ties which she saw
before her, and all her activity was presently put into requisition; for
Mr. Salmon had given notice, that he should take possession of Dymock's
Tower as soon as it could be got ready for him, and he also sent persons
to make the preparations which he required. These preparations were of
a most singular nature; his object appeared neither to be the
beautifying of the old place, or even the rendering it more comfortable,
for he neither sent new furniture, nor ordered the restoration of any of
the dilapidated chambers or courts. But he ordered the moat to be
repaired, so that it could be filled and kept full, and he directed that
a light draw-bridge should also be erected. The walls of the inner
courts were also to be put to rights, and new gates added. There was a
great laugh in the country respecting this unknown humourist; and some
said he was preparing for a siege, and others going to set up for a
modern Rob Roy, and Castle-Dymock was to be his head-quarters.

The greater part of the furniture, and all the fixtures, were to be paid
for by the money for which the Laird had Mr. Salmon's memorandum; and
they who knew their condition, said that the things had been brought to
a good market, as little of the furniture would have been worth the
carriage across the moor. Nothing at present, therefore, remained for
the aunt and the nephew to do, but to remove to the cottage as soon as
it should be ready to receive them.

This humble habitation was situated in a small nook or vale of the moor
called Heatherdale. A little fresh-water spring ran through it, coming
in at the higher end of the valley, and going out through a natural
cleft in a block of granite at the other end. There were many tall trees
scattered on the banks within the dell; and the place was so sheltered,
that many a plant would flourish in the garden on the south side of the
house, which could hardly be kept alive in any other situation in
the country.

The cottage was an old, black, timbered and thatched edifice, and had
four rooms of considerable dimensions, two above and two below, with a
porch in the front, overgrown with briony and another hardy creeper. As
soon as this tenement was vacated, and the Laird's intention of
inhabiting it known, the ancient tenants of the family all manifested
their affection by using their several crafts in repairing the cottage,
and setting the house to rights,--one mended the thatch, another
repaired th