The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-02

tween of Pietro and his sister. 1t Is
of no consequence to us which is the
correct solution.
'''rhe main fact is that he had the
pearl. and at that moment, when 1t
was on his person, he was pursued by
the police. He made for the factory
In which he worked, and he knew that
he had only q few minutes in which TO
conceal this enormously valuable prize,
which would otherwise be found on
him when he was searched. Six plas-
ter casts OF Napoleon were drying IN
the PASSAGE. One of them was sun
soft. In an instant Beppo, sl1iliful
workman, made a small hole in the
wet plaster dropped in the pearl, ana
with a few touches covered over the
aperture once more. 1t was an admir-
able hding-pace. No one could pos
slbly find it. But Beppo was con-
DENIED to a years imprisonment and
In the meanwhile his six busts were
scattered over London. He could not
tell which contained his treasure. Only
by breaking them could he see. Even
shaking would tell him nothing, for as
the plaster was wet 1t was probable
that the pearl would adhere to lt--as.
In fact II has done. Beppo did not de-
SPAR. and he conducted his search
with considerable ingenuity and perse-
yerance Through a cousin who works
with Gelder, he found out the retail
firms who had bought the busts. He
managed to find employment with
rtorse Hudson, and in that way
tracked down three OF them. The
pearl was not there. Then, with the
help of some Italian employe, he sue
ceeded in finding out where the ether
n Hssct EEq q
at Harker's. There he was logged by
his confederate, who held Beppo re-
sponsible for the loss OF the pearl, and
he stabbed him in the scuffle which
followed
IF he was his confederate, why
should he carry his photograph" I
asked
"As a means of tracing him. II he
wished to inquire about him from any
third person. That was the obvious
reason. Well after the murder / cal
culated' that Beppo would probably
hurry rather than delay his move
ments. He would fear that the police
would read his secret, and so he hast
ened on before they should get ahead
of him. OF course, ] could not say that
he had not found the pearl in Harker's
bust / had even concluded for GER
tain that it was the pearl, but it was
evident to me that he was looking for
something, since he carried the bust
past the other houses In order to break
1t in the garden which had a lamp
overlooking II. Since Harker's bust
was one In three. the chances were
exactly as ! told you-two TO one
against the pearl being inside 1t. There
remained two busts. and 1t was obvious
that he would go for the London one
first / warned the Inmates OF the
house, so as to avoid a second trag-
edy. and we went down with the hap
piest results. BY that time. of course.
/ knew for certain that 1t was the
Borgia pearl that we were after. The
name of the murdered man linked the
one event with the other. There only
remained a single bust-the Reading
one-and the pearl must be there.
bought II in your presence from the
owner-and there 1t lies"
We sat In silence for a moment
We'll" said Lestrade i've seen you
handle good many cases. Mr.. Holmes.
but / don't know that I ever knew a
more workmanlike one than that.
We're not jealous OF you at Scotland
Yard. No. sir. we are very proud of
YOU and II you come down tomorrow.
there's not a man. from the oldest in