The news & observer., 1905-12-03

gold and seven hundred in notes"
he said.
Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a
Isheet of his notebook and handed it
to him.
| and mademoiselle's address?" he
lsasked.
"Is Briony Lodge Serpentine Az
enue, st. Johns Wood"
Holmes took note of it. "One 9TH
er question" said he. 'Was the pho
tograph a cabinet?"
| 1T was"
I Then, goodnight, your Majesty,
and / trust that we shall soon have
some good news for you. And good
night, watson he added, as the
wheels of the royal brougham rolled
down the street. IF you will be good
enough to call tomorrow afternoon,
at three o'clock, l should like to chat
| this little matter over with you"
l TT
At three o'clock precisely l was at
Baker street, but Holmes had not
I'yet returned. The landlady inform
ed me that he had left the house
shortly after eight o'clock in the
morning. / sat down beside the fire,
however, with the intention of await
ling him. however long he might be.
was already deeply interested in his
| inquiry, for, though it was surround
| ed by none of the grim and strange
| features which were associated with
| the two crimes which / have already
recorded, still, the nature of the case
and the exalted station of his client
gave it character of it's own. In
deed, apart from the nature of the
| investigation which my friend had on
hand, there was something in his mas
terly grasp of a situation, and his
keen incisive reasoning, which made
| it a pleasure to me to study his sys-
tenn of work, and to follow the quick,
subtle methods by which he disentang
lied the most inextricahIe mysteries
So accustomed was l to his invariable
success that the very possibility of his
falling had ceased to enter into my
head.
1t was close upon four before the
door c:(ened, and a drunkenlooK-
ing groom, ill-kempt, and side-whis-
kered, with an infiamed face and dis
reputable clothes, walked into the
room. ! Accustomed as | >yas to my
friends amazing powers in the use
of disguises / had TO look three times
before l was certain that it was indeed
he. With nod he vanished into the
bedroom, whence he emerged in five
minutes tween-suited and respectable,
as of old Putting his hands into his
pockets. he stretched out his legs In
front of the fire. and laughed heart
lily for some minutes.
''Well, really" he cried, and then
he choked; and laughed again until
The was oh iged to lie back, limp and
helpless, in the chair. =
What is it?'
TITS quite too funny I am sure
you could never guess how en-
ployed my morning, or what | ended
by doing"
II can't imagine. | suppose that
! you have been watching the habits,
and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene
Adler"
"Quite so; but the sequel was rath-
or usual. I will tell you, however. l
| left the house a little after eight
| o'clock this morning. in the character
| of a groom out of work. There is
| a wonderful sympathy and freema
sonry among horsey men. Be one OF
! them, and ou will know all there is
| to know / soon found Briony Lodge
1t is bijou villa, with a garden at the
| back, but built out in front right up
| to the road, two stories. Chubb lock
| to the door. Large sitting-room on
| the right side, we'll furnished, with
long windows almost to the floor, and
| those preposterous English window
| fasteners which a child could open.
Behind there was nothing remarkable.
save that the passage window could be
| reached from the top of the coach
| house. | walked round it and eXamin-
| ed it closely from every point of view,
| but without noting anything else of
| interest.
81 then lounged down the street,
and found as / expected. that there
was a news in a lane which runs
down by one wall of the garden.
lent the oslers a hand in rubbing down
their horses, and 1 received in ex-
change twopence, glass of half-and-
half. two fills Of shag tobacco, and as
much information as l could desire
about Miss Adler, to say nothing OF
half a dozen other people in the neigh
borhood in whom | was not in the
least interested. but whose biogra-
phes 1 was compelled to listen to-"
"And what of Irene Adler?" | ask
ed.
"Oh, she has turned all the mems
heads in that part. She is the daint-
est thing under bonnet on this plan
ct. So say the Serpentine-mews, to
man. She lives quietly, sings at con-
certS, drives out at five every day, and
returns at seven sharp for dinner.
Seldom goes out at other times except
when she sings. Has only one male
visitor, but a good deal of him. He
is dark handsome, and dashing. new
er calls less than once a day, and Of
ten twice. He is q Mr.. Godfrey Nor
ton of the Inner Temple. See the
advantages of a cabman as conf
dant. They had driven him home
a dozen times from Serpentine-
and knew all about him. When had
listened to all they had to tell, be-
gan to walk up and down near Briony
Lodge once more, and to think over
my plan of campaign.
''This Godfrey Norton was evidently
an important factor in the matter He
was a lawyer. That sounded ominous.
What was the relation between them
and what the object of his repeated
visits? Was she his client, his friend,
or his mistress? If the former, she
has probably transferred the photo
graph to his keeping. If the latter.
it was less likely. On the issue Of
this uestqion deepened whether [
should continue my work at Briony
Lodge, or turn my attention to the
gentleman's chambers in the Temple.
It was a delicate point. and it widen
ed the field of my inquiry. / fear that
/ bore you with these details. but /
!, ,aya to let Won SEQ NV LITTLE diffic111-