, which she unlocked with a key, selected from a bundle which she
carried at her girdle.

They now stood in the castle-yard, in the open moonlight, which
glimmered white and ghastly on the variety of strange and ruinous
objects to which we have formerly alluded, and which gave the scene
rather the appearance of some ancient cemetery, than of the interior of
a fortification. The round and elevated tower--the ancient mount, with
its quadrangular sides facing the ruinous edifices which once boasted
the name of Cathedral--seemed of yet more antique and anomalous form,
when seen by the pale light which now displayed them. To one of these
churches Fenella took the direct course, and was followed by Julian;
although he at once divined, and was superstitious enough to dislike,
the path which she was about to adopt. It was by a secret passage
through this church that in former times the guard-room of the garrison,
situated at the lower and external defences, communicated with the Keep
of the Castle; and through this passage were the keys of the Castle
every night carried to the Governor's apartment, so soon as the gates
were locked, and the watch set. The custom was given up in James the
First's time, and the passage abandoned, on account of the well-known
legend of the _Mauthe Dog_--a fiend, or demon, in the shape of a large,
shaggy, black mastiff, by which the church was said to be haunted.
It was devoutly believed, that in former times this spectre became so
familiar with mankind, as to appear nightly in the guard-room, issuing
from the passage which we have mentioned at night, and retiring to it at
daybreak. The soldiers became partly familiarised to its presence; yet
not so much so as to use any licence of language while the apparition
was visible; until one fellow, rendered daring by intoxication, swore
he would know whether it was dog or devil, and, with his drawn sword,
followed the spectre when it retreated by the usual passage. The man
returned in a few minutes, sobered by terror, his mouth gaping, and his
hair standing on end, under which horror he died; but, unhappily for
the lovers of the marvellous, altogether unable to disclose the horrors
which he had seen. Under the evil repute arising from this tale of
wonder, the guard-room was abandoned, and a new one constructed. In like
manner, the guards after that period held another and more circuitous
communication with the Governor or Seneschal of the Castle; and that