nd
the opposite tower, which were mere high, narrow, glazed loop-holes, by
an ingenious contrivance a huge stone was made to turn on an iron axle,
and by pressing a spring, it slid in sufficiently to allow the inmate of
the room to gaze out conveniently on the surrounding scene.

Few scenes, to a romantic temperament, could have been more attractive.
The subdued twilight of that northern clime reigned over the face of
nature, softening and mellowing all objects, but in no way obscuring
them. The light was not so bright as that of the day, and yet it
partook in no way of the characteristics of night. It was more like the
warm light of the dawn of a summer day in the south, just before the sun
rises up from below the horizon in refulgent glory. The water near the
land was perfectly smooth, though a breeze could be seen rippling the
surface in the offing, the ripple being increased probably by the strong
current which nearly at all times sets one way or the other round the
islands.

Before the castle, on the right, rose the rocky heights and green
swelling undulations of the mainland--the Noup of Nesting Kirkbuster,
Brough and Moul of Eswick, while the highlands above Lerwick, and the
heights of Brassy and Noss, appeared blue and indistinct in the far
distance.

To the east, several green islands, or rather islets, known as Grief
Skerries, Rumble, Eastling, and other equally euphonious names, ran out
of the dark-blue ocean. The last-named being a mile and a half in
length, formed with the main island, along the shore of which it ran
parallel, and from which it was little more than a quarter of a mile
distant, a sound of some extent, where vessels in all but north-easterly
winds could ride safely at anchor. Even in these winds the force of the
sea was considerably broken by the small island or holm of Isbuster,
which lay in the very centre of the northern entrance.

Looking eastward, and north from the towers of Lunnasting, the view
extended nearly up the Sound, and commanded the whole island of
Eastling, which perhaps obtained its name from lying east of the chief
habitation of the lords of the domain, Eastling being a corruption of
Eastlying. Such was the view on which Hilda Wardhill was occasionally
turning her gaze, though her eyes were more frequently fixed on the
pages of a large volume lying open on a dark oak reading desk fixed in
the recess, and so placed that the last rays of that precious sunlight
whic