quarter of an hour he was again at the point where the wire
left the road, and following the highway over a hill he saw
the hamlet at his feet.



III.

By half-past ten the next morning Somerset was once more
approaching the precincts of the building which had interested
him the night before. Referring to his map he had learnt that
it bore the name of Stancy Castle or Castle de Stancy; and he
had been at once struck with its familiarity, though he had
never understood its position in the county, believing it
further to the west. If report spoke truly there was some
excellent vaulting in the interior, and a change of study from
ecclesiastical to secular Gothic was not unwelcome for a
while.

The entrance-gate was open now, and under the archway the
outer ward was visible, a great part of it being laid out as a
flower-garden. This was in process of clearing from weeds and
rubbish by a set of gardeners, and the soil was so encumbered
that in rooting out the weeds such few hardy flowers as still
remained in the beds were mostly brought up with them. The
groove wherein the portcullis had run was as fresh as if only
cut yesterday, the very tooling of the stone being visible.
Close to this hung a bell-pull formed of a large wooden acorn
attached to a vertical rod. Somerset's application brought a
woman from the porter's door, who informed him that the day