ow any delight, is almost a surprise to me."

"Nay, why should it be? 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;' but the
joy is still greater when the beautiful objects are our own."

"What splendid old ruins they are!" exclaimed Ellen.

"Yes," said George; "although the keep remains, all the rest being in
ruins, it has a most imposing appearance."

"How grand it must have been before its glory passed away!"

"Yes, it must indeed! Even now it is not so gloomy as many ruins are."

"Perhaps that is because the stones keep their natural colour."

"To whom does it belong?"

"To the Percy family. We shall find their arms on several parts of the
'keep.'"

"That must have been restored, since it alone remains."

"Yes, it has been; and, indeed, it was well worthy of preservation."

"We must visit the tower, the chapel, and the baronial hall, each of
which will reward inspection."

They looked at each in turn, and their admiration expressed itself in
appreciative words. It would not have been satisfactory had they not
visited also some of the subterranean cells.

"You must come and see the donjon keep, girls," said George.

But the girls could not repress a shudder, as they did so, for their
sympathetic spirits felt for the poor prisoners who ages ago had been
incarcerated in the terrible dungeon.

"You see it has no means of admission," explained the student, "but by
a very narrow aperture; so that the prisoners had to be lowered into it
by ropes."

"And how could they ever get back again when their term of imprisonment
was over?"

"I am afraid few, if any, ever did come back again."

"How glad we ought to be that we live in times that are so very
different."

"Indeed, we ought. It seems as if it can scarcely be the same world
when we contrast the past with the present," said Grace.

They examined the castle very carefully, and then went to the
hermitage. To reach this they had to cross the river, as it is on the
opposite side.

There were wonders to delight them all; for the hermitage includes a
room and chapel, cut in the solid rock. It contains the effigies of a
lady and a hermit. It has been immortalised by Dr. Percy's beautiful
ballad--

"Dark was the night, and wild the storm,
And loud the torrent's roar,
And loud the sea was heard to dash
Against the distant shore."

"How are we to get to the hermitage?" inquired the student.

"We have to walk along this narrow footpath,