The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-18
The Threlkeld Ear.
"a story in Five Parts. By C. A. Raj
mond.)
PART l.

I tower OF 1nrelkelQ ndu SLOO0s an OulpOSI
| of defence, in one Of the widest valleys
of the north of England.
| The annals of those times are full of
| stirring tales of fierce encounter between
the barons of the adjoining county and
the overlords of Threlkeld.
/ But that was long ago. Today no spot
more set apart from war and rumors Of
war; none more wrapped about with Isl
| lence and slow time" than Threlkeld Han.
The sole invaders now, the wind and the
| North Country weather, the stealthy
creeping moss, the bold ivy climbing up
| to the turret windows-peering through
the very loopholes in the battIements.
The warders sleep sound and the Lord of
Threlkeld sits, Hstless and unarmed, by
| the great wood fire in the hall.
The peel has been given wings and other
additions from generation TO generation.
| Threlkeld is now a rambling country
| house falling to decay, whose special fea-
| ture is the continuous suite of high-ceiled
communicating rooms that run round the
! square oak hall of the central tower.
The present owner, old Christopher
| Threlkeld, was not born here Indeed, the
gossip of the scattered tenantry has been
saying for many a day that no male child
has been born at the Hall for over hum
dred years.
If you make friends with old Mounsey.
the butler you may hear why; or, to
speak by the card, you may be put in the
way of divining.
Christopher Threlkeld had been born
and educated abroad At the time of his
late marriage three people still stood be-
tween him and the Hall. When, an old
man, well wearied of his life, he came to
the house of his fathers, he had buried
his English wife in a foreign land, and
alienated himself from his only son on
account of the young mans perverse and
premature marriage.
Christopher Threlkeld had lived six
years at the Hall when news came of the
sudden death of his son. After much
passing of letters it was decided, by the
spring of the following year, that the
young widow should bring her little boy
of four to make his grandfather's ac-
quaintance, and, If all went well, to take
up life at the Hall.
The old butler shook his head when he
heard of the arrangement, and gave it as
his opinion that young Mrs. Threlkeld
should COON by herself on a visit, an
she liked; but the Hall wor an Ill place
for BARNS"
The new housemaid said pertly that,
for her part, she didn't know as she cared
about living in a place where everybody
was a hundred. She should be main
some rooms.
we've not been here o. Christmas"
said Mounsey darkly, cor ye'd COON to
care less ABBOTT the sound o. BARNS
voices
DO We give a Christmas party?" said
the new maid hopefully.
Ma, We doant"-and Mounsey dodder-
ed upstairs with the lamps, mumbling to
himself and shaking his old grey head
In the early summer the young widow
came, and saw, and the child conquered.
Christopher Threlkeld's pride in his little
grandson grew quickly to idolatry. The
old house Weakened from its long sleep,
and there were laughter and singing up
and down the halls-dead echoes stirred in
their graves and family answered, and
Threlkeld seemed minded to come forth
from the shadows and the silences, and
make common cause with the world of
today.
1t was soon apparent that Mounsey,
like the rest, had become a devoted vas
sal of young Christopher. The boys
mother rlarvelled not a little, therefore,
at the ancient buffers repeated hints, as
the autumn waned to winter of the Hall
being so i'll a place for BARNS when the
birds went south"
You are tired of us, Mounsey," Mrs.
Threlkeld said one day. smiling at the lib
erty the old man took so simply
Ma, ma, ma'am," he said hastily.
But the winter is at the doure.'
Never mind. Well pile the logs higher,
and we won't open the door"
AYE, if doures was any good" And
he went off shaking his head like one in
an ague.
1t was early in December when Mrs.
Threlkeld spoke to the butler about the
( h,~i tina hn fyao ha oV7f
to have for the child. Even her forbear-
ance was taxed at the old mans ungra-
ciousness. He plainly intimated that
Threlkeld was not accustomed TO these
frivolites. Christmas wasn't kept like
that at the Hall, and the winter wor
a bitter time. and BARNS wor best in the
South, wi the swallows"
Mrs. Threlkeld agreed in her heart that
a bleaker place it would be hard to find
in the dull December weather. Standing
in that wind-swept hollow between the
rugged hills, with the swift brown river
tumbling at it's very feet. and the brood
ing. weary look of the ancient of days
shrouding it like an almost impalpabe
mist-aloof. impregnable, Threlkeld was
more like a medieval prison than the
home OF modern men. Nc trace now of
its brief summer smiling. The very sun
looking down upon it's battlements grew
too chill TO shine, and only glimmered |
greyly.
After dinner, while his master sat over |
his wine. it was Mounsey's nightly habit |
(before bringing the lady's solitary cup |
of coffee to come stealing into the oak |
hall, and shut and lock the doors commu- |
with the suite that ran round /
this central room, where the family gath |
cred at all times of the day and evening. |
Then solemnly he would set the candle |
sticks on the table by the staircase that |
wound up opposite the mighty fireplace |
10 the rooms above. Tonight he lowered |
about aimlessly after the work was done. |
casting now and then a half-apologetic |
glance at Mrs. Threlkeld. She. unmind- |
full. bent low over the hearth, looking /
deep into the fire-caves.
The Hall is main old. ma am" said |
at last. as though answering a
question. 1T seems TO like havin' old |
folk ABBOTT. Sin I wor BARN meeseT and
Altered to COON nigh t gates, nobbut old
men and women ha' bided long at Threl-
keld. There's no place like it for the old:
but it Gamma put COP mOoch wi yoong
sin, not sim" his weak
voice quavered away into silence, as
though breath failed him.
Yes" Mrs. Threlkeld said absently.
"since what?"
Mounsey sent a shady look over his
shoulder.
"Oh. IT wor long time sim Ny grand
father could just remember. But they
amt forgot"
''They?-the family?'
Aye; them as was the family
What haven't they forgotten?"
1T wor a baira''-he looked round /
again Uneasfiy-"a BARN that didna get /