The times., 1898-10-21
THE LYTToNs.
A Lodgekeeper to Whom They Owed
Two ShiIlings.
(From the Baltimore SUM-

From the Baltimore SUM-
have Just heard story OF Knebworth
which ! am sure has never been In print.
1t was told me by an American gentle
man who had It from Lady Lytton while
on visit to that historical mansion
As the visitor enters the grounds he
may note that the gates are opened by a
rosy-cheeked old lady In the neatest Of
black silk dresses and the starchiest Of
white caps. Later he will hear that the
office is hers for life, with a wage of f40
year and the use of the pretty. ivy
covered brick lodge and quaint old gar
den. The place became hers at the death
or her husband, which occurred a few
years ago.
After his separation from Lady Lytton,
the first Lord Lytton did not live at
kneb~orth. but placed the estate In the
hands OF his agents. A young man
Gently married to a dairy maid on tie
place was one of the laborers on the es-
tate, as had been his forefathers for
many generations. One day he presented
himself at the agents Office and demand
| ed two shiilings, which he declared was
| his due for work done the day before.
| The agent did not recognize the claim
| and refused TO pay the money. The man
| was angry and made a protest. The
| agent bade him begone. Every rent dIy
the man reappeared and demanded his
| TWO shillings, and, as regularly. the agent
| refused him.
| AT last. wearied out with mis- importu-
| mites, the agent ordered him on the es-
| tate, declined 10 employ him again. and
forced him to quit his little cottage.
where his ancestors had lived and died.
| He went to another parish but the agent )
| ill-word had preceded him; he suffered
| many things Of many men. but he would
| not leave the country. but every year re-
| turned at rent day and asked for his two
| shillings- The agent went the way of all
agents. and one. another, succession Of
all agents reigned in his stead. Each
| grew 10 know first a stalwart. then Il
bent. then decrepid old man in long
smock coat. who appeared at rent day TO
claim his two shiIlings. In time he was
one OF the features OF that occasion. He
began with the high-handed demand Of a
| strong young man; toward the end 1t was
Just a monotonous sentence uttered in a
| monotonous voice. Ike a tale learned by
| rote.
When Owen Meredith came to the prop
erty he was walking in the grounds one
| day when he saw an old man sitting un-
| der tree, an old man with something
so hopeless, so detected in his spiritual
old countenance that the poet was moved
| II was the baffied, thwarted look OF a man
who had suffered and been wronged. With
the high-bred courtesy which was pre-
eminently his, Lord Lytton asked him Il
there was anything he could do for him,
explaining that he was the new lord.
You can pay me my two shillings,' said
the old man; you have owed them 10 me
for forty-two years"
An investigation followed. II proved the
fact And. as restitution, the long-de-
| ferred creditor was Installed lodge-keeper
for the term of his natural life at $40 a
year. and the descent OF the office TO his
widow. For several years ne occupied the
place with. great comfort to himself and
satisfaction 10 his employer, and when he
died was buried in the village churchyard,
where all his people lay.