94 Darknefs and Light.

to try his courage in the Town Houfe, and there
was feldom or never any fufs about his fears till
the move to the Sea Caftle took place; and then
there were no more lamps and lamplighters, and
no more comfortable glimmerings from his bright
pets the lamps after he went to bed; and he ufed
to get filly dire€tly, and declare that he faw bears
whenever he fhut his eyes; and he feemed to ex-
pect to find lions and tigers under the fofas, by
the fufs he made when he was afked to go into
the rooms. Certainly there was a grand old
fafhioned lamp in the hall of the Sea Caftle; but
the hall itfelf was fo big, and went up fo high, that
the light in one part only feemed to make the
fhadow and darknefs of the other part look blacker
ftill ; fo that I muft confefs there was fomething
gloomy about the houfe. ‘Then, too, there were
thofe two turrets with the winding ftaircafes, and
as Roderick had never dared to do any thing
more than peep in at the low entrance doors be-
low, where he faw nothing but four or five fteps
going up into complete blacknefs, he had got a
fort of notion there muft be fomething horrid
about them.

Well; it was foon after this little boy’s fixth
birthday, that the family arrived at the Sea-Caftle,
and it fo happened, that, on the day after their
arrival, there was fome very ftormy and difmal
weather. ‘The wind howled very loudly, and
there was a good deal of rain; and Lady Made-
line wifhed they had waited a week or two longer.