The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-04-30
The ADVENTURE of The ABBEY GRANGE E

certainly seems to be corroborated. if
II needed confederation. by every
detail which We see before us" He
threw ii open. There are no signs
here. but the ground is iron hard. and
one would not expect them I see
that these candles in the mantelpiece
have been lighted
Yes, 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
sidehoard. Lady Brackenstau thinks
that they We're themselves so disturbed
by the death of Sir Eustace that they
Gid not ranSack the house, as they
would otherwise have done"
mo doubt that is true. and vet they
drank some wine, 1 understand"
ITO steady their nerves"
Exactly. These three glasses upon
the sideboard have been untouched. I
suppose"
yes, and the bottle stands as they
left it,
Let US look at it. Harloa. haIIoa!
What is this2"
The three glasses were grouped to-
gether. all of them tinged with wine,
and onetof them containing some dregs
IT
them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay
a long. deeply stained cork Its ap-
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 Iistless eX-
preston. and again I saw an alert light
of interest in his keen. deep set eyes
He raised the cork and examined il
infinitely.
How did they draw it?'' he asked.
Hopkins pointed to a half-Opened
Did Lady Brackenstan say that
screw was -used?"
mo. you remember that she was
senseless at the moment when the bot
tie was opened"
quite so. As a matter Of fact, that
screw was not used. This bottle was
opened by a pocket screw. proba biz
contained in a knife. and not more than
an inch and a half long. If you Will eN-
anime the top of the cork, you Will OBJ
serve that the screw was driven in
three times before the cork was eX-
trdCted. 1t has never been trauSfiNed.
This long screw would have transfixed
it and drawn it up with "A single pull.
| When you catch this fellow you viii
| find that he has one Of these multipleX
knives in his possession
Excellent" said Hopkins.
But these glasses do puzzle me. I
confess. Lady BrackenstaU actually
saw the three men drinking, did she
not2''
Yes, she was clear about that"
Then there is an end of it. What
more is to be said2 And yet. you must
! admit that the three glasses are very
| remarkable, Hopkins. What? You see
nothing remarkable Well, well let it
/ pass. Perhaps, when a man has spe-
J Cial knowledge and special powers like
my own, il rather encourages him to
| seek a complex explanation when a
( sampler one IL at hand OF course. IT
must be mere chance about the
/ glasses. Well, good morning, Hopkins
] ] don't see that / can be of any use to
/ you, and you appear to have your case
/ very clear You Will let me know
| when Randall is arrested. and any fur
! ther developments which may occur.
/ trust that / shall soon have to con-
| graduate you upon a successful con
| clUsiOn. Come. Watson. I fancy that
/ we may employ ourselves more profit
| ably AT home"
/ During our return journey 1 could SET
! by Holmes face that he was much puz
I Zled by something which he had oh.
/ served. Every now and then. by al
} effort, he would throw off the impress
sion, and talk as if the matter were
! clear. but then his doubts would settl,
D HoNll upon MN again and his knitted
I brOwS and distracted eyes would show
that his thoughts had gone back one,
more to the great dining room of TIT
Abbey Grange, in which this midnigh
tragedy had been enacted. At last, b,
a sudden impulse, just as our train
was crawling out of a suburban sta
ton, he sprang on to the platform an,
pulled me out after him
! Excuse me. my dear fellow" Sait
he. as we watched the rear carriage o
our train disap pearing round curve
4 am sorry to make you the victim o
what may seem a mere Whim, but OF
my life. Watson, I simply can't leav
that case in this condition. Every in
stiuct that I possess cries out agains
it. It's wrOnS-it'S all wrongful sWea
that it's wrong And yet the lady
story was complete. the maids zorro
bOratiOn was sufficient, the detail wa
fairly exact What have I to put u
against that? Three wine glasses. tina
Is all. But if I had not taken thing
for granted, if 1 had examined every
thing with care which I should hav
shown, had we approached the case q
nOvO and had no cut-and-dried story L
warp my mind, should I not then hav