hind this, at a distance of ten
or twenty yards, came the only portion of the main building that still
existed--an Elizabethan fragment, consisting of as much as could be
contained under three gables and a cross roof behind. Against the wall
could be seen ragged lines indicating the form of other destroyed gables
which had once joined it there. The mullioned and transomed windows,
containing five or six lights, were mostly bricked up to the extent
of two or three, and the remaining portion fitted with cottage
window-frames carelessly inserted, to suit the purpose to which the
old place was now applied, it being partitioned out into small rooms
downstairs to form cottages for two labourers and their families; the
upper portion was arranged as a storehouse for divers kinds of roots and
fruit.

The owner of the picturesque spot, after her survey from this
point, went up to the walls and walked into the old court, where the
paving-stones were pushed sideways and upwards by the thrust of the
grasses between them. Two or three little children, with their fingers
in their mouths, came out to look at her, and then ran in to tell their
mothers in loud tones of secrecy that Miss Aldclyffe was coming. Miss
Aldclyffe, however, did not come in. She concluded her survey of the
exterior by making a complete circuit of the building; then turned into
a nook a short distance off where round and square timber, a saw-pit,
planks, grindstones, heaps of building stone and brick, explained that
the spot was the centre of operations for the building work done on the
estate.

She paused, and looked around. A man who had seen her from the window of
the workshops behind, came out and respectfully lifted his hat to her.
It was the first time she had been seen walking outside the house since
her father's death.

'Strooden, could the Old House be made a decent residence of, without
much trouble?' she inquired.

The mechanic considered, and spoke as each consideration completed
itself.

'You don't forget, ma'am, that two-thirds of the place is already pulled
down, or gone to ruin?'

'Yes; I know.'

'And that what's left may almost as well be, ma'am.'

'Why may it?'

''Twas so cut up inside when they made it into cottages, that the whole
carcase is full of cracks.'

'Still by pulling down the inserted partitions, and adding a little
outside, it could be made to answer the purpose of an ordinary six or
eight-roomed house?'

'Yes, ma'am