Excerpt from Lady Bird: A Tale The immediate approach to'the house was through a square court equally divided by the carriage-road on each side of which were two patches of grass, one of them adorned by a sun-dial on which the sun never shone, and the other by the dry basin of a fountain into which four hideous Tritons peep ed, as if in the vain hope of discovering water in its recesses. On the other side of the house there were broad gravel walks, and an extensive garden - if anything so flowerless could de serve the name. A river that looked like a canal divided it from the flat extent beyond. Deeply and sullenly flowed this stream, which had not the beauty of clearness although the rank weeds in its bed were easily discerned. There was neither life nor spirit in its rapidity: sullenly and silently it hurried along, as if in haste to exchange the epen Space it had to traverse for the shade of a dark thicket which lay between the park and the river into which it was about to flow. The most ardent admirer of old-fashioned places must have owned that there was something melancholy in the aspect of Liiford Grange, with its massive walls, its heavy portals, its projecting windows, all unadorned by the smallest sprig of jessamine, the least invasion of ivy, the slightest familiar touch of daring tendril or aspiring creeper. The interior of the house corresponded with the exterior. It had large drawing rooms, and furniture which it would have required a giant's strength to move, light-excluding windows and unapproachable fire-places. Heavy red woollen curtains descended to the floor in cumbrous folds. A regiment abreast might have marched up the stair-case, and moderate-sized houses have been built within the bed-rooms. There was a certain kind of grandeur about the old Grange, and none of the usual appen dages of such a place were absolutely wanting, but there was a total absence of comfort in its arrangements, and of charm in its aspect both within and without. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.