Grace Darling Part 14

"Yes, please do," added Grace, eagerly; "that will make the time pa.s.s pleasantly indeed."

"What will you hear about--France and Paris, or Italy and Rome? Shall I describe to you my journey over the mountains, or my voyage up the Rhine?"

"Tell us anything and everything you can remember,"

"That will be said more easily than done; but I will try to tell you a few of my experiences."

Soon the pleasant sound of merry laughter floated over the sunny water, for the student was a good talker, and he gave most lively descriptions of people and places. He talked about gay Paris, until the girls wanted to go there; and of beautiful Italy and Switzerland, until their faces glowed, and their pulses beat more quickly. He told of the fortresses on the Rhine, of the pleasant holiday resorts, whose names are even more familiar to us than they were to his listeners, and for a time they almost fancied themselves sailing on other than British seas, and about to visit places which, in reality, their feet might never tread.

They were not sorry, however, to come back to Northumbria, and the resorts to which they were really going.

"Our destination is Warkworth, is it not?" asked Mary, after a time, during which the student's narrative had not been interrupted.

"Yes, we are about to enter the Coquet now."

"Where does the Coquet rise?"

"In the Cheviot hills; and it flows for forty miles through well-wooded scenery, which is called Coquetdale, and then falls into the German Ocean, below Alnwick Bay."

"You must have been studying a gazetteer lately."

"I have been; and can tell you something more of the Coquet which is interesting."

"Pray, do so."

"I know a little about it. It is famous for its salmon and trout, for which it is greatly esteemed by anglers," said one.

"Among the pebbles which it washes up, cornelians, agates, and mountain crystals, are sometimes found," said another.

"I wonder if we shall be fortunate enough to discover any of these treasures!"

"I do not care to look for them; for when there are old castles to be visited, I think a few little pebbles need not expect to be noticed."

Presently they came to the bottom of the hill on which the famous fortress of Warkworth formerly stood, and there, at the landing-place, they fastened the boat. The hill was steep, but the young people enjoyed the fun of climbing it all the more for that; when they reached the top, they were well repaid for their trouble.

"What a magnificent view!" exclaimed the student.

"Do you say so," cried Grace, "who have seen the beautiful spots in so many countries? I am myself very proud of our Northumberland, but that you should show any delight, is almost a surprise to me."

"Nay, why should it be? 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;' but the joy is still greater when the beautiful objects are our own."

"What splendid old ruins they are!" exclaimed Ellen.

"Yes," said George; "although the keep remains, all the rest being in ruins, it has a most imposing appearance."

"How grand it must have been before its glory pa.s.sed away!"

"Yes, it must indeed! Even now it is not so gloomy as many ruins are."

"Perhaps that is because the stones keep their natural colour."

"To whom does it belong?"

"To the Percy family. We shall find their arms on several parts of the 'keep.'"

"That must have been restored, since it alone remains."

"Yes, it has been; and, indeed, it was well worthy of preservation."

"We must visit the tower, the chapel, and the baronial hall, each of which will reward inspection."

They looked at each in turn, and their admiration expressed itself in appreciative words. It would not have been satisfactory had they not visited also some of the subterranean cells.

"You must come and see the donjon keep, girls," said George.

But the girls could not repress a shudder, as they did so, for their sympathetic spirits felt for the poor prisoners who ages ago had been incarcerated in the terrible dungeon.

"You see it has no means of admission," explained the student, "but by a very narrow aperture; so that the prisoners had to be lowered into it by ropes."

"And how could they ever get back again when their term of imprisonment was over?"

"I am afraid few, if any, ever did come back again."

"How glad we ought to be that we live in times that are so very different."

"Indeed, we ought. It seems as if it can scarcely be the same world when we contrast the past with the present," said Grace.

They examined the castle very carefully, and then went to the hermitage. To reach this they had to cross the river, as it is on the opposite side.

There were wonders to delight them all; for the hermitage includes a room and chapel, cut in the solid rock. It contains the effigies of a lady and a hermit. It has been immortalised by Dr. Percy's beautiful ballad--

"Dark was the night, and wild the storm, And loud the torrent's roar, And loud the sea was heard to dash Against the distant sh.o.r.e."

"How are we to get to the hermitage?" inquired the student.

"We have to walk along this narrow footpath, close to the river."

"It is quite a romantic path."

Indeed it was; for on one side were high perpendicular rocks, on the top of which was a grove of oaks, and on the other side the pretty river.

"These oaks are very valuable, not only because of the beauty they lend to the scene, but also because they make a shelter from the sun."

"Yes, and from the wind too, in winter."

"Do you not feel as if you are treading on hallowed ground, Grace? I experience emotions among ruins felt nowhere else."