"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

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