Evening star., 1923-07-10
THE EVIL SHEPHERD
Dy E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Copyright. 1879. By Little. Brown q co.,


-.iiiI.i-s-;-sis-..sssss-ii-s-s-:.ii::-i.t-ii-.
which is quite up to date"
! DO any of the horses work at all?
Francis asked.
| Sir Timothy smiled.
II will tell you a very human thing
| about my favorites." he said. I'm the
! gardens on the other side OF the
! house we have very extensive lawns,
and my head groom thought he would
+, make use of one of my horses. which
had recovered from a serious accident
! and was really quite strong beast.
/ for one of the machines. He found
the idea quite success, and now he
no sooner appears in the park with
| halter than. instead of stampeding.
| practically every one of those horses
! comes canterinC up with the true
J volunteering spirit. The one which
/ he selects. arches his neck and goes
! off to work. with a whole string of
! the others following. Dodsley-that
| Is my groom's name-tells me that
/ he does great deal more moving
! now than he need, simply because
| tude. you see. Mr.. Ledsam. sheer
! gratitude. If you were to provide a
/ dozen almshouses for your poor de-
pendents, / wonder how many of them
would be anxious to NOW your lawn.
Come. let me show you your room
! now
They passed through the postern
/ gate into the gardens of the sane
! tuary. Sir Timothy led the way
! toward the house.
spend the night. Mr.. Ledsam." he
! said. THE river sounds a terribly
/ hackneyed place to the Londoner. but
I II has beauties which only those who
! live with II can discover. Mind your
head. My ceilings arc low"
! Francis followed his host along
many passages. up and down stairs.
! until he reached a little suite of
rooms at the extreme end OF the
/ building. The man servant who had
unpacked his bag stood waiting. Sir
/ Timothy glanced around critically.
! Small but compact" he remarked.
There Is a little sitting room down
that stair. and bathroom beyond.
| If the flowers annoy you. throw them
out Of the window. And II you pre-
! fer to bathe in the river tomorrow
morning. Brooks here will show you
: the diving pool. | am wearing a
! short coat myself tonight. but do as
/ YOU please. We dine at half past
! eight"
! Sir Timothy disappeared with a
! courteous little inclination of the
/ head Francis dismissed the man
/ servant at once as being out of keep
F., ing with his quaint and fascinating
surroundings The tiny room, with
! its flowers. it's perfume of lavender
! it's old-fashioned chintZes. and its
! fragrant linen, might still have been
room in a cottage. Thet sitting
! room, with it's veranda looking down
J cigars. whisky and soda and ciga-
| rettes: bookcase. with rare copy
! of Rabelais: an original Surtees. a
/ large paper. Decameron and few
| other classics. Down another couple
! of steps was perfectly white bath
I hat nd nj. Era n.
! els wandered from room to room. and
. finally threw himself into a chair on
! the veranda to smoke a cigarette
! From the river below him came now
/ and then the sound of voices
: Through the trees on his right he
could catch a glimpse. here and there
! IF the strange pillars and green
domed roof of the Borghese villa.
CHAPTER XVIII
| 1t was one of those faultless June
! evenings when the only mission OF
the family stirring breeze seems to
be to carry perfumes from garden 10
garden and TO make the lightest Of
music among the rustling leaves.
The dinner table had been set out OF
doors, underneath the odorous cedar
tree. Above. the sky was an arc OF
the deepest blue through which the
web of stars had scarcely Yet found
; its way. Every now and then came
| the sound of the splash of oars from
the river; more rarely still. the muir
! mur of light voices as punt passed
up the stream. The little party at
. the Sanctuary sat over their coffee
! and liquors long after the fall OF
/ the first twilight, till the points of
! their cigarettes glowed like little
: specks of fire through the enveloping
darkness. Conversation had been
! edited. in a way. Francis felt, for his
! benefit. There was an atmosphere
/ about his host and Lady Cynthia,
! shared in a negative way by Mar
Earet Hilditch. which baffied Francis.
! 1t seemed 10 establish more than a
/ lack of sympathetic suggest, even,
; a life lived upon a different plane.
I Yet every now and then their refer
! ences to daily happenings were trite
enough. Sir Timothy had assailed
tribe to which Lady Cynthia had lis
| tened in silence for reasons which
Francis could surmise.
| IF one must soothe the senses
| Sir Timothy declared. "for the pur-
! pose of forgetting a distasteful or
| painful present. L cannot see why the
! average mind does not turn to the
I contemplation of beauty in some
! shape or other. night like tonight
) is surely sedative enough. Watch
! these lights, drink in these per-
! fumes. listen to the fall and flow Of
the water long enough. and you would
| arrive at precisely the same mental
| inertia as though you had taken a
F., dose of cocaine, with far less harmful
! an aftermath
| Lady Cynthia shrugged her shoul-
! ders.
! Cocaine is in ones dressing room. "
| she objected, land beauty is hard to
! seek in Grosvenor Square"
! The common mistake of all men,
, Sir Timothy continued. land women,
! too. for the matter of that, is that we
| will persist in formulating doctrines
/ for other people. Every man or
| woman is an entity of humanity, with
! a separate heaven and separate
hell. No two people can breathe the
| same air in the same way, or see the
| same picture with the same eyes"
| Lady Cynthia rose to her feet and
i shook out the folds of her diaphanous
| gown, daring alike in its shapeless-
/ ness and scantiness. She lit a ciga-
rette and laid her hand upon Sir
| Timothy's arm.
Come" she said. must I remind
/ YOU of your promise? You are to
show me the stables at the Walled
| House before it is dark"
| You would see them better in the
morning" he reminded her. rising
with some reluctance to his feet.
Perhaps" she answered. but ]
! have a fancy to see them now"
| Sir Timothy looked back at the
| table.
| (To be continued tomorrow)
!
Curious Trades in London,
| From the Scientific American.
1 Tapdop RIup PnnE to a