it here he asked in a low voice no no the alley is on the other side the young heir glanced round with a gloomy face it s no wonder my uncle felt as if trouble were coming on him in such a place as this said he it s enough to scare any man i ll have a row of electric lamps up here inside of six months and you won t know it again with a thousand candle power swan and right here in front of the hall door the avenue opened into a broad expanse of turf and the house lay before us in the fading light i could see that the centre was a heavy block of building from which a porch projected the whole front was draped in ivy with a patch bare here and there where a window or a coat of arms broke through the dark veil this central the hound of the b as e e block rose the twin towers ancient ui pierced with many to right and left ol the were more modem wings ol black granite a dull light shone through heavy windows and from the high chimneys which rose from the steep high roof there sprang a single black column of smoke welcome sir henry welcome to i i a tall man had stepped from the shadow of the i porch to open the door of the the figure of a woman was against the yellow light of the hall she came out and helped the man to hand down our bags you don t mind my driving straight home henry said dr my wife is expecting me surely you will stay and have some dinner no i must go i shall probably find work awaiting me i would stay to show you the house but will be a better guide than i good bye and never hesitate night or day to send for me if i can be of service the wheels died away down the drive while henry and i turned into the hall and the heavily behind us it was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves large lofty and heavily with huge of age blackened oak in the great old fashioned fireplace behind the j iron dogs a log tire and snapped hall henry and i held out our hands to it for we from our long drive then we gazed round us at the high thin window of old stained glass the oak the heads the coats of arms upon the all dim and sombre in the subdued light of the central lamp it s just as i imagined it said sir henry it it not the very picture of an old family home tc that this should be the same hall in which for five hundred years my people have lived it strikes me solemn to think of it i saw his dark face lit up with boyish enthusiasm as he gazed about him the light beat upon him where he stood but long shadows down the walls and hung like a black above him had returned from taking our luggage to our rooms he stood in front of us now with the subdued manner of a well trained servant he was i looking man tall handsome with a square black beard and pale distinguished features would you wish dinner to oe served at once sh is it ready in a very few minutes sir you will find hot water in your rooms my wife and i will be happy sir henry to stay with you until you have made fresh arrangements but you will understand that under the new conditions this house will require a considerable staff s the hound of the what new conditions i only meant sir that sir charles led a very retired life and we were able to look after his wants you would naturally wish to have more company and so you will need changes in your household do you mean that your wife and you wish leave only when it is quite convenient to you sir i but your family have been with us for several generations have they not i should be sorry to begin my life here by breaking an old family connection i seemed to discern some signs of emotion the butler s white face i feel that also sir and so does my wife but to tell the truth sir we were both very much at to sir charles and his death gave us a shock and made these surroundings very painful to us i fear that we shall never again be easy in our at but what do you intend to do i have no doubt sir that we shall succeed in establishing ourselves in some business sir charles s generosity has given us the means to d so and now sir perhaps i had best show you to your rooms a square gallery ran round the tt j of the old hall approached by a double stair from this central point two long extended the whole th of the building from which all the i is i ba hall opened my own was in the same wing as s and almost next door to it these rooms appeared to be much more modern than the central part of the house and the bright paper and numerous candles did something to remove the sombre impression which our arrival had left upon my mind but the dining room which opened out of the hall was a place of shadow and gloom it was a long chamber with a step separating the where the family sat from the lower portion reserved for their at one end a s gallery overlooked it black beams shot across above our heads with a smoke darkened ceiling beyond them with rows of to light it up and the colour and rude of an old time 