The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-23

then to explain the visit of this
rough-looking fellow at so late an
hour, and the agitation that was
caused by his coming"
cyril Overton pressed his hands to
his head. I can make nothing of 1t,
said he.
''Well well. | have clear day, ana
| shall be happy TO look into the mat
ter" said Holmes. Il should strongly
recommend you to make your prep
arations for your match without rel
erence to this young gentleman II
must, as you say, have been an over
towering necessity which tore MIN
away in such fashion, and the same
necessity is likely to hold him away.
Let us step round together to the no.
tel and see if the porter can throw
any fresh light upon the matter.
Sherlock Holmes was a past-master
in the art of putting a humble wit
ness at his ease, and very soon, IN
the privacy of Godfrey Staunton's
abandoned room, he had extracted all
that the porter had to tell Inc VS.
itor of the night before was not
gentleman, neither was he work
ingman. He was simply what the por-
ter described as medium looking
chap" a man of fifty, beard grizzled,
pale face quietly dressed He seemed
himself to be agitated. The porter
had observed his hand trembling When
he had held out the note. Godtrey
stanton had crammed the note into
his nocket. Staunton had not shaken
hands with the man in the hall. They
had exchanged a few sentences, of
which the porter had only distin-
guished the one word time Then
they had hurried off in the manner
described 1t was just half-past ten
by the hall clock.
Let me see" said Holmes, seating
himself on Staunton's bed. you are
the day porter, are you notT'
Eyes, sir | go off duty at eleven.
1.-THE night porter saw nothing 1
suppose?"
mo, sir. one theatre party came in
late. No one else"
Were you on duty all day yester-
day."
Eyes, sir"
did you take any messages to Mr..
Staunton?"
Yes, sir, one telegram"
"Ah, that's interesting. What o'clock
was this?"
about six"
"Where was Mr. Staunton when he
received it?'
Here in his ROOM"
"Werer you present when he opened
it?"
Eyes. sir, I waited to see if there
was an answer
well, was there?'
Eyes, sir he wrote an answer.
Ibid you take it?"
mo. he took it himself
but he wrote 1t in your presence!
Eyes. sir. | was standing by the
door, and he with his back turned at
that table. When he had written 1t
he said: All right, porter; 1 will
take this myself "
What did he write it with|'
"A pen, sir"
was the Geographic form one of
these on the tablet"
Eyes, sir it was the top one"
Holmes rose Taking the forms, he
carried them over to the window and
carefully examined that which was
uppermost.
1T is pity he did not write in
pencil" said he, throwing them down
again with a shrug of disappointment.
las you have no doubt frequently OBJ
served. Watson, the impression us
ually goes through-a fact which has
dissolved many a happy marriage.
However, l can find no trace here. |
rejoice however, to perceive that he
wrote with a broad-pointed quill pen,
and 1 can hardly doubt that we will
find some impression upon this blot
ting-pad. All yes. surely, this is the
very thing!''
He tore off strip of the plotting
paper and turned towards us the fol-
lowing hieroglyphic: