high.

The edifice, which occupied the whole of that side of the square facing
the street, was an extremely ancient structure, and had evidently been
at one time a castle of considerable strength. The walls were
constructed entirely of masonry, apparently of great solidity; but the
age of the building, and the ravages of time were plainly indicated by
the stained and weather-beaten appearance of the stone-work, as well as
by the way in which the exterior surface of the masonry had crumbled
away, leaving the once smooth face rough and jagged, with frequent
indentations, where stones had become loosened in their setting and
finally dislodged altogether. The chief entrance to the building was
through a high and wide semicircular archway, of considerable depth,
adorned with crumbling pillars and half-obliterated mouldings, flanked
on each side by solid and bold projecting buttresses. The lower storey
of the building was lighted by good-sized windows of modern
construction, which had evidently been pierced in the walls at no very
distant date; but above this the original narrow slits in the masonry
which did duty as windows still remained. A short flagstaff, from
which, the tricolour fluttered in the morning breeze, surmounted the
central portion of the building, which, from its superior height and
apparent strength, I judged must have originally been the keep.

The two adjacent sides of the square were occupied by plain brick
buildings, three storeys high, which evidently constituted the men's
quarters.

My companion conducted me across the square to the great centre door
already mentioned, and, on our safely reaching the shelter of its deep
recess, bade me place my basket on the ground. I did so; whereupon--
first glancing round to see whether there were any curious eyes turned
in our direction, and apparently satisfied that there were not--he
stooped down, and planting himself well in front of my basket, hastily
selected a couple of moderate-sized fish, which he thrust up inside his
tunic. This done, he seized a wooden handle which hung at the extremity
of a rusty chain issuing from a small aperture in the wall, and tugged
smartly at it. The result was a clanging from a large bell, imperfectly
heard in the remote distance of the interior.

A minute or so elapsed; and then a wicket, cut in the woodwork of the
door, opened; and an individual in plain clothes, apparently an
officer's orderly, became visible inside