Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-06-20

to your He can finish his tsa here,
dear. I'll fetch him."
mo, no I'll CO." She ran out Of
the room % she spoke, and Crawford
turned to mo with . wsary-lookins
smile.
"You see, Lennoxg I generally give
way; but ] am afraid Of il growing
upon her II | never SEQ the child. He is
such splendid fellow" As no spoke
his wife returned with the boy in her
arms.
81 met him in the hall" she ex
planned. "He was just coming in from
his walk. No, Arthur, don't take him !;
he is not at oil heavy" This last to
her husband, who had advanced with
outstretched hands. "Look here, Ber-
tie, darling. Who likes cakey" She
had seated herself on low chair, still
keepinga jealous arm around the child,
and went on talking, this time to me.
arthur and l quarrel over this small
boy" She laughed a little, but it
sounded very mirthless. "The last
cause of dissension is his health. ! think
he is growing delicate and wants change,
and papa doesn't agree. Does he, my
beauty"
The boy laughed as she held him yet
more closely to her; and, looking at his
rosy cheeks and bright eyes, it seemed
to me that there could not be healthier
youDgster.
81 am afraid must take papa's side,"
said. "You must not alarm your
self unnecessarily, dear Mrs. Crawford,
for / think - l stopped abruptly,
alarmed by the expression on her face.
was new at my work, be it remem-
bered; but think that older men than
/ would have been frightened. BERTHE
had rebelled against the OBTAINING arm,
and sliding onto the floor, had run to
his father and climbed into his arms.
A fine game Of romps now ensued,
and the mother sat and watched them.
Sitting there facing her, |, too, was
watching. In my student days | had
kept a tame lizard, and by whistling to
it bad been able to direct its movements
at will, and now l was reminded Of my
whilom pct by watching Beatrice Craw-
ford's eyes. Every motion Of her hus-
bands, as he ran round the room toss
ing the laughing boy in his arms, ap-
peared to hold a fascination for her. and
her gaze never left him but once. That
once was when she walked swiftly to
further table and possessed herself Of
paper.knife, which she handed to me,
commenting on its curious make. 1t
was Of steel, and sharply pointed; and
/ handed it back again with the remark
that it would make nasty weapon if
needed. She took it without glancing
at me again; but her husband had
caught her words, and now came up to
us breathless and laughing, with BERTHE
clinging round his neck.
Don't hold that thing, my darling
he said tenderly. 81 hate to see such
an ugly knife in your dear little
hands,"
"Give it to BERTHE, mamma" CRED
the child, stretching out his dimpled
hands for the coveted treasure and his
father, with an injunction to be careful,
was taking it from her to give to him
when, with a mullled cry, she snatched
the knife back and dashed it through
the open window into the garden be-
yond.
"You shan't have it you shan't
have it :" she cried, excitedly, while
bright red spot burned on either cheek.
4" You would -" with marvellous self
control she stopped dead short, and az
ter an almost imperceptible pause, she
added in her usual quiet tones, " Pray
forgive me, Arthur, am so afraid Of
BERTHE hurting himself. Go up to the
nursery, dear. Mamma will come to
you."
Awestruck at her late passion, the
child went gently out of the room, and
his mother following him, / was left
alone with Crawford. 1t went to my
heart to see the panied, drawn look on
bis face, but the scene had at all events
put one thing beyond a doubt-Mrs.
Crawford was not merely failing in
brain power-she was mad.
A couple of days went by and be-
came fairly puzzled. All the ordinary
verbal tests when applied to my patient
proved complete failures. Her memo
ry was excellent, and, indeed, in this
respect she was far better than her hus-
band, who was constantly forgetting
things. As to her judgment it struck
me as above the average, for she was
woman, and we had stiff
argument one night as to the merits of
our fayorite authors. She managed her
own housekeeping, and capitally she
did it, too and, in fact-not to ex-
haust the readers patience by entering
into details-the only visible outcome
of her mental alteration was this ex-
IRENE terror in which she lived, and for
which | could find no reason. q may
remark parenthetically that the mad un-
doubleday have rules of their own by
which they are influenced. Experience
thus teaching me that Mrs. Crawford
had some reason for this to us mex
plicable dread-even though it might
be but fear of her own shadow-it be-
came my business to solve this reason.)
What baflled me most was the fact that
while it was Crawford himself who pri-
marily excited this terror she was I'M
deniably fond of him. Indeed, the
word fond " is hardly suitable, for
she simply adored him. | never heard
him express the slightest wish as to the
household arrangements but it was in
stan;ly fulfilled; while every whim-
and he was the most whimsical Of men
was implicitly obeyed. In fact, at the
end Of week ! was precisely in the
same state as when | first entered the
house. But that my amour pr0pre was
piqued, and | felt angry at my non-suc-
cess, | should have been paying a very
enjoyable visit. Arthur Crawford made
a capital host; and although, as | have
already said, he was a very whimsical
man, and was subject to unsccountable
fits Of depression, he and got on ex-
cellently together.
At the end Of the week something
happened which had the double effect of