t Holdergate was
the nearest station to Dacrepool Grange, and that,
if Jack's memory still held good, I might find a
hearty welcome and spend a pleasant evening
recalling old times and discussing past shots,
instead of putting up with the inferior
accommodation offered by the landlady of the King's
Arms. As no one either at the station or in the
village seemed willing to vouchsafe me definite
information as to whether the owner of Dacrepool
was at home or abroad, parrying my inquiries with
such scant courtesy and in so uncouth and
unintelligible a dialect as to be scarce
understood, I resolved to chance it, and with some
difficulty hiring a farmer's gig, I started out on
a six-mile drive over the bleak moorlands, which
seemed to stretch as far as the eye could reach in
a dim vista of brown heath and distant snow-clad
fell. It was a dreary and unseasonable evening,
with a damp mist rising from the sodden ground, and
occasional falls of sleet, mingled with rain that
chilled one to the bone. I buttoned my coat closely
round my throat, and braced my nerves to meet the
elements, hoping I might find my reward at the end
of my journey, and inwardly cursing every mile of
the rough road.

"But even Cumberland miles cannot wind on forever,
and my Jehu at length drew up at a massive stone
gateway, which he assured me formed the entrance to
Dacrepool Grange. There was neither light nor sound
in the lodge, nor did any one come out in answer to
our impatient calls, so we had perforce to open the
gates for ourselves. They creaked on their rusty
hinges, as if they had not been unclosed for many a
day, and when I noted the neglected drive, where
the overhanging trees swept our faces as we passed,
I began to fear that I had come on a fool's errand,
and that I should find the house shut up and my
friend abroad.

"On this point, however, my driver reassured me.
'Nay, oo'be to home, theer's a light i' yon
winder,' he said, pointing with his whip where a
faint streak of yellow shone like a beacon into the
surrounding gloom. The moon was struggling throug