out the
matter than I do myself.... I am going out just now,' she continued. 'I
shall not want you to walk with me to-day. Run away till dinner-time.'

Miss Aldclyffe went out of doors, and down the steps to the lawn: then
turning to the left, through a shrubbery, she opened a wicket and passed
into a neglected and leafy carriage-drive, leading down the hill. This
she followed till she reached the point of its greatest depression,
which was also the lowest ground in the whole grove.

The trees here were so interlaced, and hung their branches so near the
ground, that a whole summer's day was scarcely long enough to change
the air pervading the spot from its normal state of coolness to even a
temporary warmth. The unvarying freshness was helped by the nearness of
the ground to the level of the springs, and by the presence of a deep,
sluggish stream close by, equally well shaded by bushes and a high wall.
Following the road, which now ran along at the margin of the stream,
she came to an opening in the wall, on the other side of the water,
revealing a large rectangular nook from which the stream proceeded,
covered with froth, and accompanied by a dull roar. Two more steps,
and she was opposite the nook, in full view of the cascade forming its
further boundary. Over the top could be seen the bright outer sky in the
form of a crescent, caused by the curve of a bridge across the rapids,
and the trees above.

Beautiful as was the scene she did not look in that direction. The same
standing-ground afforded another prospect, straight in the front, less
sombre than the water on the right or the trees all around. The avenue
and grove which flanked it abruptly terminated a few yards ahead, where
the ground began to rise, and on the remote edge of the greensward thus
laid open, stood all that remained of the original manor-house, to which
the dark margin-line of the trees in the avenue formed an adequate
and well-fitting frame. It was the picture thus presented that was
now interesting Miss Aldclyffe--not artistically or historically,
but practically--as regarded its fitness for adaptation to modern
requirements.

In front, detached from everything else, rose the most ancient portion
of the structure--an old arched gateway, flanked by the bases of two
small towers, and nearly covered with creepers, which had clambered
over the eaves of the sinking roof, and up the gable to the crest of the
Aldclyffe family perched on the apex. Be