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It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the

Marquis, with a large stone courtyard before it, and two stone

sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the

principal door. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone

balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone faces

of men, and stone heads of lions, in all directions. As if the

Gorgon's head had surveyed it, when it was finished, two

centuries ago.