The Washington times., 1913-04-13
CHAPTER XIII.
Beech Hill.
II SAW by my drivers look, when
II / told him where 1 wanted to
go. that he knew about the


/ told him where 1 wanted to
go, that he knew about the
place, and after / had sized him
up with a little casual talk / blessed
my stars that / had been able to get
him. He was a simon-pure native OF
those parts. and what he didn't know
about local gossip wouldn't be worth
listening to.
THE Merediths must have furnished
a good part of that gossip themselves.
for certainly they had been a queer,
eccentric family for several generations
"a self-willed. imperious, high-temper-
ed lot at the best, with a little streak
of insanity, Or near it, cropping up now
and then that made the worst of them
very bad indeed.
Its good blood, though, as such
things are reckoned IN most countries.
They have always bred to their class.
But the only other member of the fam
lily in the direct line and in Miss Mere
dith's generation-a younger brother Of
hers-was an exception to the rule. II
seems he was artistic in his tendencies
and showed a good deal of talent as a
painter in an amateurish sort of way,
lived abroad a lot-mostly in France
and scandalized his family by marrying
a peasant Hdl lHS
instinct of the overbred everywhere.
Natures way of reasserting herself.
This woman-Claire's mother-must
have been a perfectly glorious creature
to look at. Certainly Claire came hon
estly by those great masses of pale
gold hair that people went SO mad
about I wish you could have heard
nv drivers attempt to describe her.
The un-State native isn't naturally
rhapsodic, and his attempts were really
amusing.
wife home, and the other memhc of
the family were properly super.oI md
indignant, especially his sister. and the
poor young wife Just withered up under
It. Meredith himself doesn't appear 10
have been very strong sort OF cSar-
acter.
Certainly his sister was the man Of
the family, She had all the business
sense, and. as she shared equally with
him In the family fortune to begin
with, she actually managed, accord
ing to the drivers gossip. TO get hold
of the lions share of it.
Meredith was killed racing an ice
Yacht on the river when Claire was six
or seven, and his wife didn't survive
to Beech Hill and took charge OF the
estate and of Claire. She must have
brought the child up under an iron rule.
and that sort of thing generally works
badly in the end.
Then, as Crow admitted to you. she
terrorized the rest of the family-there
is no end of rather distant cousins. you
himself is one of them
got fearfully bored with life. and at
last closed up Beech Hill and her town
house and went off TO Europe.
That. as ] remember il, was when
Clai,e was about fifteen. She never
cane back to this country. even for an
occasional visit. until about three
years ago She came back alone. OF
course, and the story was that Claire
she came back she has been dividing
her time between her town house and
Beech Hill. though she hasn't done it in
the ordinary way.
She spent good many winter
months up there all alone with Crow.
for nobody has ever been invited to-
the place since she came back, and of
course her odd way of living has set all
the gossip afire again.
81 got all of that. practically all of il,
put of the driver. As matter of fact,
/ had to pump him about something TO
keep him from pumping me. The story
| told him was that I had been told by
1 New York real estate agent that the
place might be for sale. and ! wanted
10 look at IL ] told him that in order
10 find out IL possible If there was any
Intention of selling it. and found out
what isn't at all surprising under the
there was. At least
he had driven one or two other pros
nective purchasers out there. So that
made m plan rather easy.
when We got TO the boundaries of
he estate ] paid mis- fare and sent him
.sck. telling him that I wanted to war
Ter around outdoors a bit before / went
y the house. and that Id rust to luck
'or means Of getting back. ! wanted
o make sure of seeing something, any
say. And, as il turned out, il was well
did
Before ! had been wandering around |
he place for half an hour my desire |
n buy il was genuine. even IL NV in |
"Etion wasn't Drew. it's perfectly !
"Ve'y- fields. lawns. wOoiF. the lay Of /
he land. the rlimpscs you get every |
lnw End then Of the river and Of tho |
'fstant banks. It's hard TO beat, ! tell
'ou.
II; Was all so lovely in its first hint
z sI1ring-way. II almost made re for
et the grim sort of errand hal come
n. skirted around through the
'oods. got myself mired and mold
tained 10 the knees and finally started
own toward the river-bank along a
tile path I found. The path was mud
V and wet, for the snow couldn't have
lelted OFF earlier than the day before.
ct could see that il must IL lovely
little later when the green Things
anne out.
But. Drew. hadn't more than start
d down that path before began
about the murder again. and
CO Z a sort Of hint of the reason w1 an
saw where the path was taxing ne.
led down to white-painted tnat-
nIiea on the bank.
"The sight of that made tha Sc, sa-
oc come back twice as -tronG. III
as right in connecting Beech Hill with
IL tragedy, Irene Fourniar had gone
ace by a different name altogether,