The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1905-11-22

"He was a good hearted man when
he was sober, but Il perfect fiend when
he was drunk, or rather when he was
half drunk, for he seldom really went
the whole way. The devil seemed to be
in him at such times, and he was capa-
bic of anything. From what hear, in
spite of all his wealth and his title he
very nearly came our way once or
twice There was scandal about his
drenching dog with petroleum and
setting it on fire-her ladyship's dog, to
make the matter worse-and that was
only hushed up with difficulty. Then
he threw decanter at that maid, The
resa Wright; there was trouble about
that. On the whole, and between our
selves, it will be a brighter house with
out him. What are you looking at
now:''
Holmes was down on his knees ex-
aiming 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 it had snapped off when the bur
glar had dragged it down.
when this was pulled down the bell
in the kitchen must have rung loudly"
he remarked
mo 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
a bell rope in that reckless fashion"
Exactly, Mr.. Holmes, exactly. You
put the very question which 1 have
asked myself again and again. There
can be no doubt that this fellow must
have known the house and it's habits.
He must have perfectly understood
that the servants would all be in bed
at 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, zone would suspect the one
at whose head the master threw a de-
canter. And yet that would involve
treachery toward the mistress to whom
this woman seems devoted. Well WE'LL
the point is Il minor one and when
you have Randall you will probably
find no difficulty in securing his ac-
complete. The lady's story certainly
seems to be corroborated, If it needed
confederation, by every detail which
we see before u.s. He walked to the
French window and threw it Open
"There are no signs here, but the
ground is iron hard, and one would
not expect them. l see that these can
dies in the mantelpiece have been
lighted"
Eyes; it was by their light and that
of the lady's bedroom candle that the
burglars saw their way about"
"And what did they take?"
well, they did not take much-only
half a dozen articles of plate off the
sideboard. Lady Brackenstall 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, 1
suppose"
Eyes, and the bottle stands as they
left it."
LET us look at it. Hello, hello!
What is this?"
The three glasses We're grouped to-
gether, all of them tinged with wine
and one of them containing some dregs
of beeswing. The bottle stood near
them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay
long, deeply stained cork. Its APP
pearance 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 ex.
preston, and again l saw an alert
light of interest in his keen, deep set
eyes. He raised the cork and exam.
ined it infinitely.
"How did they draw it?' he asked.
Hopkins pointed to half opened
drawer. In it lay some table linen and
large corkscrew.
did Lacy Brackenstall say that
screw was used?"
mo; you remember that she was
senseless at the moment when the bot
tie was opened"
"Quite So AS matter Of fact, the
screw was not used. This bottle was
opened by pocket screw, probably
contained in knife and not more than
an inch and half long. If you will
examine the top of the cork, you will
observe that the screw was driven in
three times before the cork was ex
tracted. 1t has never been transfixed
This long screw would have transfixed
it and drawn it up with a single pull
| When you catch this fellow you will
find that he has one Of these multiples
| knives In his possession"
Excellent" said Hopkins.
"But these glasses do puzzle me,