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 Madeline received her compliment with a faint smile, for her heart was too heavy to permit her to answer it as at another time she might have done; nor was her melancholy decreased on entering her spacious chamber, whose faded tapestry and tarnished furniture spoke of its long desertion and neglect.

"I hope your La'ship does not dislike this apartment, (said the housekeeper, on perceiving Madeline pause at the entrance, and look round her with a kind of dread); it is one of the most magnificent in the castle I can assure you, and was occupied by my late Lady, the Marchioness, since whose death it has neither been used or altered."

"No, (replied Madeline, advancing, and endeavouring to shake off the impression which its gloom had made upon her mind), I do not dislike it."

"That door (cried the housekeeper) opens into the dressing-room; there my lady used to pass many of her hours: it was fitted