Most of the châteaux in the Black Valley, even those of the primitive Middle Ages, are situated in the depths of the valleys instead of on the high land, as in La Marche and the Bourbonnais. There is a very plausible explanation of this anomaly. In a region devoid of any considerable elevations, the water-courses afford the best means of defence. At Brilbault therefore, as at Briantes, La Motte-Seuilly, Saint-Chartier, La Motte-de-Presles, etc., the manor-house was built on a winding stream of sufficient size to fill with running water the double circular moat. The bridge over the outer moat was very narrow and supported upon arches of no definite type, midway between the full arch and the ogive. The whole château was of a transitional style of architecture; the façade was of a curious shape; the door and the staircase window above it were set in the wall to a depth of several mètres, as if for protection from attacks from without. The top of the building should have been _mascherolé_ at that point; but it was originally left unfinished and was finally surmounted by a roof entirely out of keeping with the rest of the structure, which indicated a scheme of some grandeur never carried to completion. The marquis went straight to the château as the crow flies; the encircling walls had crumbled to such an extent and sustained so many breaches, the moats were so completely filled in innumerable places, that it was not necessary to go to the gates. He noiselessly opened the main door, which was small and low, under a rampant arch surmounted by an ogive of carved flower-work. There he partly opened his lantern to look at the floor at his feet, for the farmer had warned him to be careful of the staircase. [Footnote 5: These sheaves, which are rare and much prized by archæologists, have retained a sort of traditional vogue in certain localities; the potteries of Verneuil make very pretty ones after old models. The small urn, with four or six handles on several different levels, and surmounted by birds or flowers, is reproduced in their system of decoration.] XLV It was a spiral staircase of great beauty, broad enough for six persons and as light as the sticks of a fan. It was built of a friable white stone; many steps had been entirely destroyed by the fall of some portion of the building; but those which remained seemed freshly hewn and bore no trace of wear. At each half turn of the spiral was a step, supported by a grinning face, a fantastic beast, or the bust of an armed man carved in relief on the wall. The marquis was interested in these figures, which seemed to move in the flickering light of his lantern.