The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-10

bank, the nouesl IeSlutnoe ol the great financier.
 Fairbank was good-sized square house or white stone, standing back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep. with a snow-olad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates which closed the entrance On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which led Into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road to the kitchen door and forming the tradesmen's s entrance On the left ran lane which led to the stables and was not itself with in the grounds at all. being a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing at the door and wallks ed slowly all round the house, across the front, down the tradesmens path and so round hv the garden behind Into the sta- hle lane So long was he that MT. Holder and I went into the dining room and waited by the fire until he should re- turn. We were sitting there In silence when the door opened and a young lady came in. She was rather above the midi dle height slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the ab- solute pallor of her skin. l do not thlnk that have ever seen such deadly pale ness in a womans face Her lips too, were blood1ess, but her eyes were hush- ed with crying. As she swept silently into the room she impressed me with greater sense of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and It was the more striking In her as she was evidently a woman of strong character. with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle, and passed her nana over his head with sweet womaniy earess.
 "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you not oau she asked.
 ,sNo no. my girl; the matter must be probed to the bottom
 "But I am sure that he is innocentl You know what women's instincts are. know that he has done no harm and that you will be sorry for having acted so harshly."
 "Why Is he silent. then. if he Is inno- cent?"
 .Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect him. "IIow could I help suspecting him when I actually saw him with the coronet in his hand?'
 "Oh but he had only picked it up to look at It. Oh, do, do take my word Tor it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say no more. It is so dread ful to think of our dear Arthur in prisonl"
 q shall never let it drop until the gems are found-never Mary! Your af- lection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to me Far rom flushing the thing up, I have brought gentleman down from London to ln- quire more deeply into it."
 'sThis gentleman?" she asked facing round to me.
 "No, his friend He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the stable lane now''
 "The stable laner she raised her dark eyebrows. What can he hope to find there? An! this, I suppose, is he. 1 trust, sir, that you will succeed in proving, what l feel sure is the truth, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime '
 q fully share your opinion, and l trust. with you that we may prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the snow from his shoes. "I believe l have the honor of addressing Miss Mary Holder Might I ask you a question or two?" v
 Pray do, sir If it may help to clear this horrible affair up.''
 "You heard nothing yourself last night?'
 Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. heard that. and I came down."
 "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten all the WlnuOWS.
 Were they all fastened this morning?'
 Yes"
 You have a maid who has sweet heart? I think that you remarked to your uncle last night that she had been out to see hm?"
 "Yes, and she was the girl who waited fin the drawing-room and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coro- net"
 -1,. l,xf gone out to tell her sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery"
 But what is the good of all these vague theories" cried the banker, im- patiently, when I have told you that saw Arthur with the coronet in his hands?'
 Wait little MT. Holder. We must come back to that About this girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I presume?'
 'eYes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I met her slipping in. l saw the man, too. in the gloom"
 "Do you know him?'
 "Oh, yes; he Is the green-groeer who brings our vegetables round. His name Is Francis Prosper"
 "He stood" said Holmes, "to the left of the door-that is to say. further up the path than is necessary to reach the door?'
 ''Yes, he did"
 And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
 Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive black eye Why, YOU are like magician," said she. How do you know that?" She smiled but there was no answering smile in Holmes's thin, eager face.
 q should be very glad now to go up- stairs" said he. "I shall probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I had better take look at the lower windows before I go up."
 He walked swiftly round from one to the other. pausing only at the large one which looked from the hall onto the sta- ble lane. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his powerful magnifying lens. Now we shall go upstairs" said he at last
 The bankers dressing room was plain ly furnished little chamber. with a gray carpet, large bureau and long mir TOT Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock
 (Which key was used to open it?" he asked
 1rhat which my son himself indicated that of the cupboard of the lumber room."
 Have you 1t here?''
 'That it is on the dressing table,
 Sherlock Holmes took 1t up and opened the bureau.-~
 'It is a noiseless lock- said he. Tt is no wonder that it did not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a look at it." He opened the case and taking out the diadem, laid 1t upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the jewellers art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I have ever seen. At one side of the coronet