"O that I were at
Wilton or some nunnery, where my looks would be pardoned! Mother
Avice, dear mother, what wouldst thou say to me now!"
The peel tower had been the original building, and was still as it
were the citadel, but below had been built the very strong but narrow
castle court, containing the stables and the well, and likewise the
hall and kitchen--which were the dwelling and sleeping places of the
men of the household, excepting Cuthbert Ridley, who being of gentle
blood, would sit above the salt, and had his quarters with Rob when
at home in the tower. The solar was a room above the hall, where was
the great box-bed of the lord and lady, and a little bed for Bernard.
Entered through it, in a small turret, was a chamber designed for the
daughters and maids, and this was rightly appropriated by Ridley to
the Lady Grisell. The two women-servants--Bell and Madge--were wives
to the cook and the castle smith, so the place had been disused and
made a receptacle for drying fish, fruit, and the like. Thus the
sudden call for its use provoked a storm of murmurs in no gentle
voices, and Grisell shrank into a corner of the hall, only wishing
she could efface herself.
And as she looked out on the sea from her narrow window, it seemed to
her dismally gray, moaning, restless, and dreary.
CHAPTER X--COLD WELCOME
Seek not for others to love you,
But seek yourself to love them best,
And you shall find the secret true,
Of love and joy and rest.
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