Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-24

threw It down upon the table. With q
shrek of JOY our client clutched at it.
| You have iti' he gasped. 81 am saved
I am saved!" The reaction of joy was as
passionate as his grief had been, and he
hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
There is one thing you owe, Mr.
Holder" said Sherlock Holmes, rather
| sternly.
"owe" he caught up pen. 'eName
the sum and I'll pay it.
No, the debt is not to me. You owe q
very humble apology to that noble lad, your
son, who has carried himself in this matter
as should be proud to see my own son do,
should ever chance to have one"
"Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
II told you yesterday and repeat to-day
that it was not. /"
"You are sure of it! Then let US hurry to
him at once and let him know that the truth
| is known"
"He knows it already. When I had
| cleared it all up had an interview with
MIN, and finding that he would not tell me
| the story told it to him. on which he had
to confess that was right, and to add the
very few details which were not yet clear to
me. Your news of this morning, however,
may open his lips"
..'For heavens sake tell me, then, what Is
ehis mystery.
Il Will do so, and 1 will show YOU the
steps by which 1 reached it. And let me
say to you first that which it is hardest for
me to say and for you to hear. There has
been an intrigue between this young roue,
Sir George Burnwell, and your niece, Mary.
They have now fled together"
''My Mary! Impossiblep'
at is, unfortunately, more than possible.
It is certain. Neither you nor your son
knew the true character of this man when
you admitted him into your family circle
He Is one of the most dangerous men in
England, ruined gambler, an absolutely
desperate villain, man without heart or
conscience, who looks upon every woman
as his prey. Your niece knew nothing of
such men. When he breathed his VOWS to
her, as he had done to hundred before her
she flattered herself that she alone had
touched his heart. He has an insane wife,
driven mad, it is said, by his cruelty. and
no doubt he made up a plausible tale from
this, with promise of marriage when his
wife shoule die. The devil knows best
what he said, but at least she fell into his
power, became his tool, and was in the
habit of seeing him nearly every night"
81 cannot and 1 will not believe it."
cried the banker, with an ashen face.
II will tell you then what occurred in
your house last night. Your niece, when
you had, as she thought, gone to your room,
slipped down and talked to her lover
through the window which leads into the
stable lane. His footmarks had pressed
right through the snow, so long had he
stood there. She told him of the coronet,
his wicked lust for gold kindled at the
news, and he bent her to his will 1 have
no doubt that she loved you, but there are
women in whom the love of a lover extin-
guishes all other loves, and think that
she must have been one. She had hardly
listened to his instructions when she saw
you coming downstairs, on which she closed
the window rapidly, and told you about one
OF the servants escapade with her wooden
legged lover, which was all perfectly true.
Your boy Arthur went to bed after his
interview with you, but slept badly on ac-
count of his uneasiness about his club debts.
In the middle of the night he heard q soft
tread pass his door, so he rose, and, looking
out, was surprised to see his cousin walking
very stealthily along the passage until she
disappeared into your dressing room. Petri-
fed with astonishment, the lad slipped on
some clothes and waited there in the dark
to see. what would come of this strange at
tar. Presently she emerged from the room
again, and in the light of the passage lamp
your son saw that she carried the pre-
cious coronet in her hands. She
passed down the stairs, and he, thrilling
with horror, ran along and slipped behind
the curtain near your door, whence he
could see what passed in the hall beneath.
He saw her stealthily open the window,
hand out the coronet to some one in the
gloom, and then closing it once more, hurry
back to her room, passing quite close to
where he stood hid behind the curtain. AS
long as she was on the scene he could not
take any action without horrible expos
ure of the woman he loved. But the in
slant that she was gone he realized how
crushing misfortune this would be for you
and how all important it was to set it right.
He rushed down just as he was, in his bare
feet, opened the window, sprang out into the
snow, and ran down the lane wnere he could
see Q dark figure in the moonlight Sir
George Burnwen tried to get away, but
Arthur caught him, and there was struggle
between them, your lad at one side Of the