Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-08-04
The Adventure o.
the Dancing Men
No. 3 Of the Series
Continued from Yesterday

| wen, Rentlemen, YOU nave the drop
on me this time. seem to have knock.
cd up against something hard. But I
came here In answer to n letter from
Mrs Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that
she is In this! Don't tell me that she
helped to set n trap for mc!''
Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously In.
jured and is at deaths door"
The man gave n hoarse cry Of grief,
which rang through the house.
You're crazy he cried ficrcely. ut
was he that was hurt. not she. Who
would have hurt little Elsio2 ] may
have threatened her-God forgive me!
but would not have touched hair
Of her pretty head. Take 1t back--you!
Say that she is not hurt"
"She was found badly wounded by
the side Of her dead husband"
He sank with deep groan on to the
settee and buried his face in his man.
acled hands. For five minutes he was
silent. Then he raised his face once
more and spoke with the cold COM
posture Of despair.
II have nothing to hide from you,
gentlemen" said he. III shot the
man he had his shot at me, and there's
no murder In that But II you think
could have hurt that woman, then you
don't know either me or her. I tell
you, there was never n man In this
world loved woman more than loved
her. ! had right to her. She was
pledged to me years ago. Who was
this Englishman that he should come
between usf tell you that had the
first right to her and that was only
claiming my own"
"Sle broke away from your influence
when she found the man that you are"
said Holmes stcrnly. "She fed from
America to avoid you, and she married
an honorable gentleman In England.
You logged her and followed her and
made her life a misery to her In order
to induce her to abandon the husband
whom she loved and respected In order
to fly with you, whom she feared and
hated. You have ended by bringing
about the death OF noble man and
driving his wife to suicide. That IL
your record In this business. Mr.. Abe
Slaney, and you viii answer for 1t to
the law"
III Elsie dies care nothing what
becomes Of me-" said the American.
He opened one Of his hands and look
ed ut n note crumpled UP In his palm.
See here, mister" he cried, with a
CLEAN Of suspicion In his eyes. you're
not trying to scare me over this, are
you? II the lady IL hurt as bad Us
you say, who was It that wrote this
note" He tossed It forward on to the
table.
II wrote It to bring you here"
"You wrote III There was no one
on earth outside the Joint who knew
the secret Of the dancing men. How
came you TO write III"
- What one man can invent another
can discover" said Holmes. There Is
a cab coming to convey you to Nor
witch, Mr.. Slaney. But meanwhile you
have time to make some small repara-
ton for the injury you have wrought.
Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt
has herself lain under grave suspicion
Of the murder Of her husband and that
1t was only my presence hero and the
knowledge which happened to pos
sess which has saved her from the &C
cusatlon? The least that you owe her
Is to make 1t clear to the whole world
that she vas In no way, directly OF
indirectly. responsible for his tragic
end"
II ask nothing better" said the Amer,
lean. II guess the very best case
can make for myself Is the absolute
naked truth"
ut Is my duty to warn you that II
will he used against YOU" cried the
inspector, with the magnificent fair
play Of the British criminal law.
Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
"l'll chance that" said no. "First of
all, | want you gentlemen to under
stand that l have known this lady
since she was child. There We're sew
en- Of Us In a gang In Chicago, and FL
sizes father was the boss of the Joint,
He was clever man, was old Patrick.
II was he who invented that writing,
which would pass as chlld's scrawl
unless you just happened to have the
key to 1t. Well, Elsie learned some OF
our ways, but she couldn't stand the
business, and she had bit Of honest
money Of her own. 30 she gave US all
the slip and got away to London. She
had been engaged to me, and she would
have married me, I believe, II l had
taken over another profession. but she
would have nothing to do with any.
thing on the cross 1t was only after
her marriage to this Englishman that
was able to find out where she was.
wrote to her, but got no answer. After
that / came over, and, rs letters were
no use. put my messages where she
could read them.
well. have been here month
now. lived on that farm, where had
a room down below, and could get In
and out every night and no one the
wiser. tried all could to coax Elsie
eSwgy. l knew that she read the mes