y; I added ten on my own account."

Frederick mounted the cob, and rode him across the grass, with that
quiet hand and steady seat which bespeaks the judgment of one called
upon to be critical. "A little, a very little over-done in the mouthing,
but his action perfect," said he, as he returned to the window, and held
the animal in an attitude to exhibit his fine symmetry to advantage.
"The prince has a passion for a horse of this class; I hope you have not
become attached to him?"

"His Royal Highness shall have him at once, Fred, if he will honour you
by accepting him." And as he spoke, he laid a stress on the _you_,
to evince the pleasure he anticipated in the present being made by
Frederick, and not himself.

"Now, then, with God and St. George!" cried Fred, laughingly, as he
waved an adieu with his plumed hat, and cantered easily towards the high
road.

It was a clear and frosty day in December, with a blue sky above, and
all below bright and glittering in a thin atmosphere. The lake, clear
as crystal, reflected every cliff and crag upon the mountain--while each
island on its surface was defined with a crisp sharpness of outline,
scarce less beautiful than in the waving foliage of summer. The
many-coloured heaths, too, shone in hues more bright and varied, than
usual in our humid climate; and the voices which broke the silence,
heard from long distances away, came mellowed and softened in their
tones, and harmonized well with the solitary grandeur of the scene. Nor
was Frederick Travers insensible to its influence; the height of those
bold mountains--their wild and fanciful outlines--the sweeping glens
that wound along their bases--the wayward stream that flowed through the
deep valleys, and, as if in sportiveness, serpentined their course,
were features of scenery he had not witnessed before; while the perfect
solitude awed and appalled him.

He had not ridden long, when the tall towers of the old castle of
Carrig-na-curra caught his eye, standing proudly on the bold mass of
rock above the road. The unseemly adjunct of farm-house and stables were
lost to view at such a distance, or blended with the general mass of
building, so that the whole gave the impression of extent and pretension
to a degree he was by no means prepared for. These features, however,
gradually diminished as he drew nearer; the highly-pitched roof, pierced
with narrow windows, patched and broken--the crumbling battlements of
the towers the