Roanoke of Roanoke Hall: A Romance — page 73: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Roanoke of Roanoke Hall. 67 thought wearisome, it was evident from the situation, and from the tortuous and laby- rinthine construction, the dark narrow pas- sages, and the widely separated staircases, that it could only have been built as a place of defence ; a conjecture which was confirmed in my mind by the subsequent discovery that, with the exception of the two bay windows already mentioned, above the great doorway, there was not a single casement in the outer walls, so that at a little distance it resembled a long block of stone set up on edge rather than a house. It was, indeed, a strong and impregnable fortress, and, but for the great and marvellous catastrophe that overtook it, might have remained even to this day a mon- ument of the shelter built for himself by a guilty man. I made my way without difficulty to the kitchen, the door of which faced the entrance to the stables, and was soon: seated before the great fireplace in full enjoyment of a bowl of porridge which Mistress Margaret, as she instructed me to call her, prepared for my breakfast. While I was disposing of this I related to (@) comichbooks.com