Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 2).djvu/180

consultations, it was settled that the Solitary Castle and Estate should be let, if a tenant could be found for it; that the Count and Ferdinand should return with the steward, and after the former had surveyed his estate, and finished his business with Duclos and the tenants, the two Gentlemen should proceed to Vienna, and attend the opening of the campaign. Mean time workmen were hired to repair the Castle, and render it more habitable. They were under some difficulties respecting Francis; he was too far advanced in life to bear the fatigue of travelling, and if they sent him to the village with a comfortable provision, the natural garrulity of age would lead him to talk of the strange events he had seen and heard of, which, among illiterate and superstitious people, might occasion such fears, and such exaggerations, as would very possibly prove injurious to the disposal of the estate, and the reputation of its owner. Frequent consultations were held upon the subject, and at length Francis was