ce along the twilight mead.

But now I see thee sailing low,
Gay as the brightest flow'rs of spring,
Thy coat of blue and jet I know,
And well thy gold and purple wing.

Borne on the gale, thou com'st to me;
O! welcome, welcome to my home!
In lily's cell we'll live in glee,
Together o'er the mountains roam!

When Lady Blanche returned to the chateau, instead of going to the
apartment of the Countess, she amused herself with wandering over that
part of the edifice, which she had not yet examined, of which the most
antient first attracted her curiosity; for, though what she had seen of
the modern was gay and elegant, there was something in the former more
interesting to her imagination. Having passed up the great stair-case,
and through the oak gallery, she entered upon a long suite of chambers,
whose walls were either hung with tapestry, or wainscoted with cedar,
the furniture of which looked almost as antient as the rooms themselves;
the spacious fire-places, where no mark of social cheer remained,
presented an image of cold desolation; and the whole suite had so much
the air of neglect and desertion, that it seemed, as if the venerable
persons, whose portraits hung upon the walls, had been the last to
inhabit them.

On leaving these rooms, she found herself in another gallery, one end of
which was terminated by a back stair-case, and the other by a door,
that seemed to communicate with the north-side of the chateau, but which
being fastened, she descended the stair-case, and, opening a door in
the wall, a few steps down, found herself in a small square room, that
formed part of the west turret of the castle. Three windows presented
each a separate and beautiful prospect; that to the north, overlooking
Languedoc; another to the west, the hills ascending towards the
Pyrenees, whose awful summits crowned the landscape; and a third,
fronting the south, gave the Mediterranean, and a part of the wild
shores of Rousillon, to the eye.

Having left the turret, and descended the narrow stair-case, she found
herself in a dusky passage, where she wandered, unable to find her way,
till impatience yielded to apprehension, and she called for assistance.
Presently steps approached, and light glimmered through a door at the
other extremity of the passage, which was opened with caution by some
person, who did not venture beyond it, and whom Blanche observed
in silence, till the door was closing, when she called aloud, an