Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-29

ships dog to make the matter worse-and
that was only hushed up with difficulty
When he threw a decanter at that maid,
Theresa Wright, there was trouble about
that On the whole, and between ourselves,
Il will be a brighter house without him.
What are you looking at now?'
Holmes down on his knees, examining
with great attention the knots upon the red
cord with which the lady had been secured
Then he carefully scrutinized the broken
and frayed end where ii had snapped off
when the burglar had dragged 1t down.
when this was pulled down, the bell in
the kitchen must have rung loudly" ne re-
marked.
'.No one could hear it. The kitchen stands
right at the back of the house.
How did the burglar know no one would
hear it? How dared he pull at bell-rope
in that reckless fashion,"
Exactly, Mr.. Holmes, exactly. You put
the very question which l have asked my
self again and again. There can be no
doubt that this fellow must have known
the house and its habits He must have
perfectly understood that the servants
would all be in bed al that comparatively
early hour and that no one could possibly
hear a bell ring in the kitchen. Therefore,
he must have been in close league with one
of the servants. Surely that is evident. But
there are eight servants, and all of good
character"
"Other things being equal" said Holmes,
lone would suspect the one al whose head
the master threw a decanter. And yet
lDdI would lnNOlNe IFedcItIS IONdTu the
mistress to whom this woman seems de-
voted. Well, we'll the point is minor
one, and when you have Randall you will
probably find no difficulty in securing his
accomplish. The ladys story certainly
seems to be corroborated, if it needed cor
roboration, by every detail which see be-
fore US" He walked to the French WIN
dow and threw it open There are no signs
here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
would not expect them. | see that these
candles in the mantelpiece have been
lighted"
Yes. it was by their light, and that of
the lady's bed room candle, that the bur-
glars saw their way about"
And what did they take?'
well, they did not take much-only half
a dozen articles of plate off the sdeboard.
Lady Brackenstau thinks that they were
| themselves so disturbed by the death of
Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the
house as they would otherwise have done"
No doubt that is true, and yet they
drank some wine, | understand.
ITO steady their nerves."
Exactly. These three glasses upon the
sideboard have been untouched. l suppose?
Yes and the bottle stands as they left
Let US look at it. Halloa. halloa! What
is this?'
The three glasses We're grouped together.
all of them tinged with wine, and one of
them containing some dregs of beeswlng.
| The bottle stood near them, two-thirds full.
and beside it lay long, deeply stained cork.
! Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle
| showed that was no common vintage which
| the murderers had enjoyed.
| A change had come over Holmes manner.
| He had lost his liStlesS expression, and
| again l saw alert light of interest in his
| keen deep-set eyes, He raised the cork
and examined it infinitely
| How did they draw it?'' he asked.
Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer
| In it lay some table linen and a large cork
| screw.
| Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw
| was used?"
| NO you remember that she was sense
| less at the moment when the bottle was
| opened"
Quite So AS a matter of fact, that
| screw was not used. This bottle was
! opened by pocket screw, probably con-
| tanned In a knife, and not more than an
! inch and half long. If you will exam
| inc the top of the cork you will observe
| that the screw was driven in three times
before the cork was extracted. 1t has
never been tranSfiXed. This long screw
would have transxed it and drawn it up
with a single pull. When you catch this
fellow you will find that he has one of
| these multiplex knipes in his possession"
Excellent said Hopkins.
"But these glasses do puzzle me. 1 con-
| fess. Lady Brackenstall actually saw the
| three men drinking, did she not?"
Yes; she was clear about that"
'grhen there Is an end of it. What more
| Is to be said? And yet, you must admit
| that the three glasses are very remark
able, Hopkins. What? You see nothing
| remarkable? Well. well, let 1t pass Per-
haps. when a man has special knowledge
encourages him to seek complex expla-
] nation when simpler one Is at hand