The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-13
COPYRIGHT BY HARPER & BROTHERS.

Oh all OInefS nave right TO look LOT
help and advice looks upon all that
tell him about it as the fancies of Il
nervous woman. He does not say so,
but / can read it from his soothing
answers and averted eyes. But / have
heard, Mr.. Holmes, that you can see
deeply into the manifold wickedness
of the human heart. You may advise
me how to walk amid the dangers
which encompass me-"
81 am all attention, madam"
my name is Helen Stoner, and I
am living with my stepfather. who is
the last survivor of one of the oldest
Saxon families in England, the Roy
lofts, of Stoke Moran, on the western
border of Surrey"
Holmes nodded his head '"The
name is familiar to me-" said he.
THE family was at one time among
the richest in England, and the es-
tates extended over the borders into
Berkshire in the North, and Hamp-
shire in the West. In the last CEN
fury, however, four successive heirs
were of a dissolute and wasteful dis
position, and the family ruin was
eventually completed by a gambler in
the days of the Regency. Nothing
was eft save a few acres of ground,
and the Northumberland old house,
which is itself crushed under a heavy
mortgage. The last squire dragged
out his existence there, living the hor-
rible life of an aristocratic pauper;
but his only son, my step-father, see
ing that he must adapt himself to the
new conditions, obtained an advance
from a relative, which enabled him
TO take a medical degree, and went
out to Calcutta, where, by his profess
Sional skill and his force of character,
he established large practice. In a
fit of anger, however, caused by some
robberies which had been perpetrated
in the house, he beat his native butler
to death, and narrowly escaped a cap
ital sentence. AS it was, he suffered
a long term of Imprisonment, and
afterwards returned to England n
morose and disappointed man.
when DR.. Roylott was in India he
married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the
young widow of Major-General Stoner.
of the Bengal Artillery. My sister
Julia and ] were twins, and we were
only two years old at the time OF my
mothers re-marriage. She had a
considerable sum of money-not less
than 1900 a year--and this she be-
queathed to DR.. Roylott entirely while
we resided with him, with a provision
that certain annual sum should be
allowed to each of us in the event Of
our marriage. Shortly after our re-
TURN " EilSldilu my HlOlleT uleu-
she was killed eight years ago in a
railway accident near Crewe. DR..
Roylott then abandoned his attempts
to establish himself in practice in
London, and took us to live with him
in the old ancestral house at Stoke
Moran. The money which my mother
had left was enough for all our wants,
and there seemed to be no obstacle to
our happiness.
But terrible change came over
our step-father about this time. In
stead of making friends and exchang-
ing visits with our neighbors, who had
at first been overjoyed to see a Roy
lott of Stoke Moran back in the old
family seat, he shut himself up in
his house, and seldom came out save
to indulge In ferocious quarrels with
whoever might cross his path. Vio-
lence OF temper approaching to mania
has been hereditary in the men OF the
family. and in my step-father's case it
had. | believe, been intensified by his
long residence in the tropics. A series
of diSgraceful brawls took place, two
of which ended in the police court
until at last he became the terror of
the village. and the folks would fly
at his approach. for he is a man of
immense strength. and absolutely IN,
comfortable i'll his anger.
Last WCCh nc HuElcu the lOcdI
blacksmith over a parapet into
stream, and it was only by paying
over all the money which / could
gather together that I was able to
avert another public exposure. He
had no friends at all save the wander
ing gypsies, anu he would give these
vagabonds leave to encamp upon the
few acres of bramble-covered land
which represent the family estate. and
IN, ia I;r,,
of their tents, wandering away with
them sometimes for weeks on end
He has a passion also for Indian ami
mails, which are sent over to him by
a correspondent. and he has at this
moment q cheetah and baboon
which wander freely over his grounds
and are feared by the villagers al
most as much as their master.
you can imagine from what say
that my poor sister Julia and / had
no great pleasure in our lives. No
servant would stay with us, and for
long time we did all the work of the
house. She was but thirty at the time
of her death, and yet her hair had
already begun TO whiten, even as mine
has"
"Your sister is dead, then 2"
She died just two years ago, and It
is of her death that I wish to speak
to you. You can understand that, llv-
ing the life which l have described.
we were little likely to see any one
of our own age and position. We had,
however, an aunt, my mothers maiden
sister, Miss HonOria Westphail, who
lives near Harrow, and we were oc-
casionally allowed to pay short visits
at this lady's house. Julia went there
at Christmas two years ago, and met
there half-pay major of marines, TO
whom she became engaged. My step
father learned of the engagement
when my sister returned, and offered
no objection to the marriage; but
within a fortnight of the day which
had been fixed for the wedding, the
terrible event occurred which has de-
Drived me of my only companion"
Sherlock Holmes had been leaning
back in his chair with his eyes closed
and his head sunk in a cushion, but
ne half opened his lids now and
glanced across at his visitor.
PRAY be precise as to Details" said
ne.
at is easy for me to be so, for |
every event of that dreadful time is |
scared into my memory. The manor
house is, as l have already said. very |
I'D, and only one wing is now inhab-
ted. The bedrooms in this wing are
IN the ground floor the sitting rooms |