Chapter 4
Jonathan was puzzled by the way Olivia had been acting during the last couple of hours that she and her father had been at his uncle's house. She'd seemed distracted, upset even. "Is something wrong, Livvy?" he'd asked, using the new nickname he'd given her, not wanting to say "Olivia" every time he talked to the girl. And he was definitely planning to talk to her again sometime. "It's nothing, Jonathan, really," she had replied. "I'm just a bit tired, is all." Still he worried. She was clearly lying, and he didn't need Basil's intelligence to realize it. He wondered if she'd seen or heard something when she went to speak to Basil that night.
"Uncle Basil," he said a few hours after the Flavershams left. "Did you notice anything...odd about the way that girl Olivia was acting before she left?" "I did, actually," said Basil. Dawson seemed to have noticed as well. "She did seem troubled. I hope she's alright," said the doctor. Basil laughed a little. "We could make an entire case out of this, Dawson!" he said with some delight. "Now, Jonathan, what exactly did you see that struck you as especially odd?" "Well," Jonathan began. "We were talking about the case - you know, when her father was taken - and she went to go talk to you, but she didn't go into the room." Basil's slight smile faded. "Something must have happened by the door. She looked upset, like she was about to go into a panic." Basil suddenly remembered that Olivia hadn't been told about her mother, who had died after childbirth. "Dawson," he said worriedly. "You don't- you don't think she heard us, do you?" Dawson was a bit sullen. "Perhaps..." he said. "Of course," said Basil, not wanting to think that he could have caused this. "It could very well have been affected by her slight proneness to occasional anxiety attacks." Jonathan was confused. "Heard you? What did she hear?" Basil and Dr. Dawson calmly explained the circumstances to him. Jonathan was surprised at them, and nearly speechless. What right did they have to know this instead of Olivia? "Well, no wonder she was so upset!" he nearly shouted. "If everyone thinks it should be kept from her, what is she supposed to think when she finds out, if she hasn't already?" He didn't exactly know why it angered him so much, but this couldn't have been right. Poor Livvy, he thought.
After Jonathan had gone to sleep, Basil and Dawson were regretful, and pitied Olivia as well, realizing that she did have a right to know about her mother. But it was her father's place to tell her himself if she didn't know already. "Why do you think Jonathan was so angry though?" Dawson inquired. Basil rolled his eyes. As usual, he'd figured it out long before the doctor. "Oh, Doctor, isn't it painfully obvious?" he almost laughed. "It appears he is infatuated with our young friend, shown by his defensiveness and slight mannerisms which insinuate romantic feelings. Didn't you notice his expression upon meeting the young lady?" Dawson agreed, remembering that Jonathan had appeared to be smitten. "Yes," he said. "Come to think of it, I did. Well, it's getting quite late. I'm just going to go to sleep. Goodnight, Basil." "Goodnight, Doctor."
The next morning, Jonathan entered the front parlour expecting to see his uncle smoking a pipe, deep in thought, But to his surprise, there was no one there. He looked in his uncle's bedroom and all over the house, and when he simply couldn't find Basil, he woke Dr. Dawson and Mrs. Judson to tell them something was wrong.