Partly from having been so much with Richard, her only playmate, who was of an ingenious and practical turn, a certain degree of interest in mechanical forms and modes had been developed in Dorothy, sufficient at least to render her unable to encounter such an implement without feeling a strong impulse to satisfy herself concerning its mechanism, its motion, and its action.  Approaching it cautiously and curiously, as if it were a live thing, which might start up and fly from, or perhaps at her, for what she knew, she gazed at it for a few moments with eyes full of unuttered questions, then ventured to lay gentle hold upon what looked like a handle.  To her dismay, a wheezy bang followed, which seemed to shake the tower.  Whether she had discharged an arrow, or an iron bolt, or a stone, or indeed anything at all, she could not tell, for she had not got so far in her observations as to perceive even that the bow was bent.  Her heart gave a scared flutter, and she started back, not merely terrified, but ashamed also that she should initiate her life in the castle with meddling and mischief, when a low gentle laugh behind her startled her yet more, and looking round with her heart in her throat, she perceived in the half-light of the place a man by the wall behind the arblast watching her.  Her first impulse was to run, and the door was open; but she thought she owed an apology ere she retreated.  What sort of person he was she could not tell, for there was not light enough to show a feature of his face.

‘I ask your pardon,’ she said; ‘I fear I have done mischief.’

‘Not the least,’ returned the man, in a gentle voice, with a tone of amusement in it.

‘I had never seen a great cross-bow,’ Dorothy went on, anxious to excuse her meddling.  ’I thought this must be one, but I was so stupid as not to perceive it was bent, and that that was the—­the handle—­or do you call it the trigger?—­by which you let it go.’

The man, who had at first taken her for one of the maids, had by this time discovered from her tone and speech that she was a lady.

‘It is a clumsy old-fashioned thing,’ he returned, ’but I shall not remove it until I can put something better in its place; and it would be a troublesome affair to get even a demiculverin up here, not to mention the bad neighbour it would be to the ladies’chambers.  I was just making a small experiment with it on the force of springs.  I believe I shall yet prove that much may be done with springs—­more perhaps, and certainly at far less expense, than with gunpowder, which costs greatly, is very troublesome to make, occupies much space, and is always like an unstable, half-treacherous friend within the gates—­to say nothing of the expense of cannon—­ten times that of an engine of timber and springs.  See what a strong chain your shot has broken!  Shall I show you how the thing works?’

He spoke in a gentle, even rapid voice, a little hesitating now and then, more, through the greater part of this long utterance, as if he were thinking to himself than addressing another.  Neither his tone nor manner were those of an underling, but Dorothy’s startled nerves had communicated their tremor to her modesty, and with a gentle ‘No, sir, I thank you; I must be gone,’ she hurried away.