Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-09-06


green hills that look across the plain OF
the Merse to the PARKWAY blue barrier
OF CheviOt. Save for a shepherds house
or Two. there is no dwelling Of man be-
tween It and the crest Of the Lammer-
muirs.
Once it had been a Strong fo453lice,
able 70 keep the border thieves az pay
II had stoOr a seige. had given q tlIle 70
the ancient but decayed family mat
still held IT,. Now Il had fallen 10 the
estate OF a shooting box, occupied lot
few months in the sporting season Oy
tenants who knew nothing and cared
nothing for its story. Everywhere a0ou-
IL were the signs o; q neglected and
unhOnOred age.
Barbara gazed Gown the dark vista
until the mist had swallowed the last
pale CLEAN Of the dying day Nothing
came 70 her ears except the pa-ter OF
the falling leaf and the strangied roar
OF the stream in the cleUch below. To
her IL sounded like the voice OF silence
and lonliness-the dirge OF the fortunes
Of Lindean.
She stepped across the threshold and
looked up al the escutcheO ucarved
above the door Il was too dark 70
make out the familiar device of hand
grasping the trunk OF a tree, and The
motto. Time alone OvercomeS me.
But through the dusk could plainly be
deserted the fresh scars the lGss tenants
OF Lindean had made on the p7Oud crest
or the BlackadderS. Out Of humOr al
their III luck on the moor. they had fired
a parting salute al the family arms.
The eyes Of the faithful Old servitOr
CLEANED angrily. No Bl3ckaiier would
have done such a deed. Evil livers they
might have been-Gare-devI. spend
thrift, grasping. But al least they had
always borne themselves Ike gentle
men.
Had Barbara been present she would
have rescued from this last ind.gnity
the house in which she had been born
and had lived for over so years. even as
she rescued the great rusty Andrea Fer
ara that Vivian Blacka5dar welded at
FiO6den when the little cOckuey sports
man took 1t down from its place and
tried 10 bend Il double on the Stone
flags OF the hall.
She went in doors. and lighting her
candle. made her tour through The de-
serted house ere retiring for the night.
She climbed the spiral s-aiCases and
threaded the lOw-vaulted passages from
Story 20 story and from room 20 room.
The stone pavement under foot was
worn and broken. The plaster hung In
fragments from the ceilings. The oak
panelings and the old-fashiOned fIrni-
tura had suffered sadly from time and I'm
usage.
There We're chambers in the Cldes.
portion Of the building tha, had been
boarded up and mad become black holes
utterly abandoned TO the starlings. the
-'Owis anu ~ hats. Still, a dozen rooms
remained in occasional use: and these
were under her care.
In the dining and drawing rooms
spacious bare lOw-ceilinged apartments
this candle made only q small island
of light, leaving the many corners and
receSses in impele.rable shadow. The
h9ngings were mCch eaten. and the
family portraits on the walls furnished
and faded
The bedrooms were in still worse case
Nothing had been done TO repair or. re
furnish them since the la,e Lord Lin
dean brought his bride h.jher 40 YEAR,
ago One chamber a,One-wAat IL
O.h5r days had been known as the star,
bedrOOm-gave signs Of being prepare,
for an hOnCred guest.
Fuel had been laid ready in the crate
Under the heavy ca.afalQue OF the bee
the cOyerlsc had ben turned down an.
the white and we'll aired shce.s ex
posed. A pair OF slippers had even .beeT
placed beside the fireplace for the hall
expected guest Had Bar6ara's lardel
been sacrificed there would have been
found the materials for what Caiet
BaldsrStOne would have called a cold
ollauon." Her eye travelled lovingly
over these preparations.
Once more her ears listened I'm vain
for the noise Of approaching wheels OF
hOfs in the drive without. With gr!ei
and longing on her wrinkl5d face and q
load Of care weighing on her gaun- ant
STOPPING shoulders. she descended slow
" 70 her quarters in the kitchen.
The fire o. peats In the cavernou.
chimney had burned low. Barbara re-
r ,~endshed il with wood. ana. drawing
Ter stool close TO the bars, sat down with
her elbows on hsr knees. and with he
chin on her hands.
Her thoughts were back in the pas.
following the downward path of CIV,
generations OF the Blackadders. Fort!
years ago. How far away seemed thOs
davs when d Ope and love Gwelt for
brief season in Linde3n tOwcri
How fond was the Old lord. then ;
man in his prime. of the beautiful lad,
whom he had brought 20 be The miStr5 $
OF Lindean; how proud Of the bright
eyed boy. why bye-and-bye came 10 car
~ on his ancient line.
But there cau.e strife, and after
sorrow. and al length shame. The un
Faltaful wife was dead long ago. 70
so wears and more her name had neye
bene uttered within thsSe walls
The spirit Of the late lord had passed
in the storm that wasted the wood O
Tindean. NObOdymOurned him-unleS
- wore Barbara herself He grew hard
AZ snd arker Of mood with age anl
bro~lings on his wrongs. He never can't
NOR T.ndean. except IN his black fits
Then ne would drink de5p. and theplac.
vvonld become like hell.
In those Old days Barbara, too, ha'
bo1 her romance. That like all else
- ,urned 10 gall On the master o
7 s,6seo the last scion Of his race. ShO
had bestowed the treasures OF ner RAJ -a
fnl old heart. Others might 6lam him
- her he was always the gallant, way
, ~ -, lad whom she had scolded an'
,"s,Se5 long ago. Fer her he had Away
r. Find word and the bright look.