The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-10
PART +.

All day within the dreamy house
The doors upon their hinges creak Il;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the moulderinS wainscot
shrieked,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
My eyes hve been occupied with the
gray chimney's below, among the Span
ish chestnuts, at the very moment when
! SliDDed on the northern face of Skir-
rid and twisted my ankle. This indeed
explains the accident: and the accident
explains why my interest in the house
with the gray chimneys suddenly be-
came II personal one. Five miles sep
arated me from my inn in Abertown
But the white smoke of goods train
went crawling across the green and cul-
tivatcd plain at my feet; ond | knew,
though l carried no map, that some
where under the slope to my left must
hide the country station of Llanthan-
gel. To reach it | must pass the house,
ana there, no doubt, would happen on
something to set me on the shortest
way.
So l picked up my walking-stick and
hobbled down the hillside, albeit with
pain. Where the descent eased little
tt
which in time turned into q sunk road
scored deep with old cart-ruts, and so
brought me to Il desolate farmstead
slowly dropping to ruin there in the
perpetual shadow of the mountain.
The states that had fallen from the roof
of byre and stable lay buried already
under the growth of nettle and malloM
and wild parsnip: and the yard-wall
was down in Il dozen places. | shuflted
through one of these gaps, and almost
at once found myself face to face with
II park-fence of split -oak-in yet worse
repair, il that We're possible. 1t
stretched away right and left, with
promise of a noble circumference: but
no hand had repaired ii for at least
twenty years. | counted no less than
seven breaches through which Il man of
common size might step without
squeezing; availed myself of the near
est; and having with difficulty dragged
my disabled foot up the ha-ha slope
beyond took breath at the top and
looked about me.
The edge of the ha -ha stood but fifty
PAGES back from an avenue of the most
magnificent Spanish chestnuts | have
ever seen in my life. \ few Of them
We're witherinG from the top: and under
these many dead houghS lay as they
had fallen, in grass that obiterated al
most all trace of the broad carriage
road. But nine out of ten stood hale
and stout, and apparently good for CEN
turieS to come. NOrthward, the gray
facade of the house glimmered and
closed their green prospective, and to-
wards it | now made my way.
But | must own this avenue daunted
me. as frame altogether too lordly for
mere limping pedestrian. And there
fore | was relieved, as | drew near, TO
catch the sound of voices behind the
strawberries on my right hand This
determined me to take the house in
flank and ! diverged and pushed my
way between the laurels in search of
IN" speakers.
"A horse horse! My kindom for a
horse. Lobelia, how many horses has
Your father in stable? Red, white or
gray
"One, Miss Wilhelmina: an that's old
Sentry-go. and father says he'll have To
go to the knackeT's before another win
ter"
Then he shall carry me there on his
back: with rings on my fingers and
bells on my toes
She rode unto the knacker's yard,
And TRIED at the pin:
Right glad We're then the cats meat men
TO let that lady I'M
especially, LObelia. when she alight-
cd and sat upon the ground and began
TO tell them sad stories of the death of
king. But they cut off Sentry-gos 5
head and nailed it over the gate. Sc
he died, and she very imprudently mar
ried the master knacker. who had
heard she was an heress in her own
right, and wanted to decorate his coat
of-arms with an cscutcheon of pre-
l,.,.I
commended a.complete change"
Law. miss. how you do run on"
The young lady who had given utter
ance to this amazing rigmarole stood AT
the top of terrace flight (much
cracked and broken) between two laden
statuettcs (headlcss); a willowy child
i'm large-brmmed hat. with a riding
switch in one hand and the other hold
ing up an old tartan shawl, which she
had pinned about her to initiate d
horse woman's habit. AS she paced tC
and fro between the leaden statuettes
pedes vcstis dcfuXit ad imos
Et vera incessu potuit dea.
and | noted almost at once that two
or three butterfiies-"red admirals'
they were--floated and crcled abou
her in the sunlight. A child of com
moner make and perhaps a year older
dressed in buff print frock and pinl
sunbonnet. looked up at her from tn,
foot of the steps. The faces of boil
were averted, and | stood there for a
least q minutet on the verge of th'
laurels. .unobserved. considering til,
picture they made. and the ruinOus ia
cobean house that formed its back
ground.
Never was house more eloquent o
dcs0lation. Unpainted shutters. crack
ing in the heat. blocked one half of it
windows. Weatherstains ran dow
the Stats from the lantern on the mali