OF THE FOREST 79

my cnurch, that before the evening hour I
was almost, if not entirely, as much what my
people would have called a heretic as I now
am, although I had not yet made up my mind
to acknowledge my belief, and give all up for
the truth.

Scarcely had the ardent heat of the day
subsided, when, according to appointment, I
repaired to the chateau; where, on my hay-
ing passed the avenue of linden-trees, which
then extended from the gate of the domain to
the lawn in front of the mansion, I entered
upon a scene which chased away, for a time,
the perplexing thoughts by which I had been
agitated during the greater part of the morn-
ing. Figure to yourselves, my gentle readers,
an ancient, many-windowed, stone mansion,
whose fashion spoke of at least two centuries
past, in the almost perpendicular roof of which
were three tiers of windows, peeping out from
the moss-covered ‘tiles, closed with wooden
shutters instead of casements. In the front of
this ancient, and, in some respects, dilapidated
mansion, extended the lawn, in the centre of
which was a square marble basin, where a
huge Triton spouted water from a cone to the
height of many feet, affording rather the idea