The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-10

AIR, Wnlcn set an euSe TO man en-
ergy. All over the countryside, away
to the rolling hills around Aldershot
the little red and gray roofs of the
farm-steading peeped out from amid
the light green of the new foliage.
Are they not fresh and beaute III p
l CRIED. with all the enthusiasm of a
man fresh from the fogs of Baker
Street.
But Holmes shook his head gravely
do you know, Watson" said he
that it is one of the curses of a mind
with a turn like mine that l must look
at everything with reference to my
! own special subject. You look at these
scattered houses. and you are inn
pressed by their beauty. 1 look al
| them; and the only thought which
comes to me is a feeling of their isola-
ton and of the impunity with which
crime NAV be committed there"
Good heavens!" l cried. "WhC
would associate crime with these dear
/ old homesteads"
"They always fill me with a certain
horror. 1t is my belief Watson
founded upon my experience, that the
| lowest and Vilest alleys in London dc
not present a more dreadful record OF
sin than does the smiling and beaut-
full country-side.'
You horrify mel"
The pressure of public opinion can do
in the town what the law cannot ac-
compliSh. There is no lane so vile
that the scream of a tortured child
or the thud of drunkard'S blow, does
not begct sympathy and indignation
among the neighbOrs, and then the
whole machinery of justice is ever 50
close that word of complaint can
set it going, and there is but Il step
hot oriu
look at these lonely houses, each in
it's own fields, filled for the most part
with poor ignorant folk who know lit
tie of the law. Think of the deeds OF
hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness
which may go on, year III, year oui,
in such places, and none the wiser.
Had this lady who appeals to us fol
help gone to live in Winchester, l
should never have had fear for her.
II is the five miles of country which
makes the danger. Still, it is &C II
that she is not personally thrcatcnet.'
mo. If she can come to Winchester
to meet us she can get away.
quite so. She has her freedom.
"What can be the matter, then?
Can you suggest no cXplanation?'
81 have devised seven separate eX-
plantations, each of which would cover
the facts as far as we know them. But
which of these is correct can only be
determined by the fresh information
which we shall no doubt find waiting
for us Well. there is the tower of
the cathedral, and we shall soon learn
all that Miss Hunter has to tell"
The BLACK Swan" is an inn of re-
pute in the High Street at no distance
from the station, and there we found
the young lady waiting for us. She
had engaged a sitting room, and oul
lunch awaited us upon the table.
Il am so delighted that you have
come she said. earnestly. ut is 50
very kind of you both; but indeed 1
do not know what / should do. Your
advice will be altogether invaluable
to me-"
Pray tell us what has happened to
you"
az will do so, and l must be quick,
for | have promised Mr.. Rucastle to
be back before three. / got his leave
to come into town this morning,
though he little kneW for what pur-
pose
Let us have everything in its due
order" Holmes thrust his long thin
legs out towards the fire and compos-
ed himself to listen.
In the first place. / may say that
! have met. on the whole, with no
actual ill-treatment from Mr.. and
Mrs. Rucastle. 1t is only fair to them
to say that But l cannot understand
them, and | am not easy in my mind
about them
What can you not understand"
Their reasons for their conduct.
But you shall have it all just as it
occurred. When | came down, Mr.
Rucastle met me here, and drove me
i'm his dog-car to the Copper Beeches
1t is, as he said beautifully situated
but it is not beautiful in itself, for it
is a large square block of a house,
whitewashed, but all stained and
streaked with damp and bad weather.
There are grounds around it, woods
on three sides, and on the fourth "A
field which slopes down to the South
ampton high-rOad, which curves past
a hundred yards from the front door.
This ground in front belongs to the
house. but the woods all round are
part of Lord Southerton's preserves. a
clump of copper beeches Immediately
in front of the hall door. has given its
name to the place.
1T was driven over by my employer,
who was as amiable as ever and was
introduced by him that evening to
his wife and the child. There was no
truth. Mr.. Holmes, in the conjecture
which seemed to us to be probable in
your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Ru-
castle is not mad. | found her to be
a silent, palc-faced woman, much
Younger than ner husband, not more
than thirty, l should think, while he
can hardly be less than forty-five.
From their conversation l have gath
eeed that they have been married
about seven years, that he was a wild
over, and that his only child
by the first wife was the daughter who
has gone to Philadelphia. Mr.. Ru-
castle told me in private that the rea-
son why she had left them was that
she had an unreasoning aversion to
her step-mother. AS the daughter
could not have been less than twenty,
/ can quite imagine that her position
must have been uncomfortable with
her fathers wife.
MRS. Rucastle seemed to me to be
colorless in mind as well as in feature.
She impressed me neither favorably
nor the reverse: She was a nonentity.
It was easy to see that she was pas
sionately devoted both to her husband
and to her little son. Her light gray