He was getting the worst of the encounter
when he resolved to make one more great effort, and placed his feet
against the wall which was near his side of the bed; but instead of
pushing his brother out, he and his brother together pushed part of the
wall out, and immediately he found himself sitting on a beam with his
legs hanging outside over the moat or garden, having narrowly escaped
following the panel. The stability of these old timber-built halls,
which were so common in Cheshire, depended upon the strong beams with
which they were built, the panels being only filled in with light
material such as osiers plastered over with mud; and it was one of these
that had been pushed out. The old mansion was shortly afterwards taken
down and replaced by an ordinary red-brick building. We had often
wondered what sort of a place Amesbury was, where the Squire of Antrobus
had gone to reside, and had decided to go there, although it was rather
out of our way for Salisbury, our next stage. We found that Stonehenge
was included in his estate as well as Amesbury Abbey, where he lived,
and Vespasian's Hill. When we came in sight of the abbey, we were quite
surprised to find it so large and fine a mansion, without any visible
trace of the ancient abbey which once existed there, and we considered
that the lines of Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart.
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