Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
CHAPTER 1.

y
~ he had spent, at the time Of his
mothers death, with his Uncle
Theo at Carlton rectory. For Uncle
Theodore was a severe man, and one
who, coming in the lower category OF
bachelors. lacked all power to under
stand children. So that James had to
20 to church three times each Sunday
and on weekdays to sit or kneel quietly
and, to all appearances, attentively,
through morning and evening prayers
of great length-since Uncle Theo had
q fine melodious voice, and knew 1t.
The boy soon tired of the pattern OF
the Powered dining room wall paper;
by the second day he had exhausted the
possibility of discovering likeneSses to
faces or animals among the punches OF
heavy red roses in their wickerwork
baskets. The prompous, leather covered
mahogany chairs were more interesting,
because the leather was beginning to
crack, and, when he was kneeling Tor
prayers, he could tear off little strips,
which were rather amusing to chew,
and then conceal the fresh scar by
smearing it with a licked fnger-tip
which had previously been rubbed along
the floor to collect whatever dust Mary
had failed to sweep up. Mary herself
presented another diversion, for. while
Grace, the cook appeared to pray with
the utmost fervor all the time, Mary
fidgeted and allowed her thoughts to
wander. Sometimes she would wink at
Master James, or peer at him through
her half-closed fingers, or pull faces to
make him laugh.
But Uncle Theo knew his job 50
thoroughly that he had little need OF
Prayer, and, whenever James had sue
ceeded in forgetting how boring this
function was, there would come that
ominous pause in the fine baritone
voice-a pause which, If 1t passed I'M
noticed, was followed by a stern
reprimand so biting in its sarcasm that
1t often brought the boy to the verge
Of tears. On such occasions, deep down
within himself, he would attribute all
his miseries-even his mothers long
illness-to Uncle Theo.
The Rev. Charles Stanhope helped
10 dispel this prejudice, for, when he
came to stay at Alum Green to leave
his son, Dennis, there. before he and
his wife returned to India, the house
rocked with laughter for the first time
since mothers death. Dennis was then
IL years old, James was 8, and his
sister, Madge, was 10. And Dennis had
already had a year at big private
school-Whitton House, near VIM
chester-while Madge and James only
bicycled in each morning to small
prep" schools at Lyndhurst. Besides,
had there ever been any idea OF dis
putting his leadership, the airgun Dennis
brought with him would, of course,
have settled the matter for good and all.
Mrs. Stanhope was a tall, beautiful
woman who treated the children with
the amused interest people accord to
I&,,k H. 1nf @nHrAfiOY1 n
such a degree that Dennis sometimes
became furiously jealous and possessive,
and would not let Madge or Jimmy go
near her. After all, as he pointed out
on one occasion, she was his mother,
but when she tried to soothe him he
uIere-y sulked, and continued Sulking
until Madge, who could not stand
people in her neighborhood being dis
cordantly lonely or unhappy, managed
to get him interested.
Lets 60 hunting" she suggested.
And off they went on their bicycles
one B. s. A. and two Raleighs (be-
cause of their name)-into the woods.
There were steep slopes and bumps, and
when they rode over the stump or roots
of tree they were nearly thrown from
the saddle. There was one place in
particular where the ground fell away
so steeply that Dennis Stanhope
hesitated to take it. and Jimmy was
forbidden to do so on account OF his
age. But Madge never cared.
Come along. I'll bet you daren't,"
she challenged, and away she swooped,
over the half-buried, lichened log,
under the low branch Of an oak, over
q dip and a bump that might almost
be the remains of a Roman earthwork,
and through the narrow gateway into
the open field. with its molehills.
Dennis watched her, his breath held.
Then, after a moments pause, he fol-
lowed her, and for the rest of the after
noon, with a logged look on his face,
he challenged her to tests OF ever
a stone wall and buckled her front
wheel so badly that he had to stagger
home with her bicycle over his shoulder.
Meanwhile Jimmy. now little jealous
and decidedly lonely himself, wandered
home alone, eating such quantities OF
elderberries on the way that he was
sick, and Mrs. Stanhope had to spend
part of the night looking after him.
Whatever have you got in your
pockets?" she asked. as he lay in bed,
wide awake, long after he should have
been asleep.
When Madge asked him similar
question he was furious, and called her
Glossy" but he felt an odd pride in
his belongings as Mrs. Stanhope took
them, one by one, out OF the bullying
pockets of his blazer and put them on
the mantelpiece. There we've two pieces
of string, twig of crushed elderberries
who had made rather mess OF things,
a matchbox filled with airgun pellets,
two damaged Indian stamps from one
of Mr.. Stanhope's letters, cigarette
card, a post card of Loeb Katrine given
him by the housemaid, a long-missing
key from one of the sitting rooms. a
policeman's whistle, penny, very
dirty handkerchief, and a short piece
of catapult elastic. All these things
too on q new value-valuable though
they had been before-now that Mrs.
Stanhope had fingered them and COM
mented upon them. $500.
sent to his room early in disgrace for
the share he was suspected to have
PLAYED in smashing Madge'S bicycle.
slept soundly and contentedly, consoled
by the fruit jelly Madge had smuggled
up to him from the kitchen-a jelly
with wine flavor and real grapes stuck
in thefmiddle of 1t.
Although Madge was girl, she did
not behave like one, and was much
more Of q companion for Dennis Stan
hope than Jimmy was. But Jimmy
was quite happy to obey orders. He
even allowed himself to be tied to a
tree as q cowboy prisoner in the hands
Of Red Indians, and, when they went
out shooting, he agreed that Dennis,
as the older boy and the guns owner,
should have two shots to his one.
Nevertheless, it was Jimmy who pro-
cured the only bag" in the form OF
a blackbird he hit on the croquet
lawn.
"Oh, good shot, sir!" said Dennis APP
proyingly, as the unfortunate bird fell
over, its last worm half consumed.
Good shot, indeed"
Jimmy was on the verge Of tears, and