The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-09-12

| sui dozen rooms FefuaInEu III Oced-
sionai use: and these were under her
care. IN the dining and drawing
spacious. bare, low-eeilinged apart
ments = the candle made only a
small island of light. leaving the
many corners and recesses in impene-
/ trahle shadow. The hangings were
moth-eaten. and the family portraits
on the walls were furnished and faded.
] he bedrooms were in still worse case.
Nothing had been done 10 repair or
refurnish them since The late Lord
Lindean brought his bride hither 10
years ago. One chamber alone-what
/ in other days had been known as the
state bedroom-gaye signs of being
prepared for an honored guest. Fuel
had been laid already in the CRATE. In
| der the heavy catafalqne of the bed
The coyerlet had been turned down and
the white and well-aired sheets exposed.
A pair of slippers had been placed be-
side the fireplace for the half-expeet-
- guest. Had Barbara's iarder been
searched, there would have been found
the materials for what Caleb Bladder
stone would have called "cold COLA
ton Her eye travelled lovingly over
these Preparations. Once more her ears
| listened in vain for the noise of APP
preaching wheels or hoofs in the drive
without. With grief and longing on
her wrinkled face and a load Of care
weighing on her gaunt and STOPPING
shoulders, she descended slowly to her
quarters in the kitchen.
The fire of peats in the cayernous
chimney had burned low. Barbara re-
plenished it with wood. and, drawing
| her stool close to the bars, sat down
with her elbows on her knees and her
chin in her hands. Her eyes were
| fixed on the bands that fared up and
then sank in red embers, lighting in
| flashes the strong, worn features, and
making her shadow dance a fantastic
dance on the floor and walls. Her
thoughts were back in the past, follow
ing the downward path Of two genera
| tions of tie Blackadders. Forty years
ago. How far away seemed those deys
when hope and love dwelt for brief
season in Lindean tower. How fond
was the old lord, then a man in his
prime, of the beautiful lady whom he
/ had brought to be the mistress of Lin
dean; how proud of the bright-eyed
boy, who by and by came to carry on his
ancient linel But there cane strife,
and after it sorrow, and at length
shame The unfaithful wife was dead
long ago. For 30 years and more her
name had never been uttered within
these walls. The spirit of the late lord
had passed into the storm that wasted
| the wood of Lindean. Nobody mourned
| him--unless it was Barbara herself. He
grew harder and darker Of mood with
age and brooding on his wrongs. He
never came near Lindean, except in his
| black fits. Then he would drink deer, and
| The place would become like a hell. In
those old days Barbara, TOO had had her
romance. That, like all else, had turned
] to gall. For moment the memory of it
surged up out of the buried past in all
| its bitterness. Yet worse by far than a
dead grief is living sorrow. On the
master of Lindean, the last scion of
his race, she had bestowed the treas
ures of her faithful old heart. Others
might blame him; TO her he was al
ways the gallant, hayward lad whom
she had scoldcd and petted long ago.
For her he had always the kind word
and the brightlook Butt he had fallen
far; he had followed the dark and devil
Gus ways. He had made haste to squan-
der his patrimony, and was bankrupt al
ready in purse and reputation. OF all
that belonged to him there remained
only the desolate mansion and the bar
rem acres around it, Word had come
that. he was on his way home to the only
shelter left to the heir of Lindean.
At any hour the wanderer might APP
pear. The old caretaker looked up
again to listen. Was it fancy, or did she
see the tongue of the great bell from the
deserted banquet room swaying noise
lessly TO and fro? Her eyes must be
growing dazed with age. Aye, time
was the conqueror of all things. 1t had
dragged down the strong stem of Lin
, dean well-nigh TO the dust. Once youth
: and mirth ard movement had filled tn,
=. house from kitchen to battlement
! Now its life had burned down to on,
tiny and expiring spark. Death is {
= sleuth hound that tracks down tn
great and the small alike. Youthful
/ limbs may for a time outrun him; bu
t stumble, and his fangs are in you
r throat. With old age, he draws neare
5 and nearer; there is no escaping him
| Barbara glanced fearfully round, as i
? she heard his breathing behind her
2 as if the grisly presence might b
= crouching for the spring in the shadoN
2 of the old dresser.
/ God have mercy! the bell pealed on
| imperiously, impatiently, MS the oil,
} lord was wont to ring it when his sum
l mons was not answered on the instant
, Barbara started upright, her hair stir
ring and her flesh creeping from fear
e A hundred strange thoughts race;
= through her brain. Could it he tn,
: young master who had found his wa,
( in unheard and unseen? Could it be til,
dead father who needed help? Still
the bell changed loudly. For Barbara
there was one thing to he done. Tn
house was in her care. The Ia st seryito
of the Blackadders must not fail Shl
must answer the call.
With shaking fingers the brave oil,
woman lighted the candle and retracet
the dark passages. In the hall she tool
down from its nail Vivian Blackadder'
sword and approached the closed doc
% he dining-room. &c @hasA j