collecting information for a scholarly guidebook to Scandinavia. He visits the manor-house of Raback in Vestergothland, which had been built by one Count Magnus De la Gardie in the early 17th century. He becomes fascinated by the story of the long-dead nobleman Count Magnus, who, it is said, was a "merciless" character known locally for being a harsh landowner, who branded his tenants if they were late with their rent and who burnt down their houses if they were built too near his lands - with them in them. Nielsen, the village innkeeper, has tales to tell about Count Magnus, including that of his journey on a "Black Pilgrimage" to the Holy Land "on most unholy business", bringing something - or someone - back with him.