Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

nv him that evening 10 MS wire anu tne
cht,iren. There was no truth, Mr.. Holmes,
in the conjecture which seemed to US TO Do
probable In your rooms at Baker street.
Mrs. Rucastie IL not mad. l FOUND ner 70
be q silent, pale-faced woman. much young
err than her husband. not more than thirty.
/ should think while he can hardly pc less
than forty-fye. From their conversation
/ have gathered that they nave peen mar
ried about seven years. that ne was VIII.
over and that his only child by the hrst
wife WAS the daughter who has gone to
Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle told me In pr
vate that the reason why she had left them
was that she had an unreasonfng aversion
to her stepmother. AS the daughter could
not have been less than twenty, can quite
imagine that her position must have been
uncomfortable with her fathers young
wife.
MRS. Rucastle seemed to me to be color
less in mind as well as In feature. She
impressed me neither favorably nor the re-
verse. She was nonentity. 1t was easy
to see that she was passionately devoted
both to her husband and to her little son.
Her light gray eyes wandered continually
from one TO the other, noting every little
want and Sforestalling 1t if possible. He
was kind to her also in his bluff, boisterous
fashion and on the whole they seemed to
be happy couple And yet she had some
secret sorrow. this woman. She would
often be lost in deep thought. with the
saddest look upon her face. More than
once / have surprised her in tears. have
thought sometimes that 1t was the dispo-
stion of her child which weighed upon her
mind. for have never met SO utterly spotlt
and so ill-natured little creature. He is
small for his age. with head which is
quite disproportionately large. His whole
life appears to be spent In an alteration
between savage fits of passion and gloomy
intervals of sulking. Giving pain to any
creature weaker than himself seems to be
his one idea of amusement and he SHOWS
quite remarkable talent In planning the
capture Of mice. little birds and insects.
kt,1. %ot1r lNAr no orna
ture Mr. Holmes and, indeed, he has lit
tie to do with my story
II am glad Of all Details remarked my
friend. whether they seem to you to be
relevant or not.
II shall try not to miss anything of i'm
portance. The one unpleasant thing about
the house. which struck me at once was
the appearance and conduct OF the servants
There are only two. man and his wife.
Toller, for that Is his name, is rough. I'M
couth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers,
and a perpetual smell Of drink Twice since
/ have been with them he has been quite
DIR unk, and yet Mr.. Rucastle seemed to take
no notice OF 1t. His wife is q very tall and
strong woman with sour face, as silent
as Mrs. Rucastle, and much less amiable
They are a most unpleasant couple, but for
tunately ] spent most of my time in the
nursery and my own room. which are next
to each other In one corner OF the building.
For two days after my arrival at the
Copper Beeches my life was very quiet: on
the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just
after breakfast and whispered something to
her husband.
oh. yes said he, turning to me; we
are very much obliged to you, Miss Hunter,
for falling In with our whims so far as to
cut your hair. / assure you that It has not
detracted In the tinfest iota from your APP
pearance. We shall now see how the cleo
tric-biue dress win become you You will
find It laid out upon the bed In your ROOM
and II you would be SO good as to put 1t on
We should both be extremely obliged
''The dress which found waiting for me
was of peculiar shade of blue It was OF
excellent material. sort OF beige. but It
bore unmistakable signs OF having been
worn before. It could not have been a bet
ter fit II had been measured for It. Both
Mr.. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed q delight
at the looks OF 1t. which seemed quite ex-
aggerated in Its yehemence. They were
waiting for me In the drawing room, which
is q very large room. stretching along the
entire front OF the house, with three long
windows reaching down to the floor. A
chair had been placed close to the central
window. with its back turned toward It In
this WAS asked to sit. and then Mr. Ru-
castle. walking up and down on the other
side OF the room, began to tell me series
Of the funniest stories that have ever LIS
tened to. You cannot imagine how oomfcal
he was. and ! laughed until was quite
weary. Mrs Rucastle. however, who has
evidently no sense of hurnor, never SO much
as smiled, but sat with her hands In her
lap. and sad. anxious look upon her face.
After an hour or so. Mr.. Rucastle suddenly
remarked that It was time to commence the
duties of the day. and that might change
my dress and go to little Edward in the
nursery,
1.-TWO days later this same perfosmanen