New-York tribune., 1903-02-23
D0eer1 in the C1ozxG6.
ny r. MURRAY GILCHRIsT.

The BarIeys' house lies in a green hollow at the
end OF Linen Clough. To reach the place from
Milton you climb the stony. i'll kept road to the sum
NIT of the edge" then cross few fields to an old
packhorse track of moss green stones all hollow
In the middle, where TN weather the water
Hes In round. lmpid POOLS then you descend
abruptly through ravne. it's limestone
walls barely covered with mountain pansies and
b1berry. lichens and fshbone ferns Half way
down lies the Drufd's Well. basin shaped reser-
voir, where the frogs spawn in early spring From
the steps that rise to this prehistoric relic the
fl st glimpse of the quaint house may be caught
nesting amid it's farm buildings in circle of
stunted rowan trees
The place dates from the sixteenth century. IL
is one of the seven oranges that Endymion Barley
of Barley Lees (whose ruins with the old chapel
still intact. though to-day it is used as a cOwshed
stand a good half mile from Darrand Bridge,
built for H.; seven Not one is inhabited now
the hall in Linen Clough and there are no
Barleys of the true stock left in all PeakIand
save Hezekiah. the master. his wife Harriet and
their descendants.
A high spirited Hezekiah. in spite of
his poverty. 1t family pride that had made
him marry his kinswoman. after her father
had died at Neither Flat Cirange-in the year when
autumnal storm had brought the ancient walls
to the ground Hezekiah lived narrowly-what
be got nowadays from poor eighty acres Of
marshy meadows and five hundred acres of the
toughest moorand in the country? The gaffer
naughty to let his shooting: too needy to pay
gamekeepers wages. Such grouse and rabbits
grew to maturity were greedily SHARED by the
poachers from Greenlow -n-t the-Water. which all
the world of the High Peak knows a Mecca of
the ragtag and bObtail. Hezekiah used stir
easily in his bed when the toothless sheepdogs
gave warning that the ruffisns came the
house, but Harriet would bid him lie still; for al
though he still plucky, in his youth, she
knew that he would fare ill in encounter, even
though Stephen, his old servant. and the cow
lad followed with fails.
Harriet proud her husband. Traditions
more carefully cherished by the women folk.
and, despite the fact that she spoke of the
past, her memory teemed with pleasant hearsays.
Sometimes, when her master in the distant
fields, she would steal across the neglected garden
over a majestic vehicle of last century make all
embellished with lacquer and gilt ornament Once.
before the family had sunk so low. a Barley had
been High Sheriff of the county and this coach
had been built in London when ne went up to the
lowered the steps and stripped the holland covers
of lavender pollen. it recent past that
made her poor thin arms press something invisible
to her wasted bosom. where the black silk of her
bodice lay in stiff frayed folds.
Because she had played there with her tantling;
She had not married until her thirtieth year and
only one child had been born But such child "a "a
skinned and yellow haired and gray eyed and with
a temper obstinate as his fathers Dear Cod
When land is gone and money spent: said
Hezekiah. then learning is most excellent
So Ralph Barley had been sent to the Buecoat
School She useG 20 cry still when she thought Of
The Barleys have connections in, the peerage.
patched as ambassador to a court of Eastern Eu-
rope wished to take the young man in his suite;
in PeakIand to restore the of Barley to its
original Iustre. How this was be done not
he himself knew: but it had been the dream of his
life since the gossips had clamored to his cham
follow the primrose path; the life of the Clough
world. There had been words the father had bid
den the son think well; the son had thought well.
Then Hezekiah, wrought to fury had sworn that
while he lived Ralph should not aga again cross the the
coeliness in those weeks of Her smooth face
then white. Loving both equally, she had striven
to make peace, then had sat with i folded @ hands
had passed without her grieying with the recollec
gone out h4 from hen life She knew that he was
right; she knew that if he stayed his life would
she telt no resentment. In sober truth. her love
for both had only INCREASED day @ by b6 day e her
larly Even now, when they had been parted for
hobbled twice a week into Linen Clough, brought
her every Monday letter addressed IN a, o6id ola
doings The world had used him well; young as
ne he Tas WAS he held ah 70 but tfe on
ped1greed; soon after the wedding she had uneX-
dren had been sent home to the wife's people.
Harriet had their portraits and sometimes; on ner
them in her lap and tell them childish tales OF her
She had begged Hezekiah's leave take the
eldest in her care: the old had turned deaf
ear to her entreateS. He had angr1ly ignored his
sons desire to send ample supply of money from
his own store. In the latter case. the mother had
not urged him to consent. for woman so nigh
minded does not care to be behoden to her off
spring. She smoothed the telling OF the refusal
and wrote with painful HShtness OF other matters.
Her lad loved her the more for every letter she
sent: he trembIed when he discovered that the
italian calgraphy which women affected IN aE Heze-
kah's youth growing shaky and indistnct'
His own letters. treasured in sandalwood SeereI
tary, were so carefully placed that she eould ma
each years collection with closed eyes.
Now that the and wife had completed the
the allotted span of years, and each saw the other
falling, they began long more powerfully tnaii
ever for the presence of their But Hezeklah
gave no outward sign of wavering, and resolutely
forbade his wife to tell Ralph of their weakness
And day by day Harriet compelled to resign.
one after another, the little household duties she
had managed ever since her early witehood' ~
came about that In her seventy-second year she
fell Ill OF sudden. One morning she did not creep
downstairs and Hezekiah, going 10 the chamber
at breakfast time, found her lying back III an
easy chair. her eyes closed ana her race t'SHeu
hued He had been a reserved man even IN ms ms
passionate days, vet now, so warm was MS pIedu-
ing that when she had strength TO recognize MS
agonized face, she struck with wonder
''You' are all l have, my Harry, my poor oar
ling he cried.