Morris tribune., 1905-08-12
Sitting room.

! Sitting room
Good morning, Mr.. Holiness said
he; good morning. May | ask if you
are very busy just now?'
"Not too busy to listen to you"
81 thought that perhaps if you had
nothing particular on hand you might
care to assist us in most remarkable
case which occurred only last night at
Hampstead"
"Dear mev' said Holmes. "What was
that?"
ga murder-a most dramatic and re-
markable murder. l know how keen
YOU are upon these things, and would
take it as a great favor if you would
step down to Appledore Towers and
give us the benefit Of your advice. 1t
ia no ordinary crime. We have had
our eyes upon this Mr.. Milverton for
| some time, and, between ourselves, he
was bit of villain. He is known to
have held papers which he used for
blackmailing purposes. These papers
| have all been burned by the murderers.
| No article of value was taken, as it is
| probable that the criminals were men
Of good position whose sole object was
to prevent social exposure"
! Criminals 2" said Holmes. "Plural?"
| Eyes, there were two of them. They
were as nearly as possible captured red
| handed. We have their footInarks, we
have their description. It's ten to one
that we trace them. The first fellow
was a bit too active, but the second
was caught by the under gardener and
only got away after struggle. He
was middle sized, strongly built man
square jaw, thick neck, mustache,
lmask over his eyes"
'That's rather vague" said Sherlock
Holmes. "Why, it might be a descrip-
ton of Watsonw
'It's true" said the inspector, with
amusement "It might be description
Of Watson"
"Well, Pm afraid I can't help you,
Lestrade," said Holmes. "The fact is
that knew this fellow Milverton, that
I considered him one of the most dan
gerous men in London and that l think
there are certain crimes which the law
cannot touch and which therefore to
some extent justify private revenge.
No, it's no use arguing. l will not
handle this case"
Holmes had not said one word to
me about the tragedy which we had
witnessed, but / observed all the morn
ing that he was in his most thoughtful
mood and he gave me the impression,
from his vacant eyes and his abstract
ed manner, of man who is striving
to recall something to his memory. We
were in the middle Of our lunch when
he suddenly sprang to his feet. by
Jove, Watson, I've got itn he cried.
"Take your hat! Come with me!' He
hurried at his top speed down Baker
street and along Oxford street until
we had almost reached Regent circus.
Here, on the left hand there stands
8 shop window filed with photographs
of the celebrities and beauties of the
day. Holmes eyes fixed themselves
upon one Of them, and following his
gaze I saw the picture of a regal and
stately lady in court dress, with q high
tiara upon her noble head. ]
looked at that delicately curved nose,
at the marked eyebrows, at the
straight mouth and the strong little
chin beneath IT, Then I caught my
breath as ( read the time honored title
Of the great nobleman and statesman |
whose wife she had been. Ny eyes |
mat those Of Holmes, and he put his |
finger to his lips as we turned away |
from the window.
The Shamrock.
In Ireland only one shamrock is
1t is an indigenous species of
clover which trails along the ground
among the grass in meadows. The ire
fold leaves are not more than one
fourth the size of the smallest clover
seen in America and are pure
green in color, without any Of the
brown shading Of white and pink clio
7ers. The creeping stem is hard and
ibrous and difficult to dislodge from
he earth On st. Patrick'S day the
rue shamrock has to be searched out
lmong the grass, for, though compare
lively plentiful at that season, it
grows close to the ground. Later it
pears a tiny white crown" blossom.
The information that shamrakh is the
Arabic word for trefold may be Of
ervice to those interested in the origin [;
n 7, JJ.icI |