Blanch, and Sweetheart--see they bark at me!"

cried Bracebridge, laughing. At the sound of his voice the bark was
changed into a yelp of delight, and in a moment he was surrounded and
almost overpowered by the caresses of the faithful animals.

We had now come in full view of the old family mansion, partly thrown in
deep shadow, and partly lit up by the cold moonshine. It was an
irregular building of some magnitude, and seemed to be of the
architecture of different periods. One wing was evidently very ancient,
with heavy stone-shafted bow windows jutting out and overrun with ivy,
from among the foliage of which the small diamond-shaped panes of glass
glittered with the moonbeams. The rest of the house was in the French
taste of Charles the Second's time, having been repaired and altered, as
my friend told me, by one of his ancestors, who returned with that
monarch at the Restoration. The grounds about the house were laid out in
the old formal manner of artificial flower-beds, clipped shrubberies,
raised terraces, and heavy stone balustrades, ornamented with urns, a
leaden statue or two, and a jet of water. The old gentleman, I was told,
was extremely careful to preserve this obsolete finery in all its
original state. He admired this fashion in gardening; it had an air of
magnificence, was courtly and noble, and befitting good old family
style. The boasted imitation of nature in modern gardening had sprung up
with modern republican notions, but did not suit a monarchical
government; it smacked of the levelling system.--I could not help
smiling at this introduction of politics into gardening, though I
expressed some apprehension that I should find the old gentleman rather
intolerant in his creed.--Frank assured me, however, that it was almost
the only instance in which he had ever heard his father meddle with
politics; and he believed that he had got this notion from a member of
parliament who once passed a few weeks with him. The Squire was glad of
any argument to defend his clipped yew-trees and formal terraces, which
had been occasionally attacked by modern landscape-gardeners.

[Illustration]

As we approached the house, we heard the sound of music, and now and
then a burst of laughter from one end of the building. This, Bracebridge
said, must proceed from the servants' hall, where a great deal of
revelry was permitted, and even encouraged, by the Squire throughout the
twelve days of Christmas, provided everythin