y what I see here; and if you do not think it impertinent, and would
inform me how these changes have come about, I should be greatly
obliged.'

'Most willingly, sir,' said the other; 'but if you will walk in, and see
what has been done, the obligation will be mine.'

The doctor readily accepted the proposal. The stranger led the way,
across an open space in the wood, to a circular hall, from each side
of which a wide passage led, on the left hand to the tower, and on the
right to the new building, which was so masked by the wood as not to be
visible except from within the glade. It was a square structure of plain
stone, much in the same style as that of the tower.

The young gentleman took the left-hand passage, and introduced the
doctor to the lower floor of the tower.

'I have divided the tower,' he observed, 'into three rooms: one on each
floor. This is the dining-room; above it is my bedroom; above it again
is my library. The prospect is good from all the floors, but from the
library it is most extensive, as you look over the woods far away into
the open sea.'

'A noble dining-room,' said the doctor. 'The height is well proportioned
to the diameter. That circular table well becomes the form of the room,
and gives promise of a fine prospect in its way.'

'I hope you will favour me by forming a practical judgment on the
point,' said his new acquaintance, as he led the way to the upper floor,
the doctor marvelling at the extreme courtesy with which he was treated.
'This building,' thought he, 'might belong to the age of chivalry, and
my host might be Sir Calidore himself.' But the library brought him back
to other days.

The walls were covered with books, the upper portion accessible by a
gallery, running entirely round the apartment. The books of the lower
circle were all classical; those of the upper, English, Italian, and
French, with a few volumes in Spanish.

The young gentleman took down a Homer, and pointed out to the doctor
the passage which, as he leaned over the gate, he had repeated from the
_Odyssey_, This accounted to the doctor for the deference shown to him.
He saw at once into the Greek sympathy.

'You have a great collection of books,' said the doctor.

'I believe,' said the young gentleman, 'I have all the best books in
the languages I cultivate. Home Tooke says: "Greek, Latin, Italian,
and French, are unfortunately the usual bounds of an English scholar's
acquisition." I think any schola