which lay through the ruinous church was entirely abandoned.

In defiance of the legendary terrors which tradition had attached to
the original communication, Fenella, followed by Peveril, now boldly
traversed the ruinous vaults through which it lay--sometimes only guided
over heaps of ruins by the precarious light of the lamp borne by the
dumb maiden--sometimes having the advantage of a gleam of moonlight,
darting into the dreary abyss through the shafted windows, or through
breaches made by time. As the path was by no means a straight one,
Peveril could not but admire the intimate acquaintance with the mazes
which his singular companion displayed, as well as the boldness with
which she traversed them. He himself was not so utterly void of
the prejudices of the times, but that he contemplated, with some
apprehension, the possibility of their intruding on the lair of the
phantom hound, of which he had heard so often; and in every remote sight
of the breeze among the ruins, he thought he heard him baying at the
mortal footsteps which disturbed his gloomy realm. No such terrors,
however, interrupted their journey; and in the course of a few minutes,
they attained the deserted and now ruinous guard-house. The broken walls
of the little edifice served to conceal them from the sentinels, one of
whom was keeping a drowsy watch at the lower gate of the Castle; whilst
another, seated on the stone steps which communicated with the parapet
of the bounding and exterior wall, was slumbering, in full security,
with his musket peacefully grounded by his side. Fenella made a sign to
Peveril to move with silence and caution, and then showed him, to his
surprise, from the window of the deserted guard-room, a boat, for it was
now high water, with four rowers, lurking under the cliff on which the
castle was built; and made him farther sensible that he was to have
access to it by a ladder of considerable height placed at the window of
the ruin.

Julian was both displeased and alarmed by the security and carelessness
of the sentinels, who had suffered such preparations to be made without
observation or alarm given; and he hesitated whether he should not call
the officer of the guard, upbraid him with negligence, and show him
how easily Holm-Peel, in spite of its natural strength, and although
reported impregnable, might be surprised by a few resolute men. Fenella
seemed to guess his thoughts with that extreme acuteness of observation
which