32 The Flame-Flower

which lay upon the floor; owls and bats
reared their young in the inner rooms, and
the household altar was moss-grown. The
gardens around were tangled, and overrun
with briar and bramble; yet they had been
beautiful. And the house stood on a hill-
side, and the view from it was fair and wide.

From the house one could look away to
the high hill where stood the camp of the
conquerors, which was deserted now; and
across great meadows and tilled fields to the
dark forest which was no-man’s-land, where
the bad spirits lived and planned evil.

And Licinius the owner of the great house
had gone at length to return no more; in-
deed these several years he had not dwelt
in it, being called away to the far South by
the troubles of his own country and his own
city. He had been a rich man, and this
house had been his residence in summer ;
he had been lord over Evan’s father and
over Evan, and over all lesser men for
many a broad mile; for he was of the blood
of the conquerors who had ruled the land
for four centuries. Evan’s father had been