St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-07-27

i
cited. Have you your stethoscope?
Might ask yon would You have the
| kindness2 / have grave doubts as to
| my mitral valve, if you would be SO very
good. The aortic may rely upon, but
| should value your opinion upon the
| mitral.
listened to his heart as requested,
but was unable to find any thing amiss,
save indeed that he was In an ecstasy
of fear, for he shivered from head to
foot. Tt appears to be normal, i
said. "You have no cause for uneasi-
| ness
You will excuse my anxiety, Miss
Morstan,' he remarked, airily. II am
a great sufferer, and i have long had
suspicious as to that valve. / am de-
lighted to hear that they are unwar-
ranted. Had your father, Miss Nor
stan, refrained from throwing strain
upon his heart he might have been
alive now.o
could have struck the man across
the face, SO hot was at this callous
and of-hand reference to so delicate a
matter. Miss Morstan sat down and
her face grew white to the lips. Il
knew in my heart that he was dead, y
said she.
II can give you every- information, 2
said he, and, what is more, can do
yol, justice; and will, too, whatever
Brother Bartholomew may say. I am
SO glad to have your friends here, not
only, as an escort to you, but also as
witnesses to what am about to do and
say The three of MS can show a bold
front to Brother Bartholomew. But let
us have no outsiders mo police or off
cials. We can settle everything salts
factorily among ourselves, without any
interference. Nothing would annoy
Brother Bartholomew more than any
publicity He sat down upon a low
settee and binked at us inquiringly
with his weak, watery blue eyes.
For my part, said Holmes, what
ever you may choose to say will go no
further. 9
/ nodded to show my agreement.
THAT is well! That is well!'' said he
May / offer you a glass of Chianti,
Miss Morstan? Or of Tokay? i keep
no other wines. Shall open flask?
No? Well, then, trust that you have
no objection to tobacco smoke, to the
mild balsanic odor of the eastern to-
bacco 7 am a little nervous, and find
my hookah an invaluable sedative..
He applied a taper to the great bowl,
and the smoke bubbled merrily through
the rose water. We sat all three in
semicircle, with our heads advanced,
and our chins upon our hands, while
the strange, ierlxy little fellow, with
his high, shining head, puffed uneasily
in the center.
When I first lnjaes M;
II might have given you my address,
but feared that you might disregard
my request and bring unpleasant peo-
pie with you. i took the liberty there
fore, of making an appointment in such
a way that my man Williams might be
able to see you first. / have complete
confidence in his discretion, and he had
orders, If he were dissatisfied, to pro-
ceed no further in the matter. You
will excuse these precautions, but am
man OF somewhat retiring, and
might even say refined, tastes, and
there is nothing more unBsthetic than
policeman. / have a natural shrink
ing from all forms of rough material
ism. I seldom come in contact with
the rough crowd. I live, as you see,
with some little atmosphere of ele-
gance around me. may call myself a
patron OF the arts It is my weakness.
The landscape is a genuine Carrot, and,
though eonnoisseur might perhaps
throw doubt upon that Salvador Rosa,
there cannot be the least question about
the Bouguereau. am partial to the
modern French school.
ssYon will excuse me. Mr.. Sholto,
said Miss Morstan, shut I am here at
your request to learn something which
you desire to tell me. It is very late,
and should desire the interview to be
as short as possible. Z
SAT the best it must take some time, !"
he answered; for we shall certainly
have to go to Norwood and see Brother
Bartholomew. We shall all go and try
if we can get the better of Brother
Bartholomew. He is very angry with
me for taking the course which has
seemed right to me. had quite high
words with him last night You can
not imagine what terrible fellow he
is when he is angry"
IF we are to go to Norwood It would
perhaps be as well to start at once, /
ventured to remark.
He laughed until his ears were quite
red.
s'That would hardly do, he cried. Il
don't know what he would say if I
brought You in that sudden way. No,
/ must prepare you by showing you
how we all stand to each other. In the
first place, must tell you that there
are several points in the story OF which
1 am myself ignorant. / can only lay
the facts before you as far as know
them myself.
My father was, as you may have
guessed, Maj. John Sholto, once of the
Indian army. He retired some eleven
years ago. and came to live at Pondi-
cherry lodge in Upper Norwood. He
had prospered in India, and brought
back with him considerable sum OF
money, a large collection of valuable
curiosities and q staff of native serv-
ants. With these advantages he bought
himself q house and lived IN great luz
ury. My twin brother Bartholomew
and were the only children.
Il very well remember the sensation
which was caused by the disappear
| ance of Capt. Morstan. We read the
details in the papers, and, knowing