ast--whose figure, as he
stood on the steps to welcome them, formed a fore-ground which an
artist would have loved to portray.

Around the Castle all had changed. What had once been little better
than a wilderness was now a wide and well-kept park. The rose
pleasaunce had been restored to its pristine glory. The lawns were
smooth-shaven and glowing in their rich emerald-green. The lakes and
ponds were no longer overgrown with dank rushes; but had been
reclaimed from being little better than marshes into bright expanses
of clear water, where fish swam and swans loved to sport. Long
avenues and cool, shadowy walks wound far away through the groves;
and the stately oaks and elms around the Castle had lost that ghostly
and gloomy air which had once been spread about them.

Within the Castle every thing had undergone a corresponding change.
There was no attempt at modern splendor, no effort to rival the
luxuries of the wealthier lords of England. The Earl had been content
with arresting the progress of decay, and adding to the restoration
of the interior some general air of modern comfort. Within, the scene
corresponded finely to that which lay without; and the medieval
character of the interior made it attractive to Zillah's peculiar
taste.

The white-faced, mysterious-looking housekeeper, as she looked sadly
and wistfully at the new-comers, and asked in a tremulous voice which
was Guy's wife, formed for Zillah a striking incident in the arrival.
To her Zillah at once took a strong liking, and Mrs. Hart seemed to
form one equally strong for her. From the very first her affection
for Zillah was very manifest, and as the days passed it increased.
She seemed to cling to the young girl as though her loving nature
needed something on which to expend its love; as though there was a
maternal instinct which craved to be satisfied, and sought such
satisfaction in her. Zillah returned her tender affection with a
fondness which would have satisfied the most exigeant nature. She
herself had never known the sweetness of a mother's care, and it
seemed as though she had suddenly found out all this. The discovery
was delightful to so affectionate a nature as hers; and her
enthusiastic disposition made her devotion to Mrs. Hart more marked.
She often wondered to herself why Mrs. Hart had "taken such a fancy"
to her. And so did the other members of the household. Perhaps it was
because she was the wife of Guy, who was so dear to the hear