Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1905-10-17
By A. CONAN DOYLE.

1le door OF the STUDY WIS Opeu, ahu
candle was burning upon the table.
Their master lay upon his face In the
center Of the room. He was quite
dead. Near the window his wife was
csouching. her head leaning against
the wall. She was horribly wounded,
and the side Of her face was Ied with
blood. She breathed heavily, but was
incapable Of saying anything. The
passage as well as the room was full
of smoke and the smell Of powder.
The window was certainly shut and
fastened upon the inside. Both wo-
men were positive upon the point.
They had Mt once sent for the doctor
and for the constable. Then. with the
aid of the groom and the stable boy,
they had conveyed their injured mis-
tress to her room. Both she and her
husband had occupied the bed. She
was clad in her dress, ne in his dress
ing gown, over his night clothes. Moth
ing had been moved in the study. So
far as they knew, there had never been
any quarrel between husband and wife.
They had always looked upon them as
u very united couple.
These were the main points of the
servants evidence. In answer to In
spector Martin they were clear that ev-
cry door was fastened upon the inside
and that no one could have escaped
from the house. In answer to Holmes
they both remembered that they were
conscious of the smell Of powder from
the moment that they ran out of their
rooms upon the top floor. 81 commend
that fact very carefully to your atten-
tion." said Holmes to. his professional
colleague. ''And now l think that we
are In a position to undertake thor
ough examination of the room."
The study proved to be small cham
ber lined OH three sides with books
and with writing table facing an or
binary window, which looked out upon
the garden. Our first attention was
given to the body Of the unfortunate
squire, whose huge frame lay stretch
ed across the room. His disordered
dress showed that he had been hastily
aroused from sleep. The bullet had
been fired Mt him from the front and
had remained in his body after pene-
trating the heart His death had GER
tainly been instantaneous and painless.
There was no powder marking either
upon his dressing gown or on MS
hands. According to the country sur
ceon, the lady had stains upon her
face, but none upon her hand.
1.-THE absence of the latter means
nothing, though its presence may mean
everything" said Holmes. Unless the
powder from badly fitting cartridge
happens to spurt backward one may
fire many shots without leaving Sign.
| would suggest that Mr.. Cubitt's body
may now be removed. l suppose, doc
tor, you have not recovered the bullet
which wounded the lady"
"a serious operation will be necessa-
~ before that can be done. But there
are still four cartridges in the revolver.
Two have been fired and two wounds
inflicted. so that each bullet can be ac-
counted for.
$50 it would seem." said Holmes.
perhaps you can account also for the
bullet which has SO obviously struck
the edge Of the Window
He had turned suddenly, and his
long, thin finger was pointing to hole
which had been drilled right through
the lower window sash about an inch
above the bottom.
"By GEORGE cried the inspector.
How ever did you see that?"
Because l looked for It,"
"Wonderful!' said the country doc
tor. "You are certainly right, sir. Then
third shot has been fred, and there
fore third person must have been
present. But who could that nave been
and how could he have got awayT
THAT is the problem which we are
now about to solve" said Sherlock
Holmes. You remember, Inspector
| Martin, when the servants said that on
leaving their room they were at once
conscious of smell of powder l re-
marked that the point was an extreme
| ly important One|
"Yes, ar; but l confess did not
quite follow you"
1T suggested that at the time of the
firing the window as well as the door
| of the room had been open. Otherwise
the fumes of powder could not have
been blown so rapidly through the
house. A draft in the room was nee
essary for that. Both door and win
dow were only open for very short
time, however"
How do you prove thatT
because the candle was not gut
tered"
"Capitaly' cried the inspector. Cap
italw
"Feeling sure that the window haC
been open ut the time Of the tragedy
conceived that there might have beer
q third person In the affair, who stoot
outside this opening and fired through
II. ANY shot directed ut this person
might hit the sash. l looked, and there
sure enough, was the bullet mark!
"But how came the window to bt
shut and fastenedT
'"rhe woman's first instinct would bt
to shut and fasten the window. But
| hallol What is this?
1t was a lady's hand bag which stoot
upon the study table-a trim little hant
bag of crocodile skin and silver
Holmes opened it and turned the con
tents out. There were twenty lift.
Mound notes Of the Bank of England
held together by an india rubber band
nothing else.
"Thls must be preserved, for 1t vii
figure in the trial." said Holmes as n
handed the bag with its contents to tn
inspector. "It is now necessary tina
we should try to throw some light upoi
this third bullet, which has clearly
from the splintering of the wood, beel
fired from inside the room. l shoult
| like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again
You said, Mrs. King, that you wer
awakened by loud explosion. Whel
YOU said that did you mean that
seemed to you to be louder than tn
second oneY
"Well, sir, it wakened me from M
sleep. and so 1t is hard to judge. Blu
It did seem very loud"
"You don't think that 1t might nav
been two shots fred almost at the sam