ll to take part in what was passing
between the brother and sister; she sat like the spectator of a farce in
a foreign tongue, till the boat had arrived at the broad open extent of
park gently sweeping down towards the river, the masses of trees kept on
either side so as to leave the space open where the castle towered in
pretentious grandeur, with a flag slowly swaying in the summer wind on
the top of the tallest turret.

The trees made cool reaches of shade, varied by intervals of hot
sunshine, and much longer did the way appear, creeping onward in the
heat, than it had looked when the eye only took in the simple expanse of
turf, from river to castle. Phoebe looked to her arrival there, and to
bedroom conferences, as the moment of recovering a reasonable Lucy, but
as they neared the house, there was a shout from the wire fence enclosing
the shrubbery on the eastern side, and Horatia was seen standing at the
gate calling them to come into the cloisters and have some sustenance.

Passing the screen of shrubs, a scene lay before them almost fit for the
gardens of Seville. Three sides of an extensive square were enclosed by
the semi-gothic buildings, floridly decorated with stone carving; one
consisted of the main edifice, the lower windows tented with striped
projecting blinds; a second of the wing containing the reception rooms,
fronted by the imitative cloister, which was continued and faced with
glass on the third side--each supporting column covered with climbing
plants, the passion-flower, the tropaeolum, the trumpet honeysuckle, or
even the pomegranate, opening their gay blooms on every side. The
close-shaven turf was broken by small patches of gorgeously-tinted
flower-beds, diversified by vases filled with trailing plants, and lines
of orange trees and fuchsias, with here and there a deep-belled datura,
all converging towards the central marble fountain, where the water
played high, and tinkled coolly in sparkling jets. Between it and the
house, there were placed in the shade some brightly-tinted cushions and
draperies, lounging chairs, and a low table, bearing an oriental-looking
service of tiny cups, of all kinds of bright and fantastic hues, no two
alike. Near it reclined on her cushions a figure in perfect keeping with
the scene, her jetty hair contrasting with her gold and coral net, her
scarlet gold-embroidered slipper peeping out from her pale buff-coloured
dress, deeply edged with rich purple, and par