But leaving these allusions and poetical flights, let us proceed in our usual way.--Slowly winding up the steep ascent we reached the ruins of a Moorish castle, which is on one of the three highest promontories. You will imagine that the prospect from this elevation is unconfined. Alas! my Lucy, your brother saw only _one_! It was clouded by despair, and rendered intolerable by the certainty that I was not the only sufferer who was enveloped in its frowning aspect. "Were I alone to suffer, I would try to meet disappointment and contradiction like a man," thought I: "but to know that I am beloved, that I am as necessary to the happiness of the being whom I love, as she is to mine! To know that we might be happy, but for considerations----" I checked my murmurs _then_, as I suppress them _now_; and with my usual despondency, quitted the spot. In descending I saw, not far remote, an elegant girl, seated on a fragment of a rock; a gentleman on his knees before her, and she in evident distress. The narrow path admitted of no deviation; I was obliged to pass the supposed lovers. In so doing I perceived that the pretty creature had hurt her ankle, which the gentleman was rubbing; and the expression of her countenance, indicated that the application of his hand had not allayed the sense of pain. I stopped, and learned, that fearful of trusting herself to the sagacious animal she had rode, she had left her party at the Cork convent[2], preferring to walk. "With a shoe of _this fashion_," added the gentleman producing a green satin slipper, which might have rivalled Cinderella's, you will not be surprised at our disaster; the heel snapped, and here we are, with a sprained ancle! The _husband_, rather than the _lover_, appeared in this _observation_; and my idea was confirmed; for the pretty creature, rubbing the ancle with a hand which did not disgrace it, displayed a wedding ring; and with assumed gaiety, said, "The accident was nothing, she was certain the sprain was trifling; the pain was already subsiding, it was only numbed. If the gentleman would only have the goodness to call as he passed the Convent, and send forward the beasts, all would be well." _The gentleman_, as in duty bound, assisted her in mounting his own; and with the utmost caution, we proceeded down to the village. Having safely gained the more easy road, our timid charge unaffectedly thanked me for my goodness; and in reply to her companion's raillery on being such a coward, she remarked the superiority of the beast she was on, to the wretched animal they had lent her at the hotel; adding, that the satisfaction of leaving him feeding, was one motive for her preferring to walk. "I might have guessed as much," replied her companion; "but after all, my dear Margaret, you have been more charitable than fortunate. You should have kept your glass slipper for more level ground: it will be long enough before you see again a spot like this, or find a mountain to ascend."--"That may be,"