"I daresay there are, but as I have only just come here, you know, I can't say. Major Maxse, no doubt, can tell you; they've been quartered in the neighbourhood for the last twelve months, and know every inch of it.--Maxse, Mrs. Hammond asks whether there are any old ruins, castles, abbeys, that sort of thing, in the neighbourhood. I tell her she should inquire of you, a the likeliest person to know." Major Maxse, the gentleman addressed, a good-looking middle-aged man, replied, "Well, I really think I might earn an honest livelihood by setting up as guide to this region. Though we've been here little more than a twelvemonth, I've been so horribly bored that I think I have explored every nook and corner of the country within a circle of fifty miles; and I am very happy to tell Mrs. Hammond that there are all sorts of ruins for her to choose from, with all sorts of architecture, and all sorts of legends attached. For example, there's Egremont Priory." "That's Boscastle's place, isn't it?" said Lord Dollamore, from the other end of the table; "who made the legend about that? one of the family probably; for there never was a Boscastle yet who was known to speak truth, even by accident." "First-rate place for wild-ducks," said Major Winton: "don't send any confounded picnic people there, Maxse; they'll scare the birds." "Even at the risk of being considered confounded picnic people, if it's a pretty place, and has a good story attached to it, I propose that we make a party and go," said Georgie. She was a little astonished at herself when she had said this, but she had said it purposely. She was wondering what it was that had attracted her husband in Mrs. Hammond which she herself did not possess; and she thought perhaps it was a certain dash and verve, to which she had never pretended, but which her rival undoubtedly displayed. Poor Georgie felt that perhaps she had been a little too tame and sedate; and this speech was her first attempt in the opposite direction. "Charmingly said, Lady Mitford; the very thing," said Mrs. Hammond. "And I think we could go, even if there were no story at all--" "There's round tower which is occupied by an old woman, who'll boil potatoes, and lay the cloth, and that kind of thing--all under shelter, you know," said Captain Bligh, who was of an eminently practical turn. "O no; but we must have the legend," said Lord Dollamore. "Come, Major Maxse, you don't get off telling us the Boscastle legend." "Oh, it's the old story with the usual ingredients--love and a ghost," said Major Maxse. "Yes; but what love? whose ghost?" asked Mrs. Hammond. "You promised to tell me, Major Maxse, and we're all attention."