Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-03-14


he was beyond all hope, and that he
wished to make last communication
to us.
when we entered his room he wa.
propped up with pillows and breathing
heavily. He besought Us to lock the
door and to come upon either side o1
the bed Then. grasping our hands. be
mao n remarkable statement to us. in
a voice wal, was broken as much by
emotion as by pail shall try and
give it to you in his Own y--- words.
81 have only one thing he said,
which weighs upon my mind at this
supreme moment 1t is my treatment
of poor Morstan's orphan. The cursed
greed which has been my besetting sin
through life has withheld from her
the treasure, half at least of which
should have been hers. And yet have
made no use of it myself-so blind and
foolish a thing is avarice The mere
feeling of possession has been so dear
to me that could not bear to share il
with another. See that chaplet tipped
with pearls beside the quinine bottle?
Even that could not bear to part
with, although had got it out with
the design of sending it to her. You.
my sons, will give her a fair share of
the Agra treasure But send her moth
ing-not even the chaplet--until l am
gone. After all, men have been as bad
as this and have recovered.
~ will tell you how Morstan died,
he continued. He had suffered for
years from weak heart, but ne con-
cealed it from everyone. alone knew
it. When in India. he and |. through a
remarkable chain OF circumstances,
came into possession of a considera BILE
treasure. / brought it over to Eng
land, and on the night Of Morstan's ar
rival he came straight over here to
claim his share. lie walked over from
the station, and was admitted by my
faithful old Lal Chowdar, who is now
dead. Morstan and ! had a difference
Of opinion as to the division of the
treasure. and we came to heated words.
Morstan had sprung out of his chair in
paroxysm of anger, when he sudden
ly pressed his hand to his side, his face
turned duslzy hue, and he fell back
wards, cutting his head against the
corner of the treasure-chest. When
stopped over him found, to my horror,
that he was dead.
For a long time | sat half dis
tracted, wondering what | should do.
My first impulse was, of course, to
call for assistance; but could not but
recognize that there was every chance
that | would be accused of his murder.
His death at the moment of a quarrel,
and the cash in his head. would be
black against me. Again. an official
inquiry could not be made without
bringing out some facts about the
treasure, which | was particularly
anxious to keep secret. He had told
me that no soul upon earth knew
where he had gone. There seemed to
be no necessity why any soul ever
should know.
"'I was still pondering over the mat
ter, when, looking up, saw my serv-
ant, Lal Chowdar, in the doorway.
He stole in, and bolted the door behind
him. do not fear, sahib," he said.
''No one need know that you have
killed him. Let us hide him away,
and who is the wiser?" Il did not
kill him. said l. Lal Chowdar shook
his head and smiled II heard it all,
sahib, said he. Il heard you quarrel,
and l heard the blow But my lips
are sealed. All are asleepin the house.
Let US put him away together" That
was enough to decide me. If my own
servant could not believe my inno-
cence, how could | hope to make it
good before twelve foolish tradesmen in
O jury box? Lal Chowdar and dis
within "a a few days Tntt h ftntlthh paptad5 p9tad
were full Of the mysterious disappear
nncc of Capt. Morstan. You will see
from what | say that ! can hardly be
blamed in the matter. My fault lies in
the fact that we concealed, not
only the body, but also the
treasure, and that have clung
to Morstan's share as well as to
my own. | wish you, therefore, to
make restitution. Put your ears down
to my mouth. The treasure is hidden
in At this instant horrible change
came over his expression; his eyes
stared wildly, his jaw dropped, and he
yelled in a voice | can never forget:
Keep him out! For Christ's sake keep
him out!' We both stared round at the
window behind us upon which his gaze
was fixed. A face was looking in at us
out of the darkness. We could see the
whitening of the nose where it was
pressed against the glass. 1t was n
bearded, hairy face, with wild, cruel
eyes and an expression of concentrated
malevolence. My brother and rushed
towards the window, but the man was
gone. When we returned to my father
his head had dropped and his pulse had
ceased TO beat.
I'VE searched the garden that night,
but found no sign of the intruder, save
that just under the window single
footmarl was visible in the flower-bed.
But for that one trace, we might have
thought that our imaginations had con-
iured up that wild, fierce face. We
soon. however. had another and more
striking proof that there were secret
agencies at work all around us. The
window of my fathers room was found
open in the morning. his cupboards and
Boxes had been riEed. and upon his
.hcst wa, fixed torn piece Of paper,
with the words The sign Of the four
scrawled across It. What the phrase
meant. or who our secret visitor may
have been. we never knew As far as
we can judge, none of my fathers
property had been actually stolen,
though everything had been turned
out. My brother and naturally asso-
ciatcd this peculiar incident with the
fear which haunted my father during
his life; but it is still n complete mys-
terry TO us"
The little man stopped to relight his
hooltah, and pufPed thoughtfully for
few moments We had all sat absorbed,
listening to his extraordinary narra-
tive At the short account of her ia
ther's death Miss Morstan had turned
deadly white, and for a moment |
feared that she was about TO faint. She
rallied, however. on drinking a glass of
water which | quietly poured out for
her from a Venetian carafe upon the
side table Sherlock Holmes leaned
back in his chair with an abstractcd
expression and the lids drawn low
over his glittering epes. As glanced
at him | could not but think how on
that very day he had complained Bit
terly of the commonplaceness of life.
Here, at least, was Il problem which
would tax his sagacity to the utmost.
Mr.. Thaddeus Sholto looked from one to
the other of US with an obvious pride
at the effect which his story had pro-
duced. and then continued between
the puffs of his overgrown pipe.