Yes, Walter, I am here happily supplied with a lighted taper by the dexterity and contrivance of Griffiths.--Securely stationed in one of the best apartments where even the mirth of the servants cannot reach me in a buzzing murmur, there is no hazard that any one of them should quit his diversions to wander among the mazy recesses of this mansion; and I do rejoice abundantly in my security.--Yet, Walter, I may rejoice, and feel the benumbing effects of this cold gloomy dwellings, too.--These old buildings are admirably contrived to fix odd impressions on the mind.--I do not at all wonder that every ancient castle is haunted in report.--Another such night, in another such place, and I could swear I perceived shapeless forms gliding around me.----I listen one minute to the variety of sound produced by the gathering winds; and, the next, find it hushed to so dead a calm, that the sound of my breathings alone interrupts the silence. Such--think of it, think of it, Walter--such are my employments! I wonder whereabouts this armoury lays. Griffiths could tell.--The castle is amazing large, yet Griffiths is perfectly skilled in its geography.--He described to me, as we came hither, the situation of Miss Valmont's apartments.--They are nearer to where I am now stationed than to any other habitable part of the building. The spacious gallery into which this room opens, runs the length of the whole front, excepting the wings and the towers. Narrow long passages connect the wings with the main building; and the passage nearest my side of the gallery, conducts you by a short flight of steps immediately up to Miss Valmont's abode. But this is not the road we are to take, because in a little room within that passage sleeps her attendant, silent Andrew; and we choose not to pass so near him, lest perhaps these resounding walls tell him of our footsteps.--Our's is a more intricate path. The adjoining antichamber will lead us to a narrower stair-case; descending this, we shall cross some of the lower apartments; and, making a circuit, gain the bottom of the West Tower; from whence, alleys and winding stone stairs will introduce us to the end of Miss Valmont's gallery, opposite to that we must have entered had we gone in the straight forward direction. We deem it advisable to descend with our charge the same way, and to leave the castle by a little door in the West Tower. It is, to be sure, on the wrong side, and will oblige us to carry our burthen, if the young lady should not be disposed just then to make use of her limbs, so much the further.