corner of a high and somewhat ruinous
wall of loose stones, and making a sudden
wheel we found ourselves in a small
quadrangle, surmounted on two sides by
dilapidated stables and kennels, on
another by a broken stone wall, and upon
the fourth by the front of the lodge itself.

The whole character of the place was that
of dreary desertion and decay, which
would of itself have predisposed the mind
for melancholy impressions. My guide
dismounted, and with respectful attention
held my horse's bridle while I got down;
and knocking at the door with the handle
of his whip, it was speedily opened by a
neatly-dressed female domestic, and I was
admitted to the interior of the house, and
conducted into a small room, where a fire
in some degree dispelled the cheerless air,
which would otherwise have prevailed
to a painful degree throughout the
place.

I had been waiting but for a very few
minutes when another female servant,
somewhat older than the first, entered the
room. She made some apology on the
part of the person whom I had come to
visit, for the slight delay which had already