The lower storey was, besides, naked of windows, so that the building, if garrisoned, could not be carried without artillery.

It enclosed an open court planted with pomegranate trees.

From this a broad flight of marble stairs ascended to an open gallery, running all round and resting, towards the court, on slender pillars.

Thence again, several enclosed stairs led to the upper storeys of the house, which were thus broken up into distinct divisions.
The windows, both within and without, were closely shuttered; some of the stone-work in the upper parts had fallen; the roof, in one place, had been wrecked in one of the flurries of wind which were common in these mountains; and the whole house, in the strong, beating sunlight, and standing out above a grove of stunted cork-trees, thickly laden and discoloured with dust, looked like the sleeping palace of the legend.

The court, in particular, seemed the very home of slumber.