CHAPTERXXI
AnAncientCastle——Clementine——TheFairPenitent——Lodi——AMutualPassionThemanorialcastleofthelittletownofSt。Angeloisavastandancientbuilding，datingbackatleasteightcenturies，butdevoidofregularity，andnotindicatingthedateofitserectionbythestyleofitsarchitecture。Thegroundfloorconsistsofinnumerablesmallrooms，afewlargeandloftyapartments，andanimmensehall。Thewalls，whicharefullofchinksandcrannies，areofthatimmensethicknesswhichprovesthatourancestorsbuiltfortheirremotedescendants，andnotinourmodernfashion；
forwearebeginningtobuildintheEnglishstyle，thatis，barelyforonegeneration。Thestonestairshadbeentroddenbysomanyfeetthatonehadtobeverycarefulingoingupordown。
Thefloorwasallofbricks，andasithadbeenrenewedatvariousepochswithbricksofdiverscoloursitformedakindofmosaic，notverypleasanttolookupon。Thewindowswereofapiecewiththerest；theyhadnoglassinthem，andthesasheshavinginmanyinstancesgivenwaytheywerealwaysopen；shutterswereutterlyunknownthere。Happilythewantofglasswasnotmuchfeltinthegenialclimateofthecountry。Theceilingswereconspicuousbytheirabsence，buttherewereheavybeams，thehauntsofbats，owls，andotherbirds，andlightornamentwassuppliedbythenumerousspiders’webs。
InthisgreatGothicpalace——forpalaceitwasratherthancastle，forithadnotowersorotherattributesoffeudalism，excepttheenormouscoat—of—armswhichcrownedthegateway——inthispalace，I