Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-25

said he, rising to his feet. 81 have only
to raise my voice, and l could call my serv
ants and have you arrested. But | will
make allowance for your natural anger.
Leave the room at once as you came, and
l Will say no more"
The woman stood with her hand buried
in her bosom, and the same deadly smile
on her thin lips
ruined mine. You will wiring more
hearts as you wrung mine. | will free the
world of a poisonous thing. Take that.
you Homeland that!-and that,-an that,
and that
She had drawn little cleaning revolver
and emptied barrel after barrel into Mil
verton's body. the muzzle within two feet
of his shirt front. He shrank away and
then fell forward upon the table. coughing
furiOuSly and Clawing among the papers.
Then he staggered to his feet, received an
other shot, and rolled upon the floor.
you've done me-" he cried, and lay still.
The woman looked at him intently, and
ground her heel into his upturned face. She
looked again. but there was no sound or
movement. L heard sharp rustic, the
night air blew into the heated room, and
the aVenger was gone.
No interference upon our part could have
saved the man from his fate, but, as the
woman poured bullet after bullet into Mil
vertons shrinking body 1 was about to
spring out, when l felt Holmes cold, strong
grasp upon my wrist l understood the
whole argument of that firm, restraining
3
justice had overtaken a villain, that we
had our own duties and our own objects,
which were not to be lost sight of. But
hardly had the woman rushed from the
room when Holmes, with swift silent steps,
was over at the other door. He turned the
key in the look. At the same instant we
heard voices in the house and the sound
of hurrying feet. The revolver shots had
ness Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled
his two arms with bundles of letters, and
poured them all into the fire. Again and
gain he did it until the safe was empty
Someone turned the handle, and beat upon
the outside of the door. Holmes looked
swiftly around. The letter which had been
the messenger of death for Milverton lay
all notified with his blood, upon the table.
Holmes tossed it in among the blazing pa
pers. Then he drew the key from the outer
door, passed through after me- and locked
it on the outside. This way, Watson"
said he, I'VE can scale the garden wall in
this direction"
l could not have believed that an alarm
could have spread so swiftly. Looking
back, the huge house was one blaze of light
The front door was open, and figures were
rushing down the drive. The whole garden
was alive with people, and one fellow
raised a view-halloa as we emerged from
the veranda and followed hard at our heels.
Holmes seemed to know the grounds per-
fectly, and he threaded his way swiftly
among a plantation of small trees, | close
at his heels. and our foremost pursuer
painting behind us. 1t was siX-foot wall
which barred our path, but he sprang TO
the top and over. As 1 did the same 1 felt
the hand of the man behind me grab at my
ankle, but kicked myself free and scram-
bled over a graSs-strewn coping. L fell
upon my face among some bushes, but
Holmes had me on my feet in an instant,
and together we dashed away across the
huge expanse of Hampstead Heath. We
had run two miles, L suppose before Holmes
at last halted and listened intently. All
was absolute silence behind us. We had
shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
We had breakfasted and were smoking
our morning pipe on the day after the re-
markable experience which have recorded,
when Mr.. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, very
solemn and impressive. was ushered into
our modest sitting room.
Good morning, Mr.. Holmes" said he;
good morning. May ask if you are very
busy just now?'
Not too busy to listen to you
II thought that, perhaps, If you had moth
ing particular on hand, you might care to
assist US in a most remarkable case which
occurred only last night at Hampstead"
Dear me!' said Holmes. What was
that?'
"a murder-a most dramatic and remark
able murder. l know how keen you are
upon these things, and l would take 1t as
a great favor if you would step down to
Appledore Towers, and give us the benefit
of your advice. 1t is no ordinary crime
We have had our eyes upon this Mr. Mil
verton for some time, and, between our
selves, he was a bit of a villain. He is
known to be have held papers which he
used for Matchmaking purposes. These
papers have all been burned by the
murderers. No article of value was taken,
as it is probably that the criminals We're
men of good position, whose sole object
was to prevent social exposure"
''Criminals?" said Holmes. "Plural?
Yes, there were two of them. They
were as nearly as possible captured red
handed. We have their footmarkS we have
their description, it's ten to one that we
trace them. The first fellow was a bit too
active, but the second was caught by the |
under-gardner,s and only. got away after !
struggle. He was a middle-si2ed, strong |
built man-square jaw. thick neck, mus |
tache. a mask over his eyes
That's rather vauge," said Sherlock Hol- |
mes why. it might be a description of |
Watson
Its true" said the inspector, with |
amusement. 1T might be description OF !
Watson"
We'll. I'm afraid can't help you, Les !
trade said Holmes. The fact is that