" Thus
she fretted, and scolded her maid until it was time to go to the
drawing-room. It was a picturesque scene; the ancient castle with
its crenellated tower, from which now pointed a tall flag-pole,
the British Royal Ensign bound closely about it, its colours being
distinctly visible through its casing of ice; for an immense
quadruple-faced light was placed high up in the fork of a tree
opposite the great window of the vaulted saloon, casting its beam to
the very pinnacle of the ensign-staff; lighting the castle from end to
end upon its northern side, where the great avenues converged. A shaft
reluctantly and gloomily effused the near density of the forest;
another ray gladdening the expectant eyes of the guest from Londonway;
while yet another broad gleam sped the departing traveler over the
threshold of the forest into the gloom-environed pathway beyond. Upon
every shelving projection of the unhewn stone structure was ice. The
entire walls scintillated with a fairy brilliancy, and the trees as
they swayed back and forth propelled by the unceasing wind caused such
a coruscation of sparkles it fairly blinded the spectator.
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