CHAPTER XVI.

KIRKWALL.

THE hotel at Kirkwall, when it first came intc view, presented a very unpromising appearance. It was built upon a little paved court, the front, containing the entrance being at the back side of the court, and two wings one on each side. extending forward to the street. A low wall, with two gateways through it, extended along the line of the street from one of these wings to the other.

The building itself, like all the buildings in the town, was formed of very thick and massive walls of stone, with windows set in so far back in the wall, that the sashes scarcely appeared in view. Indeed in looking along the street the windows of the houses appeared only as openings in the wall, as if the buildings were so many stone barns.

On entering the hotel, however, the scene was entirely changed. The waiter conducted the party up to the second story, and ushered them at once into a large and handsomely furnished

room. There was a bright fire blazing in the grate, and a polished mahogany dining-table in the middle of the floor, and arm-chairs, and sofas, and carpets, and curtains to the windows, and tables in the corners covered with books, and stands of flower-pots with flowers in full bloom, and many other nameless conveniences and elegancies which are comprised in the idea of a comfortable parlor in an English inn.

66 Ah, Florence!" exclaimed Mrs. Morelle. "This is just the place for us. How glad I am to see the fire. I did not know I was so cold."

The chambermaid came soon to show the ladies their chamber, and Mrs. Morelle when she went into hers, asked Grimkie to order the best breakfast that he could get for them. In half an hour the breakfast was ready, and very soon after breakfast the whole party set out to take a walk and see the town.

They found that the town consisted chiefly of a very long and narrow street, which followed the curvature of the shore. It was very narrow, and seemed intended almost exclusively for footpassengers. There was only a narrow track in the center of it-about two feet wide, that is, just wide enough for one horse-that was paved like a street. The rest of the space on each side

was covered with flag stones for foot-passengers. Thus the street was almost all sidewalk.

"We may know by the narrowness of the streets and by the looks of the houses that they have dreadful gales of wind and storms here in the winter," said Grimkie. "See what thick walls, and what little windows and how few! See how deep the windows are set in the walls, so that the gales may not get at them to burst them in !"

The party walked on for some time, following the windings of the street, and looking in at the shop windows to see what sort of things there were to sell. At one place they saw some views in the Orkneys, hanging at the window of a print shop. There was a view of some of the coast scenery, with lofty mountains rising abruptly out of the sea, and tremendous precipices. There was a view also of the town of Kirkwall, and one of Stromness, a place upon the opposite side of the island. But the picture which most attracted the attention of Mrs. Morelle and Florence, was one of the STONES OF STENNIS. It was a view of an open plain in a wild and desolate country, with a range of gigantic stones, like immense tombstones, set up in the ground.

"What is this ?" asked Mrs. Morelle; "what are the stones of Stennis ?"

66 Ah, that is something very curious,” replied Grimkie. "I read an account of them. They are on the road to Stromness. We must go to see them."

"They look like the pictures I have seen of Stonehenge," said Florence.

"They are like Stonehenge," said Grimkie. After going along a little farther, the party came to a sort of open space in which there was an immense cathedral, old and ruinous, though it bore marks of having been recently repaired. Mrs. Morelle was much surprised to see this edifice. She wondered how there could ever have been any occasion for a structure of such magnitude in so remote a region, and still more how it could ever have been built. But the truth is that the earls of Orkney, who formerly ruled over the islands like sovereign princes, were at one time very wealthy and powerful, and there was a time moreover, during the period in which the Catholic religion was in the ascendency in these countries, when the cathedrals and abbeys, and monasteries which were built in the north of Scotland, and in the islands adjacent, were of the grandest and most gorgeous description.

"Would you like to go in and see the cathedral, Auntie ?" asked Grimkie.

"Do they have service in it on Sunday ?" rejoined Mrs. Morelle.

"In one end of it," said Grimkie. “One erd is finished off for a church. The rest of it is empty."

"Then we shall see it to-morrow when we go to church," replied Mrs. Morelle, "and that will be better. I like to see such places better when the people are in them."

The stones with which the cathedral had been repaired were of a red color, which gave them the appearance of monstrous bricks. They were really of sandstone, though of a bright color. John said that he read in a guide book that they were obtained from a quarry in a cliff which was named Red Head.

Near the cathedral were the ruins of two ancient palaces, the bishop's and the earl's. These ruins were very ancient and venerable, and Mrs. Morelle and Florence were greatly interested in walking about them, and looking up to the ivy covered battlements and towers. It was melancholy to look upon these utterly abandoned ruins. The air of desolation and solitude which reigned around them was greater than Mrs. Morelle had ever observed in any ruins before. In England there are many remains of ancient edifices, but they are all objects of great interest to tourists,