her?--And an
excellent house it is, Mr. Trevethick; I little expected to find so good
a one down here, I promise you."

"Well, I built it myself, Sir," said the landlord; "so it don't become
me to say much of that. It cost me a good bit of money, however; and
it's hard to get it back, when one's season only lasts for a month or
two."

"Ah! I'm the first swallow that you've seen this year, I dare say. Well,
I hope I herald a lucky summer. Take a glass of your own sherry, will
you?"

The landlord looked suspiciously at his guest: perhaps the phrase "your
own sherry" smote his conscience, knowing the price he paid for it, and
what it was, and what he meant to charge; but grunting: "Here's to you,
Sir," he filled his glass, and smacked his lips over it slowly.

"Solomon has not set him against me," was Richard's conclusion. "The
graceful manner of this Cornish giant is natural to him.--You have a
fine castle here, Mr. Trevethick, and nobly placed. Indeed, I never saw
the like before."

"So most folks say," answered the landlord.

"There is not much left of it, however," said Richard, smiling.

"Well, it'll last my time, at all events, and I dare say yours," was the
morose reply.

"Indeed it will, and that of many a generation to come. It is seldom one
sees such massive walls. A good deal of trouble, however, seems to have
been taken to prevent people from running away with them, to judge by
this;" and he held up the key.

"Well, the castle is mine, Sir--or, at least, I pay my rent for it; and,
I suppose, I can do what I like with my own. If there was no gate there,
do you think any body would pay me for viewing the place? Not they. Why,
there's some parties ain't even content with the key, but must have a
guide too, or else they buttons up their pockets."

It was so impossible to misunderstand the bearing of this remark that
Richard burst out into a good-humored laugh; he was really pleased
because the landlord's hint assured him that he was in ignorance that he
had had a guide. "I shall certainly pay my footing, Mr. Trevethick, the
same as if I had had an attendant--of which, however, I should have been
glad at one or two places; the wind did take my hat, and very nearly the
rest of me. But what I meant by the trouble that was taken to secure
your ruins from intruders was with reference not to the door, but to the
key of it. Why, if it were a real castle, full of furniture, it could
not be more effectually gua