On all sides of the tower
yawned a gulf of some fifteen feet wide.
At first Lady Eversleigh thought that this chasm might only be on one
side of the ruin, but on rushing to the opposite battlements, and
looking down, she saw that it was a moss-grown stone-moat, which
completely encircled the stronghold.
"The warriors of old knew how to build their fortresses, and how to
protect themselves from their foes," said Victor Carrington, as if in
answer to his companion's despairing cry. "Those who built this edifice
and dug that moat, little knew how useful their arrangements would be
in these degenerate days. Do not pace to and fro with that distracted
air, Lady Eversleigh. Believe me, you will do wisely to take things
quietly. You are doomed to remain here till daybreak. This ruin is in
the care of a man who leaves it at a certain hour every evening. When
he leaves, he drops the drawbridge--you must have heard him do it a
little while ago--and no hand but his can raise the chains that support
it; for he only knows the secret of their machinery. He has left the
place for the night. He lives three miles and a half away, at a little
village yonder, which looks only a black speck in the distance, and he
will not return till some time after daybreak."
"And you would keep me a prisoner here--you would detain me in this
miserable place, while my husband is, no doubt, expecting me at
Raynham, perplexed and bewildered by my mysterious absence?"
"Yes, Lady Eversleigh, there will be wonder and perplexity enough on
your account to-night at Raynham Castle.
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