Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-20
THE SIGN OF THE YOUR.
By A. CONAN DOYLE.
CHAPTER NJ

network CT H''tS 3lil Nrti all over his mah, s,any ICatUrva, which tcld of hard. open n:r life fhr.N was & ''n gular prumirvnco u&uut h.S hyarl,4 ,..iA which marked a man who was not la bo easily turned from his purposc His ago may have been 70 Cr thvr, ahouts, for lis black, curly hair was thickly shot with gray. His face in rrpoSo was not an un- pleasing ono, though his heavy hrows and aggressive chin gave him, as l had lately seen, a terrible expression when moved to anger. He sat now with his handcufrCd hands upon his lap and his head sunk upon his brCast, while ho looked with his keen, twinkling eyes at the box which had been tho cause of his i'll doings It seemed to me that thCTC was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countcnanco Once he looked up at me with glcam of something like humor in his eyes.
 "Wcl, Jonathan Small, said Holmes, lighting cigar II am sorry that it has como to this.
 And so am l, sir, he answered frank ly. Il don't believe that can swing over tho job. give my word on the book that I never raised my hand against Mir. Shol- to It was that little hell hound Tonga who shot vuo Cf his cursed darts into him. l had no part in il, sir l was as gricvcd as if it had been my blood rcla- tion wrltcd the little devil with the slack end of the rope for ii, hut it was done, and could lot undo it again" Have q cigar, said Holmes, and you had best tAkr pull out of my flask for you are very Wet. How could you expect so small and weak a man as this black fellow Ia ovcrpowcr Mir Shulto and hold him while you were climbing the rope" "GUu seem to know as much about 1t as if you WCr" there, sir The truth is , that l hoped 10 find the room clear. knew tLc habits uf the house pretty well, and it was tEC time when Mir Sholto usually went down to his supper shall make uu secret uf the business The Lest dcfyr>r that can make is just the sim plc truth Now if it had been the old major, l wollu haNC swung for him with a light heart would have thought no more "t kniAnR him than of smoking this cigar But it : cursed hard that l should be laAerd ov,r this young Sholto. with whCm had ro quarrel whatever"
 ''Nou Ar, under the charge of Mr. Ath- eInCy Jones of scotland Yard IIo Is go ing to firing you mp 10 my rooms, and shall ak y,u fur truo account of tho matter Nuu must mako clean breast of it. for if you do l hope that may be of usr ,o you think I can prove that | the poison acts sU QUit kly that the man was dead before you ovrr reached the room.' That he was, sir, never got such a turn in Iiy life as when l saw him grin ming nt me with his head on his shoulder as l climbed through the window. It l fairly shook Iuo, sir, Id have half killed Tonga for II If he had not scrambled off That was how he camo to lCavC his club and some If his darts, too, as he tells me- which. l darc say. helped 10 put you on our track, though huw you kent on it Is | moro than l can tell l don't feel no | malice against yuu for it. But 1t does seem q queer thing" he added. with hit fer smile. "th9t l. who have fair claim 1 to nigh l!p0H half million Uf money, should spend Inc first half of my life | building a br,,ahwatcr in the Andamans | and am like tu spend the other half dig i gin drains q! paumoor IL was an evil l day for me when first l Clappcd eyes upon the merchant -Nchlnct and had 10 do with | tho Agra tr,H-l.rC which never brought 1 anything hu; d Vur>o vet upon the man who owned II To him it brought mur | ter; to Major Shuilo it drought fear and | guilt, to me i; A@s meant slavery for life ' | Al tEiS moment AihCln,y Jones thrust | his rruad ia,n and heavy shoulders into | the tiny cabin "Quito a family party, | he rc,l,arkvd think l shall havc a | pull uI thu; lash. Holmes Well, think 1 We may all ( E-.AtulIte each other Pity 1 w, Liiu take tho other alivC, but thcrt WIS n3 chrjvI sAy. Holmes you must | confess that yHn cuF i, rather fine It wa: all wr could io t',Nrrhaul her
 ".Nll ls w,l ,hAt ends well. said | EIolmr~ bHy certainly did not know that the A~r,rr ,vls such clipper.
 -Smitn ,a!> >Lc is one of the fastest IaurrhrS ou thr river, and tha; if he hat 1 had auut.rr man To help him with tht 2nGl;.r> We shuuld never have caught her He >Wcar> hr knew nothing of this Nor 1 wnud lu-,nC>s
 "Nrlthcr he did. cried our prisoner
 not word chose his launch bccaus, heard that sho WAS d fiCr We told hin uutAlnE hut wo raid him well, and h,
 WAS Ia Ert something handsome if w,
 rcarhcd our vCsSrl-tho EsmCralda-a
 ,iravcScnd outward hound for the Bra
 zlIs "
 '-WcIl. If hc has done no wrong. w
 shall sCo that no wrong comes to him I
 We arc pretty quick in catching our men
 We aT, r,t so uirk in condcmning them.
 II WAS amu>in; 10 notice how the con
 scQu,n.ill .lon,S was already bcEinniui
 to give himself airs on tho strength of th
 ,apturc From tho slight smile whicl
 played over sherlock Holmes faco l coul l sec that the speech had not been lost upOl
 him
 ''Wc will tr at Nauxhall bridge pres
 sntly " said Jones, and shall land you Dr Watson. with the treasure box.
 need hardly tell you that l am taking
 very gravc responsibility upon myself |
 doing this It is most irregular, but C course an agrcrmGnt Is an agreement.
 must. however, as a matter of duty. sen
 m inspector with you. since you havc S . valuable a charge You will drive, n doubt
 ',Ycs, shall drive.
 It is pity there is no key, that W
 may make m inventor! first. You wi
 have to break it open Mhere is the key
 ny man.
 At the bottom of the river. " said Sma
 shortly
 Hum There was no use your givin . this unnecessary trouble, We have ha
 work enough already through you How ever, doctor. I need not warn you to 1 : careful Bring the box back with you
 the Baker street rooms, You will find |
 there, on our way to the station"
 They landed me at Nauxhall with III heavy iron box and with a blur, genli
 inspector as my companion. A quartt , of an hours drive brought Us to MT : Cecil Forester 's- The servant seemed su ' priscd at so late a visitor. Mrs. Gee , Forester was out for the evening, she [. '' plaincd, and likely to be out very lat
 Miss Morstan, however, was in the dray :; Ing room, so to the drawing room 1 wen " box in hand. leaving the obliging inspec
 or in the cab,
 ' Shs was seated by tho open window
 1rcsN: I in some sort of white diaphanol
 material, with a little touch of scarlet D the neck and waist. Tho soft light of
 shaded lamp fell upon her as she lean 3 back in the basket chair, playing over
 sweet, grave face nnG tinting with n dl |, metallic sparkle the rich coils of her lu uriant hair, one white arm and ha ', dropped over the side of the chair, a D her whole pose and figure spoke of an q