Beneath it are two angels unwinding a scroll, on which is
cut this motto in honor of the Grand Monarch, "Sol nobis benignus."
From the portico, reached by two grand circular and balustraded
flights of steps, the view extends over an immense fish-pond, as long
and wide as the grand canal at Versailles, beginning at the foot of a
grass-plot which compares well with the finest English lawns, and
bordered with beds and baskets now filled with the brilliant flowers
of autumn. On either side of the piece of water two gardens, laid out
in the French style, display their squares and long straight paths,
like brilliant pages written in the ciphers of Lenotre. These gardens
are backed to their whole length by a border of nearly thirty acres of
woodland. From the terrace the view is bounded by a forest belonging
to Rosembray and contiguous to two other forests, one of which belongs
to the Crown, the other to the State. It would be difficult to find a
nobler landscape.
CHAPTER XXVII
A GIRL'S REVENGE
Modeste's arrival at Rosembray made a certain sensation in the avenue
when the carriage with the liveries of France came in sight,
accompanied by the grand equerry, the colonel, Canalis, and La Briere
on horseback, preceded by an outrider in full dress, and followed by
six servants,--among whom were the Negroes and the mulatto,--and the
britzka of the colonel for the two waiting-women and the luggage.
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