The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-05

1
 move it slightly. and it was with the
 aid of one of the eonstables that I suc- | ceeded at last in carrying it to one side.
 A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered, while Musgrave, kneeling
 at the side, pushed down the lantern. l "A small chamber about seven feet deep
 and four feet square lay open to us. At one side of this was a squat brass-bound
 wooden box. the lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious old-fashioned | key projecting from the lock It was fur I red outside by thick layer of dust, and l damp and worms had eaten through the wood, so that crop of livid fungi was 1 growing on the inside of it. Several discs | of metal, old coins apparently, such as hold here, were scattered over the bottom l of the box, but it contained nothing else. l "At the moment however, we had no l thought for the old chest. for our eyes | were riveted upon that which crouched | beside 1t. It was the figure of man, clad in a. suit of black. who squat ted down upon his hams with his fore | head sunk upon the edge of the box l and his two arms thrown out on each | side of it. The attitude had drawn all l the stagnant blood to the face, and no man could have recognized that distorted l liver-colored countenance; but his height, 1 his dress and his hair were all sufficient | to show my client when we had draWh | the body up. that 1t was indeed his miss | ing butler He had been dead some days, | but there was wound or bruise upon | his person to show how he had met ms | dreadful end When his body had been carried from the cellar we found our selves still confronted with problem . which was almost as formidable as that l with which we had just started
 | "I confess that so far, Watson. l had been disappointed in my investigation. l had reckoned upon solving the matter 1 whence once had found the place reter- ] red to in the Ritual; but now was there' and was apparently as far as ever rom 1 knowing what it was which the family | had concealed with such elaborate precau- lions It is true that l had thrown a 1 light upon the fate of Brunton, put now l I had to ascertain how that fate had | come upon him, and what part had been | played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared. sat down upon kes l in the corner and thought the "hoie h"' | ter carefully over.
 1 ssyou know my method in such cases Watson. I put myself in the mans place | and having first gauged his lnteilsehce' I proceeded under the same clfcuh- | stances In this case the matter was simplified by Bruntons intelligence peihs l quite frst-rate, that 1t was unheces- | sary to make any allowance for the per |
 dubbed 1t. He knew that something val l uable was concealed. He had spotted the | place He found that the stone Whcp | covered 1t was just too heavy for man l to move unaided What would ne uo next? He could not get help rom out side even if he had some one whom ne could trust without the unbarrlng or doors and considerable risk of detection. 1 It was better if he could, to have his hefpmates inside the house. But whom could he ask? This girl had been de- voted to him. man always hnds IL hard to realize that he may have finally | lost woman's love, however badly ne may have treated her. He would try by 1 a few attentions to make his peace with I the girl Howells, and then would en- gage her as his aecomplice. Together | they should come at night to the cellar, | and their united force would suffice to raise the stone So far I could follow | their actions as if I had actually seen them.
 But for two of them, and one a wo- man. 1t must have been heavy work the I raising of that stone. A burly Sussex po- | liceman and I had found it no light job. l What would they do to assist them? l Probably what I should have done my self. I rose and examined carefully the different bllets of wood which were scat l tered round the floor. Almost at once l came upon what I expected. One piece, about three feet in length, had very marked identation at one end, while sew eral were fattened at the side as If they had been compressed by some considera- | ble weight. Evidently, as they had l dragged the stone up they had thrust the | chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening was large enough | to crawl through. they would hold it open by billet placed lengthwise, which might l very well become indented at the lower ; end since the whole weight of the stone would press it down on to the edge of this ] other slab. So far I was still on safe ground.
 l And now how was to proceed to re- | construct this midnight drama? Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presum- ably-since they were not to be found and then and then what happened? What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this | passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had wronged her wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected-fn her power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had
 
 the support away and sent the slab crashing down into its place? Be that as it might I seemed to see that woman's figure still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the winding stair with her ears ringing perhaps with muf- fled screams from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the slab of stone which was choking her faithless lovers life out.
 Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves. her peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning had she done with that? Of course. it must have been the old metal and peb-
 bles which my client had dragged from | the mere. She had thrown them in there 1 at the first opportunity to remove the ] last trace of her crime.
 l For twenty minutes had sat motion- less thinking the matter out Musgrave
 still stood with very pale face. swinging i hole
 1 said he, holding out the few which had been in the box; you we were right in
 fixing our date for the Ritual
 "'We may find something else of i Charles the First cried as the probable Ritual broke suddenly upon me. Let me | see the contents of the bag which you 1 fished from the mere
 We ascended to his study and he laid ! the debris before me. l could understand l when I looked at it, for the metal was Q tsranr tI44 .tn lttr4.