Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-09-08
bare, low-cell,ngea uparv

spacious, bare, low-celi,ngea up&rv'
ments - the candle made only a
small island of light, leaving the
many corners and recesses in impene-
trable shadow. The hangings were
moth-eatcn, and the family portraits
on the walls were furnished and faded.
The bedrooms We're in still worse case.
Nothing had been done to repair or
refurnish them since the late Lord
Lindean brought his bride hither 40
years ago. One chamber alone-what
In other days had been known as the
state bedroom-gave signs of being
prepared for an honored guest. Fuel
had been laid already in the CRATE. I'm.
der the heavy catafalque of the bed
the coverlet had been turned down and
the white and well-aired sheets exposed.
y pair of slippers had been placed be-
side the fireplace for the half-expect,
cd guest. Had Barbara's larder been
searched, there would have been found
the materials for what Caleb Bladder
stone would have called a cold colla-
ton" Her eye travelled lovingly over
these preparations. Once more her ears
listened in vain for the noise of APP
preaching wheels or ihoofs in the drive
without. With grief and longing ON
her wrinkleth 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 cavernous
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 We're
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 fantastic
dance on the floor and walls. Her
thoughts We're back in the past, follow
ing the downward path of two genera
tons of the Blacladders. Forty years
ago! How far away seemed those days
when hope and love dwelt for brief
season in Iindean tower! How fond
was the old lord, then man in his
prime, of the beautiful lady whom he
had brought to be the mistress of Linz
dean; how proud Of the brighteyed
boy, who by and by came to carry on his
ancient line! But there came 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 deep,a
the place would become like 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
it's bitterness. Yet worse by far than a
dead grief is a living sorrow. On the
master of Lindean, the last scion of
his race, she had bestowed the treas
ues of her faithful old heart. Others
might blame him; to her he was al
ways the gallant, hayward lad whom
she had scolded and pctted long ago.
For her he had always the kind word
and the brightlook. Butlhe 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 ep.
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 wcll-nigh to the dust. Once youth
and mirth and movement had filled the
house from kitchen to battlement,
Now its life had burned down to one
tiny and expiring spark. Death is a
sleuth hound that tracks down THE
great and the small alike. Youthful
limbs may for time outrun him; but
stumble, and his fnngs are in YOU
throat. With old age he draws nearer
and nearer; there is no escaping him
Barbara glanced fearfully round, as il
she heard his breathing behind her
as If the grisly presence might be
crouching for the spring in the shadow
| of the old dresser.
God have mercy! the bell pealed out
| imperiously, impatiently, as the old
| lord was wont to ring it when his sum.
mons was not answered ON the instant
Barbara started upright, her hair stir
ring and her flesh creeping from fear
A hundred strange thoughts raced
through her brain. Could it be the
young master who had found his way
in unheard and unseen? Could it be the
dead father who needed help? Still
the bell changed loudly. For Barbara
there was one thing to be done. The
house was in her care. The last servitol
of the Blackadders must not fail. She
must answer the call.
With shaking fingers the brave ole
woman lighted the candle and retracei
the dark passages, In the hall she tool
down from its nail Vivian Blaclladder'.
sword and approached the closed dool
of the dining-room. From behind i
came noise, like the soft rustling O
skirts against the floor and the walls:
then a strange inarticulate cry Of anger
or of terror. Barbara hesitated for :
moment, then turned the handle and
pushed open the door. She stood OF