Year: 1874

the moss that time hath gathered
upon them, the weathered stone sur
faces that the lichens stain gray and
yellow, and the ivy-abettor in the
ruinous work of time-which steals
up like a thief from the earth and
clutches the stones in its grasp to
drag them down; but Sir Philip was
too logical and uncompromisimg an
antiquarian to give in to the mild
estheticism of such things. He
treated his residence as its first
castellan would have used it-kept
it clean and neat. If lichens OF moss
showed on the walls, they were
scraped off; if stone moldered away
it was replaced by one similar in
shape, and taken from the quarry
whence the old builders had hewn
out its predecessor. Nothing better
pleased the possessor of Beech
wood Castle than to hear stranger
say it looked as If it had been built
yesterday.


So it was that if on this bright
June day, one had travelled by
the straight avenue of great trees
and had caught glimpses of the cas-
tie, with its towers and turrets gilt
tering in the sunlight through the
vistas of this sweet woodland scene
nv, the moat-surrOunded outer wall,
the portcullis chains in their places,
and the draw bridge let down, he
might almost forget the four or FIVE
hundred years that had passed, aud
dream for a moment, if it SO pleased
him, that he was in real truth Il
knight or burgher of the old times,
coming to seek hospitality at a me-
dieYal. castle.


Such a traveller possessed with
such. fancy, if he had happened to
be coming to Beechwood Castle
on this particular June afternoon of
my story, might indeed have thought
himself


DREAMING WITH Ills EYES OPEN.


Under the walls of the castle,
standing about in groups on the
broad expanse of turf which stretch
ed out from the moat to where the
LEAKAGE of the woods rose up like a
huge wall. against the sky, was an
assemblage of ladies and gentlemen,
dressed not as we expect in these
DAYS to see our countrymen attired,
but in the strange costume of
long past age. There were ladies
with tall erections of stiffened silk
upon their heads, in shape such as
are still worn by the present
women of France and Germany, and
wearing bright colored dresses with
long trains that trailed behind them
upon the close-shaved lawn. The
younger men were dressed more
brightly even than the ladies, in
tight fitting hose of rcd or yellow,
and jenkins of rich sill, with sleeves
of a different color, quilted, padded,
and trimmed with various hued silk
and velvet, their heads bare, or COW
cred by the small, velvet, plumed
caps that were worn in the early part
of the fifteenth century. There
were but a few elderly men, and
these wore a garb that better COM
ported with their years-loose, fir
trimmed, gowns with hoods.


1t was a masquerade at Beech
wood Castle, and as the fashion of
to-day sets strongly toward fancy
dress balls, and as strongly, in the
country, toward day entertainments,
it had been Lady Sandon's whim and
pleasure


TO COMBINE THESE TWO THINGS INTO


ONE.


There was to be no dancing, but it
was to be in the dusk of the evening
on polished floor temporarily laid
in sylvan glade. There were to
be fancy dresses, but they must be
of one period-of the age when chiv-
airy was tiourishing, and when
troubadours still sang the 'prowess
of knight and the beauty of high
born ladies. This had been Lady
Sandon's edict, and it had been
cheerfully obeyed by a neighbor-
hood who took all their fashions and
many of their ideas from the lady
of Beechwood Castle.


During the whole previous spring,
little else had been talked about, and
the antiquarian knowledge of Sir
Philip Sandon had never been so
highly priced in the country. The
choosing of their dresses was les
son in history to a great many ladies
and gentlemen who had seldom
troubled themselves to read a page
of it, and most learned talk prevail
ed as to escof5ons and baLandrans
aoaiUe and miaiUer, among people
who had looked out those words in
the dictionary an hour before.


The day came, the people assem-
bled, and the masquerade was a sue
cess. There was something for the
stupidest guest to talk about, a good
deal to admire, and most delightful
of all, a very great deal to laugh at.
1t is not every lady who can manage
a train; it is not every gentleman
who feels comfortable in garments
which are in these days seldom worn
but by harlequins and circus ri
ders.


Is English people, as a rule, have too
much dignity and perhaps too much
shyness to shine as masqueraders,
but here there was one cause of diff
dence removed. Every one was
alike, or more or less alike;
and no one, therefore, had to brave
out a more eccentric or more ridi-
culous dress than his fellows.


There were, of course, among the
crowd of guests some people whose
dress seemed to suit them better
than others. Some figures, both of
men and women,


SEEMED ADMIRABLY SUITED
to the tight-fitting costume, who
looked as if they had stepped from
the canvass of some of the great ear
ly painters. Two such persons were
especially noted--Miss Sandon, the
heiFess of BeechRood Castle, and
her affianeed husband, Lord Vereker.