He got up, of course, and looked from the window.
The day was dreaming grandly.

The sky was pretty clear in front, and full of sparkles of light, for the stars were kept in the background by the moon, which was down a little towards the west.

She had sunk below the top of a huge towering cloud, the edges of whose jags and pinnacles she bordered with a line of silvery light.

Now this cloud rose into the sky from just behind the ruins, and looking a good deal like upheaved towers and spires, made Willie think within himself what a grand place the priory must have been, when its roofs and turrets rose up into the sky.
"They say a lot of people lived in it then!" he thought with himself as he stood gazing at the cloud.
Suddenly he gave a great jump, and clapped his hands so loud that he woke his father.
"Is anything the matter, my boy ?" he asked, opening Willie's door, and peeping in.
"No, papa, nothing," answered Willie.

"Only something that came into my head with a great bounce!" "Ah!--Where did it come from, Willie ?" "Out of that cloud there.