The distance betwixt the nearest shore and
the islet was not indeed above an hundred yards; but then the causeway
which connected them was extremely narrow, and completely divided by
two cuts, one in the mid-way between the islet and shore, and another
close under the outward gate of the castle. These formed a formidable,
and almost insurmountable interruption to any hostile approach. Each
was defended by a drawbridge, one of which, being that nearest to the
castle, was regularly raised at all times during the day, and both
were lifted at night. [Footnote: It is in vain to search near Melrose
for any such castle as is here described. The lakes at the head of the
Yarrow, and those at the rise of the water of Ale, present no object
of the kind. But in Vetholm Loch, (a romantic sheet of water, in the
dry march, as it is called,) there are the remains of a fortress
called Lochside Tower, which, like the supposed Castle of Avenel, is
built upon an island, and connected with the land by a causeway. It is
much smaller than the Castle of Avenel is described, consisting only
of a single *inous tower.]
The situation of Julian Avenel, engaged in a variety of feuds, and a
party to almost every dark and mysterious transaction which was on
foot in that wild and military frontier, required all these
precautions for his security. His own ambiguous and doubtful course of
policy had increased these dangers; for as he made professions to both
parties in the state, and occasionally united more actively with
either the one or the other, as chanced best to serve his immediate
purpose, he could not be said to have either firm allies and
protectors, or determined enemies.
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