By this time a last effort of the mule had climbed to the level of
the castle. As her father had shown her, there was precipice on two
sides of the building; on the third, a sheer wall of rock going up to
a huge height before it reached another of the Eagle's Steps; and on
the fourth, where the gateway was, the little beck had been made to
flow in a deep channel that had been hollowed out to serve as a moat,
before it bounded down to swell the larger water-course in the
ravine. A temporary bridge had been laid across; the drawbridge was
out of order, and part of Hugh's business had been to procure
materials for mending its apparatus. Christina was told to dismount
and cross on foot. The unrailed board, so close to the abyss, and
with the wild water foaming above and below, was dreadful to her;
and, though she durst not speak, she hung back with an involuntary
shudder, as her father, occupied with the mule, did not think of
giving her a hand. The young baron burst out into an unrestrained
laugh--a still greater shock to her feelings; but at the same time he
roughly took her hand, and almost dragged her across, saying, "City
bred--ho, ho!" "Thanks, sir," she strove to say, but she was very
near weeping with the terror and strangeness of all around.
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