Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-06
ArnaZenent

Covery of the body of the latter, as if l had seen them with my own eyes. l will give you proof of my knowledge Could you lay your hand upon those pills?''
 II have them, said Lestrade pro- ducing small white box. II took them, and the purse, and the telegram, in tending to have them put in place of safety at the police station. It was the merest chance, my taking these pills, for am bound to say that do not attach my importance to them.
 Give them here," said Holmes ''Now, doctor," turning to me, are those ordinary pills?'
 They certainly were not. They wcro of pearly gray color, small, round and almost transparent against the light. From their lightness and transparency should imagine that they are soluble i'll water. l remarked.
 Precisely so," answered Holmes. Now, would you mind going down and fetching that poor little devil of a ter rier which has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday?'
 went down stairs and carried the dog up stairs in my arms. Its labored breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end. Indeed its snow white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence I placed it upon cushion on the rug.
 II will now cut one of these pills in two, said Holmes, and drawing his pcnknife he suited the action to tho word "Oue half we return into the box for the future purposes. The other half l will place ill this wineglass, ill which is t2aspoonful of water. You perceive that our friend, the doctor, is right, and that it readily dissolveS -
 This may be very interesting, said Lestrade i'll the injured tone of one who suspects that he is being laughed at. II cannot see, however, what it has to do with the death of Mr. Joseph Stangcrson.
 Patience, my friend, patience! You will find ill time that it has everything to do with it. shall now add little milk to make the mixture palatable, and on presenting it to the dog we find that he laps it up readily enough "
 As he spoke he turned the contents of the wineglass into a saucer and placed it in front of the terrier. who speedily licked it dry Sherlock Holmes earnest dcmeanor had so far convinced Us that we all sat i'll silence, watching the ami maj intcntly and expecting some star ting effect None such appeared, how ever The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion. breathing ill labored way. but apparently neither the better nor the worse for it's draft.
 Holmes had taken out his watch. and as minute followed minute without re- suit an expression of the utmost cha grin and disappointment appeared upon his features He Gnawcd his lip. drum med his fingers upon the table and showed every other symptom of aCuto irlpatiencc. So great was his emotion that felt sincerely sorry for him, while | the two detectives smiled drrisivcly. by no means displeascd at this check which ho had met
 1t can f lt a CulnCldtLCu, he Crlt q, at last eprirgimg from his chair and pacing wildly rp and down tho room. Ut is impossible that 1t should be q mere coincidence. Tho very pills which l l suspected III lilt case Cl DICUD(I iA4S actually found after the death of Stan gerson And yet they are inert. What 1 can it mean: Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible And yet this wretched dog is mono tho worse. An. have it! have | it" With q perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box. cut the other pill in two, dissolved it. added milk and pro sCntcd it tothe terrier The unfortunate creatures tongue seemed hardly to have l been mOlstcucd i'll it before it gave a Convulsive shlvcr ill every limb and lav as rigid and lifclcsS as if it had been struck by lightning.
 Sherlock Holmes drew long breath and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. II should have moro faith. v he said Il ought to know by this time that when q fact appears to Do opposed to a long train of deductions it invari- ably proves to ho capable of bearing some other interpretation. Of tho two pills i'll that box one was the most dead. ly poison, and tho other was entirely
 harmless ought to havo known that
 before ever I saw the box at all. "
 This last statement appeared to mo tC
 be so startling that l cOul hardly be
 liove that he was in his sobcr senses.
 There was the dead dog. however. tC
 prove that his conjecture had been cor
 rect. It seemed to mo that the mists 1T
 my own mind wcre gradually clearing
 away, and l began to have a dim. vague
 perception of tho truth.
 All this seems strange to you, con
 tinued Holmes. 'because you failed al
 the beginning of the inquiry to grasI the importance of the singlo real Clev , which was presented to you. had tn, , good fortune to seizo upon that, and ev erythinC which has occurred since theI has served to confirm my original sup } position and indeed was the logical So quence of it. Hence things which hay, perplexcd you and made the case nor, ] obscure have served to enlighten me ant to strengthen my conclusions It is r mistake to ConfOund strangeness witt ) mystery The most commonplace crim is often the most mysterious because i y presents no new or special features iron . which deductions may be drawn. Thi l murder would havo been infinitely nor g difficult to unravel had the body of tn n victim been simply found lying ill tn - roadway without any of those outre m n sensational accompaniments which hay s rendered it remarkable. These strang e details. far from making the case moI
 difficult, have really had the effect ( 0 making it less 50. '
 l. MT. Gregson, who had listened to tn !. address with considerable impatiencI '' l could contain himself no longer. Loo
 here, MT. Sherlock Holmes. he saiC n i've arc all ready to acknowledge thu F. you are a smart man. and that you hay
 your own methods of working. W s want something more than mere theOI