SCARTHWAITE-IN-THE-FOREST Ida Stirling had spent some time in England when, one autumn evening, she descended the wide oak staircase of Scarthwaite Hall at Scarthwaite-in-the-Forest.

There was no forest in the vicinity, though long ago a certain militant bishop had held by kingly favor the right of venery over the surrounding moors, and now odd wisps of straggling firs wound up the hollows that seamed them here and there.

Nobody seemed to know who first built Scarthwaite Hall, though many a dalesman had patched it afterward and pulled portions of it down.

It was one of the ancient houses, half farm and half stronghold, which may still be found in the north country.

They were, until a few decades ago, usually in possession of the Statesmen who worked their own land.