should be taken care of. Courage is a capricious property; and, though
while I had no one to depend upon but myself, I possessed a mine of
seemingly inexhaustible fortitude, yet no sooner did I find this
unexpected sympathy on the part of another, than my resolution appeared
to give way, and I felt ready to faint. My charitable conductor
perceived this, and every now and then encouraged me, in a manner so
cheerful, so good humoured and benevolent, equally free from the torture
of droning expostulation, and the weakness of indulgence, that I thought
myself under the conduct of an angel rather than a man. I could perceive
that his behaviour had in it nothing of boorishness, and that he was
thoroughly imbued with the principles of affectionate civility.

We walked about three quarters of a mile, and that not towards the open,
but the most uncouth and unfrequented part of the forest. We crossed a
place which had once been a moat, but which was now in some parts dry,
and in others contained a little muddy and stagnated water. Within the
enclosure of this moat, I could only discover a pile of ruins, and
several walls, the upper part of which seemed to overhang their
foundations, and to totter to their ruin. After having entered however
with my conductor through an archway, and passed along a winding
passage that was perfectly dark, we came to a stand.

At the upper end of this passage was a door, which I was unable to
perceive. My conductor knocked at the door, and was answered by a voice
from within, which, for body and force, might have been the voice of a
man, but with a sort of female sharpness and acidity, enquiring, "Who is
there?" Satisfaction was no sooner given on this point, than I heard two
bolts pushed back, and the door unlocked. The apartment opened, and we
entered. The interior of this habitation by no means corresponded with
the appearance of my protector, but, on the contrary, wore the face of