On the summit a row of builders' scaffold-poles probed the indistinct sky like spears, and at their bases could be discerned the lower courses of a building lately begun.

Barnet slackened his pace and stood for a few moments without leaving the centre of the road, apparently not much interested in the sight, till suddenly his eye was caught by a post in the fore part of the ground bearing a white board at the top.

He went to the rails, vaulted over, and walked in far enough to discern painted upon the board 'Chateau Ringdale.' A dismal irony seemed to lie in the words, and its effect was to irritate him.

Downe, then, had spoken truly.

He stuck his umbrella into the sod, and seized the post with both hands, as if intending to loosen and throw it down.