"
"They who hold a higher communion reck but little of this frail and
pitiful dust," returned the clergyman, after a solemn pause. "It is
enough that he hath sent for me. I would fain warn him ere he depart,
else yon walls had not again echoed my footstep."
This confidential domestic spoke not; he was either too much attached to
his master, or implicated with him, to hazard a remark.
The path was now wider and less difficult of access, leading over a
pretty knoll, glittering like lode-stars in the dew, beyond which arose
the huge and cumbrous pile then distinguished as the castle of Hornby.
The barking of some half-dozen hoarse-mouthed dogs announced their
approach. Passing over the drawbridge, they entered the court-yard, from
whence a side postern at that time opened a communication to the
turret-chamber without passing through the main building. A winding
staircase led them directly to the summit. Soft gleams of moonlight came
at intervals through the narrow loopholes, being the only help or
direction whereby to accomplish their ascent. After a tedious gyration,
which more than once made the hindmost party pause to obtain a respite,
the guide opened a low door.
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