We now entered the hall of the castle, and while the domestics were
employed in conveying our trunks and other luggage which we had
brought with us for immediate use to the apartments which Lord
Glenfallen had selected for himself and me, I went with him into a
spacious sitting room, wainscoted with finely polished black oak,
and hung round with the portraits of various of the worthies of
the Glenfallen family. This room looked out upon an extensive level
covered with the softest green sward, and irregularly bounded by the
wild wood I have before mentioned, through the leafy arcade formed
by whose boughs and trunks the level beams of the setting sun were
pouring; in the distance, a group of dairy maids were plying their
task, which they accompanied throughout with snatches of Irish songs
which, mellowed by the distance, floated not unpleasingly to the ear;
and beside them sat or lay, with all the grave importance of conscious
protection, six or seven large dogs of various kinds; farther in the
distance, and through the cloisters of the arching wood, two or
three ragged urchins were employed in driving such stray kine as had
wandered farther than the rest to join their fellows. As I looked
upon this scene which I have described, a feeling of tranquillity and
happiness came upon me, which I have never experienced in so strong
a degree; and so strange to me was the sensation that my eyes filled
with tears. Lord Glenfallen mistook the cause of my emotion, and
taking me kindly and tenderly by the hand he said, "Do not suppose, my
love, that it is my intention to _settle_ here, whenever you desire
to leave this, you have only to let me know your wish and it shall
be complied with, so I must entreat of you not to suffer any
circumstances which I can controul to give you one moment's
uneasiness; but here is old Martha, you must be introduced to her, one
of the heirlooms of our family."