'At the same time I know a little fir-plantation about a mile square not far from Markton,' said De Stancy, 'which is precisely like this in miniature,--stems, colours, slopes, winds, and all. If we were to go there any time with a highly magnifying pair of spectacles it would look as fine as this--and save a deal of travelling.'
'I know the place, and I agree with you,' said Paula.
'You agree with me on all subjects but one,' he presently observed, in a voice not intended to reach the others.
Paula looked at him, but was silent.
Onward and upward they went, the same pattern and colour of tree repeating themselves endlessly, till in a couple of hours they reached the castle hill which was to be the end of their journey, and beheld stretched beneath them the valley of the Murg. They alighted and entered the fortress.
'What did you mean by that look of kindness you bestowed upon me just now, when I said you agreed with me on all subjects but one?' asked De Stancy half humorously, as he held open a little door for her, the others having gone ahead.
'I meant, I suppose, that I was much obliged to you for not requiring agreement on that one subject,' she said, passing on.
'Not more than that?' said De Stancy, as he followed her. 'But whenever I involuntarily express towards you sentiments that there can be no mistaking, you seem truly compassionate.'
'If I seem so, I feel so.'
'If you mean no more than mere compassion, I wish you would show nothing at all, for your mistaken kindness is only preparing more misery for me than I should have if let alone to suffer without mercy.'
'I implore you to be quiet, Captain De Stancy! Leave me, and look out of the window at the view here, or at the pictures, or at the armour, or whatever it is we are come to see.'
'Very well. But pray don't extract amusement from my harmless remarks. Such as they are I mean them.'
She stopped him by changing the subject, for they had entered an octagonal chamber on the first floor, presumably full of pictures and curiosities; but the shutters were closed, and only stray beams of light gleamed in to suggest what was there.
'Can't somebody open the windows?' said Paula.
'The attendant is about to do it,' said her uncle; and as he spoke the shutters to the east were flung back, and one of the loveliest views in the forest disclosed itself outside.