ight had fast faded into night, and heavy clouds, laden with brief
but violent showers, were drifting across the face of the moon. On
they rode, in silence, save for Gaston's execrations of the English
climate, and the plashing of the horses' feet in the miry tracks, along
which, in many places, the water was rushing in torrents.

At length they were descending the long low hill, or rather undulation,
leading to the wooded vale of Lynwood, and the bright lights of the
Keep began to gleam like stars in the darkness--stars indeed to the
eager eyes of the young Knight, who gazed upon them long and
affectionately, as he felt himself once more at home. "I wonder," said
he, "to see the light strongest towards the east end of the Castle! I
knew not that the altar lights in the chapel could be seen so far!"
Then riding on more quickly, and approaching more nearly, he soon lost
sight of them behind the walls, and descending the last little rising
ground, the lofty mass of building rose huge and black before him.

He wound his bugle and rode towards the gate, but at the moment he
expected to cross the drawbridge, Ferragus suddenly backed, and he
perceived that it was raised. "This is some strange chance!" said he,
renewing the summons, but in vain, for the echoes of the surrounding
woods were the only reply. "Ralph must indeed be deaf!" said he.

"Let him be stone deaf," said Gaston; "he is not the sole inhabitant of
the Castle. Try them again, Sir Eustace."

"Hark!--methought I heard the opening of the hall door!" said Eustace.
"No! What can have befallen them?"

"My teeth are chattering with cold," said Gaston, "and the horses will
be ruined with standing still in the driving rain. Cannot we betake
ourselves to the village hostel, and in the morning reproach them with
their churlishness?"

"I must be certified that there is nothing amiss," said Sir Eustace,
springing from his saddle; "I can cross the moat on one of the supports
of the bridge."

"Have with you then, Sir Knight," said Gaston, also leaping to the
ground, while Eustace cautiously advanced along the narrow frame of
wood on which the drawbridge had rested, slippery with the wet, and
rendered still more perilous by the darkness. Gaston followed,
balancing himself with some difficulty, and at last they safely reached
the other side. Eustace tried the heavy gates, but found them fastened
on the inside with a ponderous wooden bar. "Most strange!" muttere