n that strange sepulchral sound, which had made me
feel so uneasy.

"Maria, you know that I can hold my own against almost anybody in
the world but you; and although this place is far outside my parish
boundaries, I felt that as the Uncle of the present owner--so far at
least as the lawyers have not snapped him up--and the brother-in-law
of the previous proprietor, I possessed an undeniable legal right--quo
warranto, or whatever it is called--to look into all proceedings on
these premises. Next to Holy Scripture, Horace is my guide and guardian;
and I called to mind a well-known passage, which may roughly be rendered
thus: 'If the crushed world tumble on him, the ruins shall strike him
undismayed.' With this in my head, I went softly down the side-wall of
the Dial-court (for there was no getting through the place where I had
been peeping) to the bottom, where there used to be an old flint wall,
and a hedge of sweet-briar in front of it. You remember the pretty
conceit I made--quaint and wholesome as one of Herrick's--when you said
something--but I verily believe we were better in those days than we
ever have been since. Now don't interrupt me about that, my dear.

"Some of these briars still were there, or perhaps some of their
descendants, straggling weakly among the nettles, and mullein, and other
wild stuff, but making all together a pretty good screen, through which
I could get a safe side-view of the bottom of the timber gangway. So
I took off my hat, for some ruffian fellows like foreign sailors were
standing below, throwing out their arms, and making noises in their
throats, because not allowed to scream as usual. It was plain enough at
once to any one who knew the place, that a large hole had been cut in
the solid castle wall, or rather, a loophole had been enlarged very
freely on either side, and brought down almost to the level of the
ground outside. On either side of this great opening stood three heavy
muskets at full cock, and it made my blood run cold to think how likely
some fatal discharge appeared. If I had been brought up to war, Maria,
as all the young people are bound to be now, I might have been more at
home with such matters, and able to reconnoitre calmly; but I thought of
myself, and of you, and Eliza, and what a shocking thing it would be for
all of us--but a merciful Providence was over me.

"Too late I regretted the desire for knowledge, which had led me into
this predicament, for I durst no