The little girl was engaged in cutting out a jumper for her doll, a very intricate process, and I was called on to help. She was very proud of the doll, and rightly so, for through an unfortunate accident it had become bald, and her mother had made it a very neat new wig out of her own hair, with grey strands in it.
The boy had a gramophone, and he selected "Lead, kindly Light" for my benefit. I don't know if he meant it to be appropriate, but it certainly was.
"The night is dark, and I am far from home.
Lead Thou me on!"
And I could not help thinking how the "kindly Light" was shining in that remote little farm-house through the kindness that was being shown to a stranger.
As I sat by the fire, they told me they had no coal-shortage, because a farmer near them had found coal on his farm.
Presently other members of the family dropped in—a father, and some older brothers; but still the rain poured down, and they would not let me go. Fortunately, I had a shelter for the night awaiting me, only a mile or so away, and as soon as ever the rain stopped, I took my leave, very grateful for all they had done.
It is a very short distance from the fir-wood which shelters Allolee to Mucklebank, the highest part of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, 860 feet above the sea. On its western side, just where the Wall makes its customary bend to the south, to protect the gap, stands a Wall turret. Both its northern and western sides are recessed into the Wall. It was uncovered in 1891 by the late Mr. J. P. Gibson of Hexham. A rabbit-hole gave him the clue as to the existence of this turret.
Criffel now appears, as a distant peak against the sky, on the right, and Walltown farm-house is seen lying ahead on the left, with a beautiful belt of trees round it. The gap here is a wide one, and the Wall-ditch comes into play again as usual. Signs of the "King's Well" are seen in the gap, where the rushes grow thick; this is where legend says some early Christian King was baptized. Could it have been the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria by Paulinus in 627? It hardly seems likely, but that is what is suggested, though some say it was Egbert.