A lad was standing on the little lookout turret, on the top of a border fortalice.

The place was evidently built solely with an eye to defence, comfort being an altogether secondary consideration.

It was a square building, of rough stone, the walls broken only by narrow loopholes; and the door, which was ten feet above the ground, was reached by broad wooden steps, which could be hauled up in case of necessity; and were, in fact, raised every night.
The building was some forty feet square.

The upper floor was divided into several chambers, which were the sleeping places of its lord and master, his family, and the women of the household.

The floor below, onto which the door from without opened, was undivided save by two rows of stone pillars that supported the beams of the floor above.