about eleven o'clock at
night
It was built upon the edge of a very steep slope , so that on one side it was very much taller than the other . It was surrounded by thick trees also ; and though by no means large , it had contrived to get into a small space as many odd corners as a Chinese puzzle . The walls were very thick , the windows few and small , the chimneys numerous , and the angles innumerable . Into one of the small rooms of this house , at about eleven o'clock at night , I must now introduce the reader . In that chamber , with her head resting on her hand , her eyes fixed upon a wood-fire that was burning before her , one small and beautiful foot stretched out towards it , while the other was concealed by the drapery of her long robe ; and with the whole graceful line of her figure thrown back in the large arm-chair which she occupied -- except , indeed , the head , which was bent slightly forward -- sat a very lovely young woman , perhaps of two or three and twenty years of age , in meditations evidently of a somewhat melancholy cast . The hand on which her head leaned , and which was very soft , round , and fair , was covered with rings , while the other was quite free from such ornaments , with the exception of one small ring of gold upon the slender third finger . In that hand she had been holding an open letter ; but , buried in meditation , she had suffered the paper to drop from her hold , and it had fallen upon the ground beside her .