from different countries. Near the small north
doorway by which the ladies entered the castle, was a narrow stone
staircase, leading down under ground, but it was so dimly lighted, that
they did not attempt to go down it. Ascending again to the tower, they
discovered several more beautiful rooms in it, all richly furnished. All
these rooms had apparently been set apart for the use of the lady, with
the exception of one, a library, containing carved oak shelves, loaded
with books in many different languages; the heavy furniture was also of
carved oak, cushioned with old gold embossed leather. A Spanish cloak of
crimson velvet was thrown across the back of one of the chairs, and upon
the seat of it lay a sombrero with a plume, also a sword and a pair of
gauntlets. An arched doorway in one corner of the library, led into a
small watch tower, the whole size of which was filled up by a winding
stone staircase.

"Come, Miss Vyvyan," said Mrs. Carleton, "we will go up here, and we
may, perhaps, see something that will tell us where we are." They
climbed the stairs to the top, and passed through a low door on to the
battlements of a great tower, whence they looked down at the pine trees,
two hundred feet below. They saw at once that they were on an island;
not by any means a large one, and that the whole of it was covered by
forest as far as the water's edge, excepting in a few places where a
bare rock or swamp intervened. They looked to the south and saw only the
open ocean. The day was clear and calm, and they could see away to the
horizon. To the east lay many other islands; then to the north the same
sight met their eyes. Looking to the west still more islands were to be
seen, and also what appeared to be the mainland, and far away, perhaps
seventy miles off in the distance, a magnificent range of lofty
mountains. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the scene. As they walked
round the top of the tower, looking down upon all these forest-clad
islands without any sign of habitation, Mrs. Carleton, turning to Anna,
said, "Let us try to think over all the maps we have studied in our
geography lessons."

"Just what I have been trying to do," said Anna, "but I can only think
of a great number of islands in the Pacific ocean, and we know we are
not there, and we are not in any of the West India islands, for, as you
say, the trees tell us we are in the north, and now that I see so many
islands, I know we are not in Norway. But is