border fortress the next day, the waiter said: "You can't see
the house." When the traveler asked Why, this man of few words
merely added: "Shut up."

The landlord made his appearance with a bottle of wine and proved
to be a more communicative person in his relations with
strangers. Presented in an abridged form, and in the English
language, these (as he related them) were the circumstances under
which Mount Morven had been closed to the public.

A complete dispersion of the family had taken place not long
since. For miles round everybody was sorry for it. Rich and poor
alike felt the same sympathy with the good lady of the house. She
had been most shamefully treated by her husband, and by a
good-for-nothing girl employed as governess. To put it plainly,
the two had run away together; one report said they had gone
abroad, and another declared that they were living in London. Mr.
Linley's conduct was perfectly incomprehensible. He had always
borne the highest character--a good landlord, a kind father, a
devoted husband. And yet, after more than eight years of
exemplary married life, he had disgraced himself. The minister of
the parish, preaching on the subject, had attributed this
extraordinary outbreak of vice on the part of an otherwise
virtuous man, to a possession of the devil. Assuming "the devil,"
in this case, to be only a discreet and clerical way of alluding
from the pulpit to a woman, the landlord was inclined to agree
with the minister. After what had happened, it was, of course,
impossible that Mrs. Linley could remain in her husband's house.
She and her little girl, and her mother, were supposed to be
living in retirement. They kept the place of their retreat a