The exterior wall, of which this tower is the
gateway, extends far along the village street, and encloses a very large
space, within which stands the mansion, quite secluded from unauthorized
visitors, or even from the sight of those without, unless it be at very
distant eyeshot.
We rang at the principal door of the edifice (it is under a deep arch, in
the Norman style, but of modern date), and a footman let its in, and then
delivered us over to a respectable old lady in black. She was a
Frenchwoman by birth, but had been very long in the service of the
family, and spoke English almost without an accent; her French blood
being indicated only by her thin and withered aspect, and a greater
gentility of manner than would have been seen in an Englishwoman of
similar station. She ushered us first into a grand and noble hall, the
arched and carved oaken roof of which ascended into the gable. It was
nearly sixty feet long, and its height equal to its length,--as stately a
hall, I should imagine, as is anywhere to be found in a private mansion.
It was lighted, at one end, by a great window, beneath which, occupying
the whole breadth of the hall, hung a vast picture of the Battle of
Hastings; and whether a good picture or no, it was a rich adornment of
the hall. The walls were wainscoted high upward with oak: they were
almost covered with noble pictures of ancestry, and of kings and great
men, and beautiful women; there were trophies of armor hung aloft; and
two armed figures, one in brass mail, the other in bright steel, stood on
a raised dais, underneath the great picture.
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