The Washington times., 1920-06-06

a provision which he would be
very likely 10 make II he were
meditatins a period Of seclusion or
OF exile.
The dste-the Monday morning
--of his disappearance indicated
that his departure could not DC
due TO any evidence given at the
inquest, at which his name had not
been mentioned till late In the
same afternoon. And although his
fiight did not follow Immediately
on the publication In the evening
papers OF Saturday OF the facts In
connection with the finding OF my
Aunt Ends body, II still seemed
possible that II might be In some
way connected with that pubiica'
tion-only that he had deferred his
going until he should be able TO
raise this necessary loan at the
bank. That would not be until the
Monday morning.
Therefore his departure could
not really have been such very
hurried one. and the fact OF his
leaving so many of his clothes and
other things behind him pointed to
the probability that his object was
to avoid carrying with him any
signs by which he might be identi-
fed. That, at least, was the In
terpretation which the, various
guessers at truth in the newspapers
generally put upon 1t, and 1t
seemed the only reasonable one.
II struck me. on the first moment
Of reading all this, that Captain
Wharf would be q man who would
be recognized anywhere on account
Of those long moustaches which !
specially abominated, but a sec
ond thought showed me how>fool-
ish this former one had been, for.
OF course, the obvious and first
change for him to make would be
the exceedingly simple one Of cut
ting those long appendages OF. and
I found myself trying In vain to
picture what his bad, blond face
would look like without them.
suppose 1t was impossible for
me, hating him and despising him
as did, to do any kind of justice
to Captain Vibart's intellectual ca
pacity-one could not, / imagine,
do worse than justice to his moraf
qualities-and perhaps also ] did
more than justice to the wonderful
network Of detective snbtlety in
which certain works Of fiction have
taught us that the police Of mod.
ern cities have enmeshed the
world. At all events l could not
believe that such man as Cap
tain Wharf was likely to be able
to keep out Of the web for long.
Every day expected to see In the
paper that he had been arrested,
but no such announcement came.
Our life at Scotney House had
settled down into poor SEM
blance OF what it had been before
Uncle Ralph brought back the un.
fortunate Aunt Enid from India
and Herewith introduced all the
trouble. The present was a very
poor semblance of that former life,
chiefly because uncle was but a
semblance, and scarcely that, OF
his former self.
.Outwardly the change was not SO
great-he was perhaps a little thin
ner, had grown to look little
older all at once, but the shock OF
that night had changed him in
deeper and more essential ways
He had always been very kindly
and friendly with all his tenants
was just as kind now, just as lib
eral and considerate. but the ca
pacity for friendliness seemed tC
have gone from him. His manner
with them had become abrupt and
hard.
They all loved him stfll-ell
that is to- say, except Celeste. who
after had kept her for a quite un
necessary fortnight. on the plea o.
putting her mistress things In or
der, had left us, to my great relief
| believe she was still kept unob
trusively under the eye Of the pc
lice, so as to be forthcoming |
they should need her. But thougl
all the servants, with her single
exception, loved him, 1t was, ] an
very sure, for the sake Of the maj
that he had been. He did not los'
their love, but I do not think hi
ways, after this tragedy had hap
pened in his life, would ever hav'
gained 1t.
do not wish to win sympath.
by indulging in that terribly seduC
tive luxury Of self-pity, but reall,
for me, too, the life at Scotne.
House during those weeks ant
months was not cheerful. coul'
feel that Uncle Ralph realized
for me, md that now and again h
did make brave efforts to be cor
versation al and to find topics cor
nected with the gardens or tn
farms In which we could take
common interest, but the very fac
that the effort was so apparen
robbed them of very much chanc
OF achieving their object, w
would pursue the subjects in
despairing way, with a failin
scent all the time, and finally Civ
them up and relapse into the oil