28
The Monastery
Chap. IV
seats of the elder members of the family, with the privilege of occasionally making excursions into one or two small apartments which opened from it, and gave excellent opportunity to play at hide-and-seek. This night, however, the children seemed not disposed to avail themselves of
_-_Lady_Avenel_reading_to_the_Family_at_Glendearg.png)
Lady Avenel reading to the Family at Glendearg
their privilege of visiting these dark regions, but preferred carrying on their gambols in the vicinity of the light. In the meanwhile, Alice of Avenel, sitting close to an iron candlestick, which supported a misshapen torch of domestic manufacture, read small detached passages from a thick clasped volume, which she preserved with the greatest care. The art of reading the lady had acquired
