ook
the matter quietly, however, returning Emily's gay look with one
somewhat rueful, and saying, "Ah, dear girl, all very mundane and
unromantic, but depend upon it the house has proved a blessing often to
poor wanderers in bleak weather over these wild hills; and we ourselves
may find it not so unpleasant by and by when Paul has spread our
luncheon in the parlor, and we look out of its little casement at the
old ruin there."

Thus saying, she alighted from the carriage, gave some orders to her
servants, and to an hostler who was walking up and down a remarkably
beautiful horse, which seemed to have been ridden hard, and then leaning
on Emily's arm, walked up the slope towards the gate.

Barbican and outer walls were gone--fallen long ago into the ditch, and
covered with the all-receiving earth and a green coat of turf. You could
but tell were they lay, by the undulations of the ground, and the grassy
hillock here and there. The great gate still stood firm, however, with
its two tall towers, standing like giant wardens to guard the entrance.
There were the machicolated parapets, the long loopholes mantled with
ivy, the outsloping basement, against which the battering ram might have
long played in vain, the family escutcheon with the arms crumbled from
it, the portcullis itself showing its iron teeth above the traveller's
head. It was the most perfect part of the building; and when the two
ladies entered the great court the scene of ruin was more complete.
Many a tower had fallen, leaving large gaps in the inner wall; the
chapel with only one beautiful window left, and the fragments of two
others, showing where the fine line had run, lay mouldering on the
right, and at some distance in front appeared the tall majestic keep,
the lower rooms of which were in tolerable preservation, though the roof
had fallen in to the second story, and the airy summit had lost its
symmetry by the destruction of two entire sides. Short green turf
covered the whole court, except where some mass of stone, more recently
fallen than others, still stood out bare and gray; but a crop of
brambles and nettles bristled up near the chapel, and here and there a
tree had planted itself on the tottering ruins of the walls.

Mrs. Hazleton walked straight towards the entrance of the keep along a
little path sufficiently well worn to show that the castle had frequent
visitors, and was within a few steps of the door-way, when a figure
issued forth which