oak, and hung round
with the portraits of various worthies of the Glenfallen family.

This room looked out upon an extensive level covered with the softest
green sward, and irregularly bounded by the wild wood I have before
mentioned, through the leafy arcade formed by whose boughs and trunks
the level beams of the setting sun were pouring. In the distance a group
of dairymaids were plying their task, which they accompanied throughout
with snatches of Irish songs which, mellowed by the distance, floated
not unpleasingly to the ear; and beside them sat or lay, with all the
grave importance of conscious protection, six or seven large dogs of
various kinds. Farther in the distance, and through the cloisters of the
arching wood, two or three ragged urchins were employed in driving such
stray kine as had wandered farther than the rest to join their fellows.

As I looked upon this scene which I have described, a feeling of
tranquillity and happiness came upon me, which I have never experienced
in so strong a degree; and so strange to me was the sensation that my
eyes filled with tears.

Lord Glenfallen mistook the cause of my emotion, and taking me kindly
and tenderly by the hand, he said:

'Do not suppose, my love, that it is my intention to SETTLE here.
Whenever you desire to leave this, you have only to let me know your
wish, and it shall be complied with; so I must entreat of you not to
suffer any circumstances which I can control to give you one moment's
uneasiness. But here is old Martha; you must be introduced to her, one
of the heirlooms of our family.'

A hale, good-humoured, erect old woman was Martha, and an agreeable
contrast to the grim, decrepid hag which my fancy had conjured up, as
the depository of all the horrible tales in which I doubted not this old
place was most fruitful.

She welcomed me and her master with a profusion of gratulations,
alternately kissing our hands and apologising for the liberty, until at
length Lord Glenfallen put an end to this somewhat fatiguing ceremonial
by requesting her to conduct me to my chamber if it were prepared for my
reception.

I followed Martha up an old-fashioned oak staircase into a long, dim
passage, at the end of which lay the door which communicated with the
apartments which had been selected for our use; here the old woman
stopped, and respectfully requested me to proceed.

I accordingly opened the door, and was about to enter, when something
like a mass