Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-01
the circumstances, but he shrank from
the very thought Of it.
NAME ON EVERY PIECE 6

the very thought of it.
Strangely enough, no recollection Of
Henry Burton entered his mind as he
drove back to the Carlton The Incl
dent of the little drunkard had passed
completely out of his brain. At the
moment it hardly impressed him as
being of any Importance, and the
space of half an hour had relegated it
to the mental dust-heap. Yet If John
Shil had only known the truth, he
would have returned at once to Wild
ley street, and have made terms with
the unimportant Henry Burton.
John Shil left London that evening
for his new home in Essex. He had
bought it because it was close to Lord
Crawcour's estate, and he knew all
that there was to be known about the
house and the land which belonged tc
it. He had also taken great liking
for the Earl and his son, Lord Port
lington, and he wis. ed to settle down
in a district where he could be sure
of a friendly welcome.
The surrounding country did not ap-
peal to him, and he would have pre-
ferred some estate in the vicinity of
the Stonewold Hills. But that part of
the world was barred from him for
ever. 1t was the home Of the Tan
kerlanes, and the shadow of their
name rested on every hill and field
and tree.
Black Hail. for three hundred years
the home of the Black-Hintons, was a
gloomylooking mansion on the very
edge of the eastern marshlands. It
had been built by one Francis Black,
who had married the heiress of the
Hintons, and had at once proceeded to
pull down the ancient residence of
that great Saxon family. He must
have been man who carried the art
punning to excess for he built his new
home entirely Of black granite, and
the cost of the material must have
been ruinous In those days of bad
roads and imperfect transportation by
sea,
The color of the stone gave the
house forbidding exterior, but it was
large mansion and finely built, and
the interior would have done credit
to a modern architect unhampered by
any thoughts of time or money All
the rooms were spacious and lofty;
the carved woodwork was superb;
and the outlook from the windows
was far more cheerful than the view
of the house from the gardens.
After all" laid John Shil, as he in
spected it, "a house is meant to live
in, not to look at
And the interior Of Black Hall was
truly magnificent. For several months
engineers, architects, builders, fur
MIC horS orfi or hoH OF nrly
on It, John Shil had spared no ex-
pense, and everyone had worked with
the knowledge that they could spend
as much as they liked so long as they
gave value for the money. The fur
niture was old and costly and beauti-
full, and the decorations were in per-
feet harmony with the ancient char
ter Of the place. Tie modern bath
rooms suggested the splendors Of an
cient Rome; the stable., cool, spac-
ious and blue tiled, would have seemed
paradise to many working man
Electric lights had been installed
everywhere, and there had been no
question of economy in volts and
units At nighttime the whole build
ing was a veritable blaze of light
There was no lack of cheerfulness in
Black Hall; only the outer walls were
grim and dark, like the walls of some
prison in smoke-grimed town.
Such was the home that John Shil
had made for himself, and where he
had resolved to live his life alone AS
he drove up from the station, and de-
scended the sloping hills which
bounded his property on the west he
saw the mansion glittering like some
jewel among the dark trees. Beyond
it la a narrow fringe of woodland
black even in the light of the full
moon overhead: and then came the
grey expanse Of the marshes stretch.
ing to the sea--a dull fiat country
that struck a chill into his heart. The
creeks that intersected the land in
every direction and shone like silver
in the moonlight lent a touch of
beauty to the scene, but he shuddered
as he looked at them. To his fancy
they seemed cold and still and Shiny
like serpents lying in wait for some
human prey.
But in the morning when the whole
country lay green and quiet in the
sunshine, and the salt breath of the
sea came floating up through the
winding channels with the tide, he
regarded his new home in a more ia
vorable light, and set to work to fight
out the battle that had been forced
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