THE STORY.




FIRST SCENE.--THE SUMMER-HOUSE.



CHAPTER THE FIRST.


THE OWLS.

IN the spring of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight there lived,
in a certain county of North Britain, two venerable White Owls.

The Owls inhabited a decayed and deserted summer-house. The summer-house
stood in grounds attached to a country seat in Perthshire, known by the
name of Windygates.

The situation of Windygates had been skillfully chosen in that part
of the county where the fertile lowlands first begin to merge into the
mountain region beyond. The mansion-house was intelligently laid out,
and luxuriously furnished. The stables offered a model for ventilation
and space; and the gardens and grounds were fit for a prince.