100 VALE OF ST. JOHN. 



another mystery just behind, under the Armboth 

 Fells, — a haunted house. Lights are seen there 

 at night, the people say; and the bells ring 1 ; and 

 just as the bells all set off ringing, a large dog is 

 seen swimming across the lake. The plates and 

 dishes clatter ; and the table is spread by unseen 

 hands. That is the preparation for the ghostly 

 wedding feast of a murdered bride, who comes up 

 from her watery bed m the lake to keep her terrible 

 nuptials. There is really something remarkable, 

 and like witchery, about the house. On a bright 

 moonlight night, the spectator who looks towards 

 it from a distance of two or three miles, sees the 

 light reflected from its windows into the lake ; and, 

 when a slight fog gives a reddish hue to the light, 

 the whole might easily be taken for an illumination 

 of a great mansion. And this mansion seems to 

 vanish as you approach, — being no mansion, but a 

 small house lying in a nook, and overshadowed by 

 a hill. The bridge being crossed, another bit of 

 lane leads out upon the high-road near the clean 

 little inn, the King's Head, and within view of the 

 Vale of St. John. 



One would like to know how often the " Bridal 



of Triermain" has been read within that vale 



The Castle Rock, in its disenchanted 



*i AI john condition, is a prominent object in 



approaching the vale from Legber- 



thwaite, or by the road just described; and there 



are lights and gloom v moments in which it looks 



as like as may be to a scene of witchery, — now 



enirrossinc* the sunshine when the range to which 



it belongs is all in shadow ; and now perversely 



gloomy, because there is a single cloud in the sky. 



