r. I think that all men are filled
with an involuntary sadness at the approach of the inclement season.
In the first hoar-frosts there is something which bids man remember the
approaching dissolution of his own being.

My companion and I had traversed woods and heaths without saying a
single word; we had made a long _detour_ to avoid Gazeau Tower, which I
felt I could not bear to look upon again. The sun was sinking in shrouds
of gray when we passed the portcullis at Roche-Mauprat. This portcullis
was broken; the drawbridge was never raised, and the only things that
crossed it now were peaceful flocks and their careless shepherds. The
fosses were half-filled, and the bluish osiers were already spreading
out their flexible branches over the shallow waters; nettles were
growing at the foot of the crumbling towers, and the traces of the
fire seemed still fresh upon the walls. The farm buildings had all been
repaired; and the court, full of cattle and poultry and sheep-dogs and
agricultural implements, contrasted strangely with the gloomy inclosure
in which I still seemed to see the red flames of the besiegers shooting
up, and the black blood of the Mauprats flowing.

I was received with the quiet and somewhat chilly hospitality of the
peasants of Berry. They did not lay themselves out to please me, but
they let me want for nothing. Quarters were found for me in the only
one of the old wings which had not been damaged in the siege, or
subsequently abandoned to the ravages of time. The massive architecture
of the body of the building dated from the tenth century; the door was
smaller than the windows, and the windows themselves gave so little
light that we had to take candles to find our way, although the sun had
hardly set. The building had been restored provisionally to serve as an
occasional lodging for the new seigneur or his stewards. My Uncle Hubert
had often been there to see to my interests so long as his strength had
allowed him; and they showed me to the room which he had reserved for
himself, and which had therefore been known as the master's room. The
best things that had been saved from the old furniture had been placed
there; and, as it was cold and damp, in spite of all the trouble they
had taken to make it habitable, the tenant's servant preceded me with a
firebrand in one hand and a fagot in the other.

Blinded by the smoke which she scattered round me in clouds, and
deceived by the new entrance which they