h grass sprinkled
with flower-beds, which stretched from the Castle to the point where
the ground dipped steeply towards the river, was divided across by a
remarkable structure--a tall, new, bare wooden fence, constituting a
very substantial barrier. It stood a few paces to the right of the
window which the Captain identified as his own, and ran some yards down
the hill. Here was plain and strong evidence of the state of war which
existed between the two wings. Neither the Count nor the Countess
would risk so much as a sight of the other while they took their
respective promenades. The Captain approached the obstacle and
examined it with a humorous interest; then he glanced up at the wall
above, drawing a couple of feet back to get a better view. "Ah," said
he, "just half-way between my window and--hers! They are very
punctilious, these combatants!"

Natural curiosity must, so far as it can, excuse Captain Dieppe for
spending the rest of the morning in what he termed a reconnaissance of
the premises, or that part of them which was open to his inspection.
He found little. There was no sign of anybody entering or leaving the
other wing, although (as he discovered on strolling round by the road)
a gate in the wall on the right of the gardens, and a carriage-drive
running up to it, gave independent egress from that side of the Castle.
Breakfast with the Count was no more fruitful of information; the Count
discussed (apropos of a book at which he had been glancing) the
question of the Temporal Power of the Papacy with learning and some
heat: he was, it appeared, strongly opposed to these ecclesiastical
claims, and spoke of them with marked bitterness. Dieppe, very little
interested, escaped for a walk early in the afternoon. It was five
o'clock when he regained the garden and stood for a few moments looking
down towards the river. It was just growing dusk, and the lights of
the inn were visible in the village across the valley.

Fishermen are a persevering race, the young man in the soft hat was
still at his post. But no, he was not fishing! He was walking up and
down in a moody, purposeless way, and it seemed to the Captain that he
turned his head very often towards the Castle. The Captain sat down on
a garden-seat close under the barricade and watched; an idea was
stirring in his brain--an idea that made him pat his breast-pocket,
twirl his moustache, and smile contentedly. "Not much of a fisherman,
I think