"
Caroline tried to declare that this meant nothing deserving of so
grand a name; it was only the family resort for making messes in.
She never touched clay now, and there was nothing worth seeing; but
it was in vain; Babie had her way; and they mounted to the highest
stage of the pagoda, where the eaves and the twisted monsters that
supported them were in close juxtaposition with the four windows.
The view was a grand one. Belforest Park on the one side, the town
almost as if in a pit below, with a bird's-eye prospect of the roofs,
the gardens and the school-yard, the leaden-covered church, lying
like a great grey beetle with outspread wings. Beyond were the ups-
and-downs of a wooded, hilly country, with glimpses of blue river
here and there, and village and town gleaming out white; a large
house, "bosomed high in tufted trees;" a church-tower and spire,
nestled on the hill-side, up to the steep grey hill with the tall
land-mark tower, closing in the horizon—-altogether, as Carey said,
a thorough "allegro" landscape, even to "the tanned haycock in the
mead." But the summer sun made the place dazzling and almost
uninhabitable, and the visitors, turning from the glare, could hardly
see the casts and models that filled the shelves; nor was there
anything in hand; so that they let themselves be hurried away to
share the midday meal, after which Mr.
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