The stone
basin seemed to be destined for a drinking-trough for cattle, from the
manner in which it was arranged upon the ground. The whole tribe of
bears, large and small, had experienced as little favour as those at the
head of the avenue, and one or two of the family pictures, which seemed
to have served as targets for the soldiers, lay on the ground in tatters.
With an aching heart, as may well be imagined, Edward viewed this wreck
of a mansion so respected. But his anxiety to learn the fate of the
proprietors, and his fears as to what that fate might be, increased with
every step. When he entered upon the terrace new scenes of desolation
were visible. The balustrade was broken down, the walls destroyed, the
borders overgrown with weeds, and the fruit-trees cut down or grubbed up.
In one compartment of this old-fashioned garden were two immense
horse-chestnut trees, of whose size the Baron was particularly vain; too
lazy, perhaps, to cut them down, the spoilers, with malevolent ingenuity,
had mined them and placed a quantity of gunpowder in the cavity. One had
been shivered to pieces by the explosion, and the fragments lay scattered
around, encumbering the ground it had so long shadowed.
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