untry which
divided him from one of those beautiful streams that descend to the sea
from the Kirk-Merlagh mountains.

Having reached the spot where he meant to commence his day's sport,
Julian let his little steed graze, which, accustomed to the situation,
followed him like a dog; and now and then, when tired of picking herbage
in the valley through which the stream winded, came near her master's
side, and, as if she had been a curious amateur of the sport, gazed on
the trouts as Julian brought them struggling to the shore. But Fairy's
master showed, on that day, little of the patience of a real angler, and
took no heed to old Isaac Walton's recommendation, to fish the streams
inch by inch. He chose, indeed, with an angler's eye, the most promising
casts, which the stream broke sparkling over a stone, affording the
wonted shelter to a trout; or where, gliding away from a rippling
current to a still eddy it streamed under the projecting bank, or dashed
from the pool of some low cascade. By this judicious selection of spots
whereon to employ his art, the sportsman's basket was soon sufficiently
heavy, to show that his occupation was not a mere pretext; and so soon
as this was the case, he walked briskly up the glen, only making a
cast from time to time, in case of his being observed from any of the
neighbouring heights.

It was a little green and rocky valley through which the brook strayed,
very lonely, although the slight track of an unformed road showed that
it was occasionally traversed, and that it was not altogether void of
inhabitants. As Peveril advanced still farther, the right bank reached
to some distance from the stream, leaving a piece of meadow ground, the
lower part of which, being close to the brook, was entirely covered with
rich herbage, being possibly occasionally irrigated by its overflow. The
higher part of the level ground afforded a stance for an old house, of
singular structure, with a terraced garden, and a cultivated field or
two beside it. In former times, a Danish or Norwegian fastness had stood
here, called the Black Fort, from the colour of a huge healthy hill,
which, rising behind the building, appeared to be the boundary of
the valley, and to afford the source of the brook. But the original
structure had been long demolished, as, indeed, it probably only
consisted of dry stones, and its materials had been applied to the
construction of the present mansion--the work of some churchman during