e
place;--to lop the wood, or to keep the moss-covered carriage-way in
order. Only in front of the house all was clear. The great oval drive
was without a weed; and neither tree nor creeper was allowed to grow
over the long, many-windowed front; at both sides of which a wing
protected, which were each the ends of other side fronts; for the
house, although it was so desolate, was even grander than I expected.
Behind it rose the Fells; which seemed unenclosed and bare enough; and
on the left hand of the house, as you stood facing it, was a little,
old-fashioned flower-garden, as I found out afterwards. A door opened
out upon it from the west front; it had been scooped out of the thick,
dark wood for some old Lady Furnivall; but the branches of the great
forest-trees had grown and overshadowed it again, and there were very
few flowers that would live there at that time.

When we drove up to the great front entrance, and went into the hall, I
thought we would be lost--it was so large, and vast and grand. There
was a chandelier all of bronze, hung down from the middle of the
ceiling; and I had never seen one before, and looked at it all in
amaze. Then, at one end of the hall, was a great fire-place, as large
as the sides of the houses in my country, with massy andirons and dogs
to hold the wood; and by it were heavy, old-fashioned sofas. At the
opposite end of the hall, to the left as you went in--on the western
side--was an organ built into the wall, and so large that it filled up
the best part of that end. Beyond it, on the same side, was a door; and
opposite, on each side of the fire-place, were also doors leading to
the east front; but those I never went through as long as I stayed in
the house, so I can't tell you what lay beyond.

The afternoon was closing in, and the hall, which had no fire lighted
in it, looked dark and gloomy, but we did not stay there a moment. The
old servant, who had opened the door for us, bowed to Mr. Henry, and
took us in through the door at the further side of the great organ, and
led us through several smaller halls and passages into the west
drawing-room, where he said that Miss Furnivall was sitting. Poor
little Miss Rosamond held very tight to me, as if she were scared and
lost in that great place; and as for myself, I was not much better. The
west drawing-room was very cheerful-looking, with a warm fire in it,
and plenty of good, comfortable furniture about. Miss Furnivall was an
old l