ar off, brim-full of
water, from which, as the current legend stated, the materials forming
the heart of the mound--a kind of stone unfit for building--had been
dug. The house itself was of brick, and they said the foundations were
first laid in the natural level, and then the stones and earth of the
mound were heaped about and between them, so that its great height
should be well buttressed.

Joseph and his wife lived in a little cottage a short way from the
house. It was a real cottage, with a roof of thick thatch, which, in
June and July, the wind sprinkled with the red and white petals it shook
from the loose topmost sprays of the rose-trees climbing the walls. At
first Diamond had a nest under this thatch--a pretty little room with
white muslin curtains, but afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Raymond wanted to
have him for a page in the house, and his father and mother were quite
pleased to have him employed without his leaving them. So he was dressed
in a suit of blue, from which his pale face and fair hair came out like
the loveliest blossom, and took up his abode in the house.

"Would you be afraid to sleep alone, Diamond?" asked his mistress.

"I don't know what you mean, ma'am," said Diamond. "I never was afraid
of anything that I can recollect--not much, at least."

"There's a little room at the top of the house--all alone," she
returned; "perhaps you would not mind sleeping there?"

"I can sleep anywhere, and I like best to be high up. Should I be able
to see out?"

"I will show you the place," she answered; and taking him by the hand,
she led him up and up the oval-winding stair in one of the two towers.

Near the top they entered a tiny little room, with two windows from
which you could see over the whole country. Diamond clapped his hands
with delight.

"You would like this room, then, Diamond?" said his mistress.

"It's the grandest room in the house," he answered. "I shall be near the
stars, and yet not far from the tops of the trees. That's just what I
like."

I daresay he thought, also, that it would be a nice place for North
Wind to call at in passing; but he said nothing of that sort. Below him
spread a lake of green leaves, with glimpses of grass here and there at
the bottom of it. As he looked down, he saw a squirrel appear suddenly,
and as suddenly vanish amongst the topmost branches.

"Aha! little squirrel," he cried, "my nest is built higher than yours."

"You can be up here with your books