s, and, if possible, more entertaining than ever.

I was not, however, quite in the mood to enjoy his sprightliness; but
whatever I wanted in gaiety was amply made up in the triumphant and
gracious good-humour of my mother, whose smiles of benevolence and
exultation were showered around as bountifully as the summer sunshine.

I will not weary you with unnecessary prolixity. Let it suffice to say,
that I was married to Lord Glenfallen with all the attendant pomp and
circumstance of wealth, rank, and grandeur. According to the usage of
the times, now humanely reformed, the ceremony was made, until long past
midnight, the season of wild, uproarious, and promiscuous feasting and
revelry.

Of all this I have a painfully vivid recollection, and particularly of
the little annoyances inflicted upon me by the dull and coarse jokes
of the wits and wags who abound in all such places, and upon all such
occasions.

I was not sorry when, after a few days, Lord Glenfallen's carriage
appeared at the door to convey us both from Ashtown; for any change
would have been a relief from the irksomeness of ceremonial and
formality which the visits received in honour of my newly-acquired
titles hourly entailed upon me.

It was arranged that we were to proceed to Cahergillagh, one of the
Glenfallen estates, lying, however, in a southern county, so that, owing
to the difficulty of the roads at the time, a tedious journey of three
days intervened.

I set forth with my noble companion, followed by the regrets of some,
and by the envy of many; though God knows I little deserved the latter.
The three days of travel were now almost spent, when, passing the brow
of a wild heathy hill, the domain of Cahergillagh opened suddenly upon
our view.

It formed a striking and a beautiful scene. A lake of considerable
extent stretching away towards the west, and reflecting from its broad,
smooth waters, the rich glow of the setting sun, was overhung by steep
hills, covered by a rich mantle of velvet sward, broken here and there
by the grey front of some old rock, and exhibiting on their shelving
sides, their slopes and hollows, every variety of light and shade;
a thick wood of dwarf oak, birch, and hazel skirted these hills, and
clothed the shores of the lake, running out in rich luxuriance upon
every promontory, and spreading upward considerably upon the side of the
hills.

'There lies the enchanted castle,' said Lord Glenfallen, pointing
towards a c