V
MASTER AND DOG
No further opportunity was afforded me that night for studying the
three leading characters in the remarkable drama I saw unfolding
before me. A task was assigned me by the captain which took me from
the house, and I missed the next scene - the arrival of the coroner.
But I repaid myself for this loss in a way I thought justified by
the importance of my own theory and the evident necessity there was
of collecting each and every point of evidence which could give
coloring to the charge, in the event of this crime coming to be
looked on at headquarters as one of murder.
Observing that a light was still burning in Uncle David's domicile,
I crossed to his door and rang the bell. I was answered by the deep
and prolonged howl of a dog, soon cut short by his master's amiable
greeting. This latter was a surprise to me. I had heard so often
of Mr. Moore's churlishness as a host that I had expected some
rebuff. But I encountered no such tokens of hostility. His brow
was smooth and his smile cheerfully condescending. Indeed, he
appeared anxious to have me enter, and cast an indulgent look at
Rudge, whose irrepressible joy at this break in the monotony of his
existence was tinged with a very evident dread of offending his
master.
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