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ascendancy, so much so that, on dying, he left the place to her for her

lifetime, as well as the larger part of his income; an arrangement that was

distinctly unfair to his two sons. Their step-mother, however, had always

been most generous to them; indeed, they were so young at the time of their

father's remarriage that they always thought of her as their own mother.

Lawrence, the younger, had been a delicate youth. He had qualified as a

doctor but early relinquished the profession of medicine, and lived at home

while pursuing literary ambitions; though his verses never had any marked

success.

John practiced for some time as a barrister, but had finally settled down to

the more congenial life of a country squire. He had married two years ago,

and had taken his wife to live at Styles, though I entertained a shrewd

suspicion that he would have preferred his mother to increase his

allowance, which would have enabled him to have a home of his own. Mrs.

Cavendish, however, was a lady who liked to make her own plans, and

expected other people to fall in with them, and in this case she certainly had

the whip hand, namely: the purse strings.

John noticed my surprise at the news of his mother's remarriage and smiled

rather ruefully.

Rotten little bounder too!" he said savagely. "I can tell you, Hastings, it's

making life jolly difficult for us. As for Evie--you remember Evie?"

"No."

Oh, I suppose she was after your time. She's the mater's factotum,

companion, Jack of all trades! A great sport--old Evie! Not precisely young

and beautiful, but as game as they make them."

"You were going to say----?"

Oh, this fellow! He turned up from nowhere, on the pretext of being a

second cousin or something of Evie's, though she didn't seem particularly

keen to acknowledge the relationship. The fellow is an absolute outsider,

anyone can see that. He's got a great black beard, and wears patent leather

boots in all weathers! But the mater cottoned to him at once, took him on as

secretary--you know how she's always running a hundred societies?"

I nodded.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles