Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15

i
and smoothing It out upon the table. he drew
oyer the lamp. and examined 1t intently. /
had left my chair. and was gazing at It
| over his shoulder. The envelope was a very
/ coarse one. and was stamped with the
| Gravesend post mark, and with the date OF
that very day. or rather of the day before,
for It was considerably after midnight
Coarse writing murmured Holmes.
| Surely this is not your husbands writing.
madam
mo. but the enclosure is.''
~ perceive also that whoever addressed
the envelope had to go and inquire as to the
address,
How can you tell thatrs
The name, You see, IL In perfectly black
Ink, which has dried itself. The rest is OF
the grayish color, which shows that blotting
paper has been used. If II had been written
| straight off. and then dIotted. none would
| be of a deep black shsde. This man has
| written the name, and there has then been
a pause before he wrote the address. which
| can only mean that he was not familiar
/ with it. It is. of course. a trifle. but there
/ Is nothing so important as trifes. Let us
now see the letter. Ha! there has been an
Enclosure herei'
Yes, there was a ring-his signet ring
And are you sure that this is your hus-
! bands hand?''
| One OF his hands,
His hand when he wrote hurried1y. It
Is very unlike his usual writing. and ret
know 1t WELL"
| :. Dearest, do not be frightened All will
come well. There Is huge error which It
may take some little time to rectify. Wait
1 in patlence.-NeviIle.' Written in pencil
upon the dy-leaf of book octave size no
| water-mark. Hum! Posted today in Graves
| end by a man with dirty thumb. Ha, And
the nap has been gummed IL am not very
1 much IN error, by person who had been
chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt
that 1t Is your husbands hand. madam
None. Neville wrote those words"
And they were posted today at Graves
/ Slpir no rlft da lf<rhf
| en-, though should not venture to say that
the danger is over"
But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes
UNLESS this is a clever forgery to nut
us on the wrong scent The ring after all
from him."
NO. no; it is. it is. it is his very own
writing"
Very well. 1t may, however. have. been
written on Monday. and only posted to-
day"
That is possible"
If so, much may have happened be-
tween
oh, you must not discourage me, Idr
Holmes. know that all is we'll with him.
Ihere is SO keen sympathy between us
that ] should know if evil came upon HIN,
On the very day that / saw him last he
cut himself in the bed room and yet l. In
the din1ng room, rushed upstairs instantly
with the utmost certainty. that something
had happened. Do you think that would
respond to such a trlfie and yet be ignor-
ant of his death?'
Il have seen too much not to know that
the impression of woman may be more
valuable than the conclusion of an anaIyti-
cal reasoner. And in this letter you GER
talniy have very strong piece of evidence
to corroborate your view. But If your hus-
band Is alive, and able to write letters
why should he remain away from your
Il cannot imagine. It is unthinkable"
And on Monday he made no remarks
before leaving your"
No"
And you Were surprised to see him in
Swandam lane?'
Very much so'
Was the window open?''
Then he might have called to you."
HE might"
'He only, as I understand gave an in
articulate cry?'
Yes"
"A call for help. you thoughtT
Yes He waved his hands,"
But 1t might have been cry Of sur
prise. Astonishment at the unexpected
sight or you might cause him to throw UP
his hands?"
1T is possible"
And you thought he was pulled back?"
He disappeared so suddenly"
He might have leaped back You did
not see any one else in the room?"
NO, but this horrible man confessed to
having been there, and the Lascar was at
the foot of the stairs"
Quite so. Your husband as far as you
could see, had his ordinary clothes or? ''
But without his collar or tie. I dis
tinctly saw his bare throat"
Had he-ever spoken of Swandam lane?"
Never"
Had he ever shown any signs of hav-
ing taken opium"
Never"
Thank you, Mrs St Clair. Those are
the principal points about which 1 wished
to be absolutely clear. We shall now have
a little supper and then retire, for we
a n rnryy h3t .E-,-.
A large and comfortable double bedded
room had been placed at our disposal, and
/ was quickly between the sheets, for I
was weary after my night Of adventure.
Sherlock Holmes was a man, however
who, when he had an unsolved problem
upon his mind, would go for days, and
even for weeks. without rest, turning 1t
over, rearranging his facts looking at 1t
from every point of view until he had
either fathomed it or convinced himself
that his data were insufficient. It was
soon evident to me that he was now pre-
pairing for an all-night sitting. He took
OIL his coat and waistcoat, put on a large
blue dressing gown, and then wandered
about the room, collecting pillows from
his bed and cushions from the sofa and
arm chairs. With these he constructed
sort of eastern divan. upon which he
perched himself cross-legged with an
ounce of shay tobacco and a box of
matches laid out in front of him. In the
dim light of the lamp l saw him sitting
there. an old briar pipe between his lips,
his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of
the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up
from him, silent, motionless, with the
light shining upon his strong set, aqui-
line features. So he sat as I dropped off
to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden
ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I
found the summer sun shining into the
apartment The pipe was still between
his lips, the smoke still curled upward,
and the room was full of a dense tobacco
haze, but nothing remained of the heap of
ShaR which i had
night.
Awake, Watson?' he asked
Yes
Game for morning driver
Certainly"
Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but
know where the stable boy sleeps, and we
shall soon have the trap out" He chuckled
to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled
and he seemed a different to the SOM
Der thinker of the previous night.
AS l dressed l glanced at my watch 1t
was no wonder that no one was stirring.
1t was twenty-five minutes past four. 1
had hardly finished when Holmes returned
with the news that the boy was putting in
the horse.
''I want to test a little theory of mine"