Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1905-12-07

Ii an hour after that heard my
MISTRESS scream, and down l ran to
fir! hcr. poor lamb, just as she says,
ana him a the floor, with his blood
Nnl brain over the room. 1t was
enough to drive a woman out of her
wits, tied there and her very dress spot
ted with him; but she never wanted
courage. did Miss Mary Fraser Of AIDE
laide. and Lady Brackenstall Of Abbey
Grange hasn't learned new ways.
You've questioned her long enough,
you gentlemen, and now she is coming
to her Owl room just with her old
Theresa to get the rest that she badly
needs"
With a motherly tenderness the
gaunt woman put her arm round her
mistress and led her from the room.
"She has been with her all her life"
said Hopkins. "Nursed her as a baby
and came with her to England when
they first left Australia eighteen
months ago. Theresa Wright is her
name, and the kind Of maid you don't
pick up nowadays. This way, Mr..
Holmes, if you please.,'
The keen interest had passed II of
Holmes expressive face, and l knew
that with the mystery all the charm Of
the case had departed. There still re-
manned an arrest to be effected, but
what were these commonplace rogues
that he should soil his hands with
them? An abstruse and learned spe-
cialist who finds that he has been call
ed in for q case of measles would eX-
perience something OF the annoyance
which l read in my friends eyes. Yet
d scene in the dining room of the Alb
hey Grange was sufficiently strange to
arrest his attention and to recall his
waning interest,".
1t was a very large and high cham
Der, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
panellng and a fine array Of deer's
heads and ancient weapons around the
walls. At the farther end from the
door was the high French window of
which we had heard. Three smaller
windows on the right hand side filled
the apartment with cold winter sun
'oAAi11S. oA 1S lSlt "dS a Il Sc, uCtD
fireplace, with a massive, overhanging
oak mantelpiece. Beside the fireplace
was Il heavy oaken chair with arms
and crOsSbarS at the bottom. In and
out through the open woodwork was
woven a crimson cord, which was Sc
cured at each side to the crosspiece be-
low In releasing the lady the cord
had been slipped off her, but the knots
with which 1t had been secured still re-
manned. These details only struck our
attention afterward, for our thoughts
were entirely absorbed by the terrible
object which lay upon the tiger skin
hearth rug in front Of the fire.
1t was the body Of q tall, wei made
man about forty years Of age. He
lay upon his back, his face upturned,
with his white teeth grinning through
his short black beard. His two
clinched hands were raised above his
head, and a heavy blackthorn stick
lay across them. His dark, handsome,
aquilinc features were convulsed into
a spasm Of vindictive hatred, which
had set his dead face in Il terribly
fiendish expression. he had evidently
been IN his bed when the alarm had
broken out, for he wore Il foppisll, en-.
brOidered nightshirt, and his bare feet
projected from his trousers. Ills head
was horribly injured, and the whole
room bore witness to the savage feroc.
ity OF the blow which had struck him
down. Beside him lay the heavy poker,
bent into n curve by III. coIicusSion.
Holmes examined both II and the indie.
%scribabn wreck which II Lad wrought.