The citizen., 1905-07-07

letter, for cou,1 not imag'!." low you
knew that owned svch Il t'''"c"
"0f Course you must hHvc teon sur
pr,Sol Irt Tie c~',lanatian e. very sim
pie Mr HarCr.; Of Har-ius Bros
said that they Lad sold You their last
cor~. Nu1 20 gave 'oc --o-'r . > '"oes'
"Oh. { 1T was It, was it? Uil he tell
you viiat pail for it,"
NO, he did not"
"Won. | am an honest man. though
not vcry rich one ! la'y gave IL
shillrgs for the bust, ami l think you
ought to know that before take f10
from YOU
81 am sure the scruple does you hon
or, Mr. Sanleforl. Put have named
that price. so intend to stick TO it,
"Well, it is very handsome Of you,
Mr.. Holmes. | brought the bust un
with me. rs you asked me to do. Here
it is!' He opened his bag and at last
we saw placed upon our table COM
plete specimen of that bust which we
had already seen more than once in
fragments
and laid Il ten pound note upon the ta-
BILE
"You will kindly sign that paper, Mr..
SaudefOrl. in the presence of these wit
4 nesscS. Ii is simply to say that you
transfer every possible right that you
ever Had in the bust to me. | am a
methodical man. you see. and you new
/ er know what turn events might take
afterward. Thank you, Mr.. Sandeford.
Here is your money. and wish you a
/ very good evening"
! When our visitor had disappeared
Sherlock Holmes movements were
such as to rvet our attention. He be
| gan by taking clean white cloth from
drawer and laying it over the table.
1 Then he placed his newly acquire bu
in the center of the cloth. Finally ho
/ picked M his hunting crop and struck
Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of
the head. The figure broke into frag-
merits. and Holmes bent eagerly Owe!
the shattered remains. Next instant
with loud shout of triuAph, he held
up one splinter in which round. dark
object was fixed like plum in Il pud-
ding
Gentlemen" he cried. "let me intro
duce you to the famous black pearl OF
the Borgias."
Lestrade and | sat silent for mo-
ment. and then. with a spontaneous
impulse, we both broke out clapping
as at the well wrought crisis of play
4 flush of color sprang to Holmes pale
cheeks, and he bowed to us like the
master dramatist who receives the
homage of his audience. 1t was at
such moments that for an instant he
ceased to be reasoning machine and
betrayed his human love for admiration
and applause. The same singularly
proud and reserved nature which turn
ed away with disdain from popular no
toriety was capable of being moved to
its depths by spontaneous wonder and
praise from friend.
Yes, gentlemen" said he. 1T is the
most famous pearl now existing in the
world, and it has been my good for
tive reasoning, to trace it from the
Prince of Colonna's bedroom at the
Dacre hotel, where it was lost to the
interior of this, the last of the six
busts of Napoleon which were manu-
factured by Gelder & Co. of Stepney.
You will remember, Lestrade, the sen
sation caused by the disappearance of
10 Il tI,,. offsN
of the London police to recover it.
was myself consulted upon the case.
but | was unable to throw any light
upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid
of the princess, who was an Italian,
and it was proved that she had Il
brother in London, but we failed TO
trace any connection between them.
The maids name was Lucretia Venue
ci, and there is no doubt in my mind
that this Pietro who was murdered
two nights ago was the brother.
have been looking up the dates in the
old files of the paper, and | find that
the disappearance of the pearl was
exactly two days before the arrest of
Beppo for some crime of violence-an
event which took place in the factory
of Gelder & Co. at the very moment
when these husts were being made.
| Now you clearly see the sequence OF
events, though you see them, of
course, in the inverse order to the way
in which they presented themselves
to me. Beppo had the pearl in his
possession. He may have stolen it from
! Pietro, he may have been Pietro' CON
federate, he may have been the go
between of Pietro and his sister. 1t is
of no consequence to us which is the
correct solution
"The main fact is that he had the
| pearl, and at that moment. when it was
| on his person. he was pursued by the
| police. He made for the factory in
which he worked, and he knew that he
had only a few minutes in which TO
conceal this enormously valuable prize,
which would otherwise be found on
him when he was searched. Six plas
ter casts of Napoleon were drying in
the passage One of them was still
soft. In an instant Beppo, skillful
workman, made small hole in the
| wet plaster, dropped in the pearl and
with a few touches covered over the
| aperture "n"" "'""n 1t was -"
| Ss.k.-Sz.-sl R. w ElE II