t was called,
partook quite as much of the character of a fortress, as of an
ecclesiastical building.

The ruins covered a considerable extent, of ground, but the only part
which seemed successfully to have resisted the encroaches of time, at
least to a considerable extent, was a long, hall in which the jolly
monks no doubt feasted and caroused.

Adjoining to this hall, were the walls of other parts of the building,
and at several places there were small, low, mysterious-looking doors
that led, heaven knows where, into some intricacies and labyrinths
beneath the building, which no one had, within the memory of man, been
content to run the risk of losing himself in.

[Illustration]

It was related that among these subterranean passages and arches there
were pitfalls and pools of water; and whether such a statement was true
or not, it certainly acted as a considerable damper upon the vigour of
curiosity.

This ruin was so well known in the neighbourhood, and had become from
earliest childhood so familiar to the inhabitants of Bannerworth Hall,
that one would as soon expect an old inhabitant of Ludgate-hill to make
some remark about St. Paul's, as any of them to allude to the ruins of
Monks' Hall.

They never now thought of going near to it, for in infancy they had
spoiled among its ruins, and it had become one of those familiar objects
which, almost, from that very familiarity, cease to hold a place in the
memories of those who know it so well.

It is, however, to this ruin we would now conduct our readers, premising
that what we have to say concerning it now, is not precisely in the form
of a connected portion of our narrative.

* * * * *

It is evening--the evening of that first day of heart loneliness to poor
Flora Bannerworth. The lingering rays of the setting sun are gilding the
old ruins with a wondrous beauty. The edges of the decayed stones seem
now to be tipped with gold, and as the rich golden refulgence of light
gleams upon the painted glass which still adorned a large window of the
hall, a flood of many-coloured beautiful light was cast within, making
the old flag-stones, with which the interior was paved, look more like
some rich tapestry, laid down to do honour to a monarch.

So picturesque and so beautiful an aspect did the ancient ruin wear,
that to one with a soul to appreciate the romantic and the beautiful, it
would have amply repaid the fatigue of a long jour