e luxuries of an
English home, entered this long and well remembered scene of her youth!
Rank grasses were growing in the court, but they soon disappeared
before the scythes that had been brought, in expectation of the
circumstance. Then, all was clear for an examination of the house. The
Hut was exactly in the condition in which it had been left, with the
exception of a little, and a very little, dust collected by time.

Maud was still in the bloom of womanhood, feminine, beautiful, full of
feeling, and as sincere as when she left these woods, though her
feelings were tempered a little by intercourse with the world. She went
from room to room, hanging on Willoughby's arm, forbidding any to
follow. All the common furniture had been left in the house, in
expectation it would be inhabited again, ere many years; and this
helped to preserve the identity. The library was almost entire; the
bed-rooms, the parlours, and even the painting-room, were found very
much as they would have appeared, after an absence of a few months.
Tears flowed in streams down the cheeks of Lady Willoughby, as she went
through room after room, and recalled to the mind of her husband the
different events of which they had been the silent witnesses. Thus
passed an hour or two of unutterable tenderness, blended with a species
of holy sorrow. At the end of that time, the attendants, of whom many
had been engaged, had taken possession of the offices, &c., and were
bringing the Hut once more into a habitable condition. Soon, too, a
report was brought that the mowers, who had been brought in
anticipation of their services being wanted, had cut a broad swathe to
the ruins of the chapel, and the graves of the family.

It was now near the setting of the sun, and the hour was favourable for
the melancholy duty that remained. For bidding any to follow,
Willoughby proceeded with Maud to the graves. These had been dug within
a little thicket of shrubs, planted by poor Jamie Allen, under Maud's
own directions. She had then thought that the spot might one day be
wanted. These bushes, lilacs, and ceringos, had grown to a vast size,
in that rich soil. They completely concealed the space within, an area
of some fifty square feet, from the observation of those without. The
grass had been cut over all, however, and an opening made by the mowers
gave access to the graves. On reaching this opening, Willoughby started
at hearing voices within the inclosure; he was about t