Litchfield enquirer., 1881-05-26
THE GREwELTHoRPE FEUD.

, THE GREWELTHOkFE FEUD.
 It was market day in Fulford, and it was very hot, as the redswhiskered Mahoney, the rough '.cross country" doctor rode ciatterlng in from the Barford road through @ drove of panting sheepg His lank and jaded mare turned from habit into the yard of the old inn, and snitfsd ag the few drops of water at the bottom of a bucket before the door, while her master swung himself to the ground. and en- tered the dim passage to the bar-parlor tug ging his stiff moustache clear of his mouth.
 'sOh, now, be quick, me darlin'; A big drink I'm as dry as a salted cod.
 The farmers and dealers stopped their talk and turned on their elbows. He nodded to them, took a long. pull at the ale, and then took long breath. a~
 "Weel, what be news, Doctor? ?" asked Long Rbston; Dr. Mahoney was known to be the greatest gossip on the countryside.
 '.Be aud Kitty dead yet y' asked old Bid ker, ''she's been lang time about it.
 ''Yes, me old Tom; but not so long as ye think She died fortnight ago. Every body knows, but old sinners like you that niver come into the town but to the monthly cattle. Faix, now. there'll be fine rumpus and pretty bit O law about the old lady's will. I walked up the hill wid Grewel- thorpe" . a t
 (Which ?" -s&
 s'Sure, big Jehn O the mill. We were speakin'- By the Lord! there he is in the yard-but yell see this blessed day some fun wid him and his brother, the agent. He's as mad as the divil wid him and the will"
 The white haired old man in the corner, (the superannuated landlord), who had been muttering to himself Big John-big John. " now rose and shuff1ed up to Mahoney. and, peering in his face, said querulously, 'Gearge at top O toon is deal foiner man, lat me tell ye An Grewelthorpes," continued he, get ting warmer and clutching the breast of the Doctors coat, "what dost thou knaw about them? They be as strange to thee as frum- mity. Gossip as tileo likes aboot thoo aud wives, an thOo dawgs. but leave talk O Grewelthnrpes te them as knaws them"
 ''AH right, old cock. 1 know the Grewel. thorpe story is yours-all your own. Don't ye be afraid won't steal 1t" . f-
 "Sh sh 7" sounded from this side and that "Here he be-" --' '.....Ez. -EE
 The patriarch shuficd back to his chair the doctor sat on the table and looked to the buckle of his spur strap, and the rest pursed up their lips laid their arms on the table and winked. The door had opened, while voice in the passage said "Yess lass. bring me a gill"
 "O' ale Sir?'
 Ale? No! Brandy"
 The occupants of the room lifted their eye. brows and nodded to each other. A tall, burly man entered, looking as white and dusty as barn owl, except that his whskers were black and crisp.
 Here ye be a." said he, taking seat. The Doctor gave light nod of recognition, while the patriarch in the corner fussily filled his long pipe and scratched match. The dull eyes around observed these movements as if they had never seen the like before. There was an embarrassed silence, broken only by the distracted pumping and buzzing of blue bottle on the window pane, which the new comer watched with apparent interest. His brandy was brought in little pewter meas ure. He poured out glassful and drank it off. and then turned to his neighbor.
 ''An' what be news goin'?"
 ''Nou't," said old Bidker promptly, from the other side of the table, "'cept aboot thoe." .-a-..Ea -
 ''Ye gay so ?"
 There was no change in his look or tone
 But Dr. Mahoney knew how Bidker de- dighted to engender strife, so he turned at once. "Fact is, John, l just told tehm as how ye were mad aboot something in your aunts will; I didn't know what, but"
 "Knaw ?aCod! How should ys knaw ?" He poured out and drank the rest of his brandy. ''The old lady may ha' left Ata the house and me the land"
 'But," cried the patriarch, ''she WIT fond- CT O thoo than O Gearge."
 cor" continued Grewelthorpe, without needing him, ''she may, peradvcnture, as pa'son says, ha' left me the house and hina the land"
 Be that what she's done ?" asked the pa- triarch eagerly.
 Grewelthorpe turned. and looked at him a moment, and then said sententiously, Mouse traps, old Cocker. Maybe he'1l-"
 A face darkened tbe little window, peering in. It was his-the brothers.
 "D-nation !" slowly growled John, staring at the window. That's jus how he's aye a-interruptin me now. ButI done him out a along and I'll dom out agaim!"
 He rose suddenly, and went as if to inter- cept his brother. But they heard him stop at the bar and call for more brandy. They all agreed with Bidker that he was ''going it." and that he must have been going it for some days.
 Hell be havin' the dvils," said Long Ribston.
 Mot be-, said Mahoney, with a skilled, superior air to which all deferred with wist- full interrogative ''No?'
 The Doctor went out. In a moment he put his head in at the door again-"He's at it"
 At what P They all pushed and stumbled into the street; even the patriarch after lit- tie hesitation put down his pipe and shuffled after them.
 The market place (which was DO more than portion of the street widened on one side by the retreat of a row of well-to-do houses up a sioping bank) was filled with men and beasts The beasts were penned sheep and pigs on a ehor Ao nd tha h bn l>o, n. men usually talked and laughed and felt hand fuls of grain in groups, stood contemplative over store pig, or gathered about Pottle. thwalte, the auctioneers little pulpit at the top of the bank, as much to hear his Jokes as to make bid while the sharp horse-dealers from Barford, with loud tones and cracking whips, trotted wild little nags of ponies up and down the street. But now sheep and cattle lay -unheeded in the heat pantlng and ruminant; every man was pushing toward the auctioneer; shop keepers and customers crowded together to their doors; and even Mir. Parr, the vicar from Easterwyke, fingered on the grocer's step. .-
 ''Cod," said Bdker, 'it be just like the a preachin' ;" thinking, no doubt, of what he had seen in Methodist days.
 Not a voice was heard but that of Pottle thwaite, which sounded loud and clear, Seventeen seventeen-ten; eighteen" The Grewelthorpe brothers were bidding against each other for roan heifer. The auctioneer was very serious the bidders did not need the spur of his wit their mutual hate urged them on. Many pushed and pressed to get sight of the brothers faces. But there was little to be seen in them-a resolute lip, an eye fixed on the auctioneer, and a light nod first from the one and then from the other. Up and up went the bidding, till spectators began te stare al each other and to raise their eyebrows Every one knew the value of the heifer had long been passed; it was plainly now fool ish. relentless duel, in which the heifer was forgotten and hatred only remained
 ''Twenty-seven twenty seven-ten; twenty eight; :" the eye of the town brother dropped a moment-'going at twenty -eight"- turned sideways, it caught the flash of triumph in the country brothers eye and the satisfied sheer 'pn hls lip, and it again locked resolutely at ~Pottlethwaite. ''Twenty-eight-ten," said Pottlethwaite. A nod from the other; 'stwen. ty-nine; twenty -nine-ten thirty"
 The excitement preyv intepsn Tho hrothore