"How glad we ought to be that we live in times that are so very different." "Indeed, we ought. It seems as if it can scarcely be the same world when we contrast the past with the present," said Grace. They examined the castle very carefully, and then went to the hermitage. To reach this they had to cross the river, as it is on the opposite side. There were wonders to delight them all; for the hermitage includes a room and chapel, cut in the solid rock. It contains the effigies of a lady and a hermit. It has been immortalised by Dr. Percy's beautiful ballad-- "Dark was the night, and wild the storm, And loud the torrent's roar, And loud the sea was heard to dash Against the distant shore." "How are we to get to the hermitage?" inquired the student. "We have to walk along this narrow footpath, close to the river." "It is quite a romantic path." Indeed it was; for on one side were high perpendicular rocks, on the top of which was a grove of oaks, and on the other side the pretty river. "These oaks are very valuable, not only because of the beauty they lend to the scene, but also because they make a shelter from the sun." "Yes, and from the wind too, in winter." "Do you not feel as if you are treading on hallowed ground, Grace? I experience emotions among ruins felt nowhere else." Both she and Henry Herbert felt a delight in being there, and the former especially tried to people the scene as it was of old, and realise the days of the far-away time which it represented. "There is a spring issuing from a rock, and the water is cool and most delicious. Try it for yourselves." They found it very refreshing; and having drunk some, they entered the chapel. It is very beautiful, decorated like a cathedral, and almost perfect. "Each proper ornament was there That should a chapel grace, The lattice for confession framed, And holy water vase." "Is it not a wonderful place?" exclaimed the girls; "it is all in good condition--the altar is quite entire." "And so is the monument to Isabel Widdrington." It was with difficulty that they could bring themselves to leave a place so interesting on account of its hallowed associations; but as they wished also to visit Dunstanborough, they could not delay their departure. Dunstanborough Castle stands upon a bold basaltic rock, and is thirty feet above the sea-level It is supposed to have been built by the Lancaster family, in the year 1315, and the Yorkists destroyed it after the battle of Hexham. It has never been rebuilt, and nothing is left of it but its outer walls. "It looks a very melancholy place," was the opinion expressed by the holiday folks, "and very fierce and warlike." "Perhaps that is partly because of the black frowning rock on which it stands," suggested one.