in exactly the same
condition; yet I think the belly is sufficiently strong to stand modern
stringing. I should advise you to leave the instrument with me for some
little while, that I may give it due care and attention and ensure its
being properly strung."

My brother thanked him and left the violin with him, saying that he
would instruct him later by letter to what address he wished it sent.

CHAPTER VIII

Within a few days after this the autumn term came to an end, and in
the second week of December John returned to Worth Maltravers for
the Christmas vacation. His advent was always a very great pleasure
to me, and on this occasion I had looked forward to his company with
anticipation keener than usual, as I had been disappointed of the visit
of a friend and had spent the last month alone. After the joy of our
first meeting had somewhat sobered, it was not long before I remarked a
change in his manner, which puzzled me. It was not that he was less kind
to me, for I think he was even more tenderly forbearing and gentle than
I had ever known him, but I had an uneasy feeling that some shadow had
crept in between us. It was the small cloud rising in the distance that
afterwards darkened his horizon and mine. I missed the old candour and
open-hearted frankness that he had always shown; and there seemed to be
always something in the background which he was trying to keep from me.
It was obvious that his thoughts were constantly elsewhere, so much so
that on more than one occasion he returned vague and incoherent answers
to my questions. At times I was content to believe that he was in love,
and that his thoughts were with Miss Constance Temple; but even so,
I could not persuade myself that his altered manner was to be thus
entirely accounted for. At other times a dazed air, entirely foreign to
his bright disposition, which I observed particularly in the morning,
raised in my mind the terrible suspicion that he was in the habit of
taking some secret narcotic or other deleterious drug.

We had never spent a Christmas away from Worth Maltravers, and it had
always been a season of quiet joy for both of us. But under these
altered circumstances it was a great relief and cause of thankfulness
to me to receive a letter from Mrs. Temple inviting us both to spend
Christmas and New Year at Royston. This invitation had upon my brother
precisely the effect that I had hoped for. It roused him from his moody
condition, and h