Then his Lordship led them to the grand saloon.  It was the glory of the castle, this great room of forty feet in width and sixty in length.  The ceiling supported upon either side by slender Corinthian pillars, was panelled and exquisitely frescoed with nude female figures that were reflected in the highly polished floor of marquetry woods.  The walls were covered with old tapestries and rare pictures.  There were two immense windows; the one at the south end of the room was quite twenty feet square of Egyptian style.  The one to the north reached from floor to ceiling and from side to side.  It was draped by a single ruby-coloured velvet curtain that was so artistically caught by rope-like cords of silk that, by a draw, could be lifted upward and to either side in luxurious folds, exposing the entire window.  At present the great saloon was lighted by seven immense lustres of fifty candles each, and with twenty sconces each bearing fifteen candles.  The effulgent gleam cast from these myriad flames upon polished woods, busts, statues, unique bric-a-brac, gildings, glass and ruby velvet produced the perfection of old-time splendour.  And now, as the gallant beaux led in fair maidens, it gave the picture life.  The great north window disclosed the ice-bound trees in all their primitive ruggedness.  The snow and sleet were vigorously driven by the wind that howled continuously.  The light from the forked-tree cast through the window rays that resembled moonlight, as they mingled with the radiance within, while outside it twinkled with the sprightliness of old-fashioned humour.

Cedric of Crandlemar was noted among beaux old and young of his intimate acquaintance for the spicy diversions with which he entertained his friends, when they were so fortunate as to be present at his stag parties.  Arriving home after a long absence, he opened his castle upon St. Valentine’s eve with a ball, wherein his guests appeared in full court costume, in honour of the Royal guests.  The weeks following had been filled with stately entertainment; and now his Royal and formal guests had departed, and the throng that passed into the great saloon were youths and maidens of neighbouring counties; some college friends and kinsmen.  They entered with gay abandon.  The beaux were whetted to great curiosity, for ’twas whispered among them that after a short evening with the ladies, there were to appear a bevy of London-town dancing girls, who would give them a highly flavoured entertainment; and, as if Bacchus had prematurely begun to disport himself in brain and leg of each beau, he set about to ogle and sigh and wish and—­pull a stray curl upon some maiden’s forehead or touch her glowing cheek with cold fingers, and some began to illustrate the modus operandi of taking certain game, while another danced a clog or contra-dance or Sir Roger de Coverley.  The maidens caught the spirit and answered back glance for glance, and being equipped for conquest let go the full battery