When he arrived at the Manor the servants who received him with the
usual ceremony noticed that he looked better and that he did not go to
the remote rooms where he usually lived attended by Pitcher. He went
into the library and sent for Mrs. Medlock. She came to him somewhat
excited and curious and flustered.
How is Master Colin, Medlock? he inquired.
Well, sir, Mrs. Medlock answered, he s he s different, in a manner
of speaking.
Worse? he suggested.
Mrs. Medlock really was flushed.
Well, you see, sir, she tried to explain, neither Dr. Craven, nor
the nurse, nor me can exactly make him out.
Why is that?
To tell the truth, sir, Master Colin might be better and he might be
changing for the worse. His appetite, sir, is past understanding and
his ways
Has he become more more peculiar? her master, asked, knitting his
brows anxiously.
That s it, sir. He s growing very peculiar when you compare him with
what he used to be. He used to eat nothing and then suddenly he began
to eat something enormous and then he stopped again all at once and the
meals were sent back just as they used to be. You never knew, sir,
perhaps, that out of doors he never would let himself be taken. The
things we ve gone through to get him to go out in his chair would leave
a body trembling like a leaf. He d throw himself into such a state that
Dr. Craven said he couldn t be responsible for forcing him. Well, sir,
just without warning not long after one of his worst tantrums he
suddenly insisted on being taken out every day by Miss Mary and Susan
Sowerby s boy Dickon that could push his chair. He took a fancy to both
Miss Mary and Dickon, and Dickon brought his tame animals, and, if
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