The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-05

nOsed and larse-eyed, with languid
and yet courtly manners. He was in
deed a scion of one of the very Oldest
families in the kingdom, though his
branch was a cadet one which had
separated from the northern Mus
! graves some time in the sixteenth
/ century and had established itself in
Western Sussex. where the Manor
, House of Hurlstone is perhaps the
! oldest iBhabitOd building in the cOun-
/ try. Something of his birthplace
seemed to cling 10 the man, and
never looked at his pale, keen face or
I the poise of his head without associat-
/ ing him with gray arChWays and null
/ liOned windows and all the venerable
| wTeckage of a feudal keep. Once or
! twice we drifted into talk, and l can
remember that more than once he eX-
! pressed a keen interest in my methods
/ OF observation and inference
For four years l had seen nothing Of
/ him until one morning he walked into
my room in Montague street. He had
changed little, was dressed like
Young man Of fashion-he was always
a bit of a dandy-and preserved the
same quiet, suaVe manner which had
| formerly distinguished him.
How has all gone with you. Mus
grave?' I asked. after We had cOrdi-
/ ally shaken hands.
fathers death, said he; he was
carried off about two years ago. Since
J then ] have of course had the Hurl-
; stone estates TO manage, and as | am
member for my district as Well, my
4 life has been busy one. But / under
/ stand, Holmes, that you are turning
| to practical ends those powers with
/ which you used 10 amaze us?'
Yes said I, 1 have taken to liv
/ ing by my wits
! I am delighted to hear it, for your
I advice at present would be exceed
/ ingly valuable to me. We have had
/ some very strange doings at Hurl-
| stone. and the police have been able
/ 10 throw 10 light upon the matter. 1t
/ is really the most extraordinary and
/ inexplicable business.
You can imagine with what eager
! ness ! listened TO him, Watson, for the
J very chance for which I had been
! painting during all those months of in
/ reach In my mmOst heart / believed
/ that | could. succeed where others
failed. and now l had the opportunity
/ 10 test myself.
PRAY. let me have the details
cried
Reginald Musgrave sat down op-
/ pOsite TO me, and lit the cigarette
J WHICH / pQSEtu LUNaIuS MN.
You must know said he that
/ though l am a bachelor, l have to
J keep up a cOnsiderabl staff of serV-
ants at Huristone. for il is Il rambling
old place. and takes a good deal of
/ looking after. ! preserve. too. and III
/ the pheasant months / usually have a
( house party, so that il would not do
to be short-handed. Altogether there
! are eight maids, the cook, the butler
D. .Hs-a.
and "a ST Dies o. course nave Il
separate stan.
OF these servants the one who
I had been longest in cur service was
/ BruntOn the butler. He was "a young
/ SchOOlmaSter ont Of place when he was
! first taken M by my father. but he
I was man Of great energy and char
( acter and be soon became quite in
! valuable i'm the household. He was
| well-groWn. handsome man, with a
I splendid forehead. and though he has
! been with us twenty years he cannot
be more than forty now. With his
I personal advantage and his extra
ordinary gifts-for he can speak sew
+ eral languages and play nearly every
musical instrumental is wonderful
that he should have been satisfied so
/ long i'm such a position. but l sup
pose that he was comfortable and
/ The butler of HurlstOue is always a
+ thing that is remembered by all who
/ visit us.
/ But this paragon has one fault
Tie is a bit of a Don Juan, and you
can imagine that for a man like him
/ II is not very difficult part To- play
/ in d quiet country district When he
/ was married il was all right, but since
I ne has been WidOWeT We have had
/ no end OF trouble with him. \ few
months ago we were in hopes that he
/ was about to settle down again. for
/ he became engaged to Rachel Howeils
: our second houscmaid; but he has
/ thrown her over since then and taken
up with Janet Tfegeliis, the daughter
/ OF the head gamckCeper. Rachel-Who
/ is a very good girl. but of an eXcita BILE
/ Welsh emperament-had sharp
| touch of brain fever. and goes about
/ the house uoW-Or did until yesterday
like a black-eyed shadow of her
! former self That was our first drama
at EurlStOuc: but a second one came
! 70 drive fl from our minds. and il was
prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal
/ of butler BTUntOn.
This was how il came about
/ have said that the man was intelli-
I gent, and this very intelligence has
/ caused his ruin. for il seems to have
/ led 90 an Unsuitable curiosity about
/ things which did not in the least con-
| Germ him, ] had no idea of the lengths
70 which this would carry him, until
The mCrest accident opened my eyes
/ 10 it.
- have said that the house is Il
/ rambling one. one day last week
on Thursday night TO be more exact
/ / found that 1 could not sleep, having
foOlishly taken q cup of strong cafe
/ noir after my dinner. After struggling
/ against it until two in the morning.
I felt that il was quite hopeless. so I rose
I and lit the candle with the intention Of
/ continuing a novel which ] was read
ing The book however had been left
/ in the billiard room, so / pulled on my
( dressing GOWN and started of 10 get
/ IT,
In order TO reach the billiard
/ room ] had 10 descend a flight of stairs
and then 10 cross the head of n pas
sage which led TO the library and the
/ guu-rOom. You can imagine my sur
/ prise when. as I looked down this cor
/ rider, ! saw glimmer of light coming
| from the open door Of the library. l
/ had myself eXtinguished the lamp and
J closed the door before coming to bed
Naturally my first thought was of bur-
/ glars. The corridors at Hurlstone
/ have their walls largely decorated with
trophies OF old weapons. From one Of
/ these I picked a baJtle-aXe. and then,
/ leaving M candle behind me. | crept
/ on tiptoe down the passage and peeped
/ i'm AZ the open door.
Brunton, the butler, was in the
| library. lie was sitting. fully dressed
/ in an easy chair. with Il slip of paper
/ which looked Ike map upon his
] knee and his forehead sunk forward
/ upon his hand in deep thought. i
/ stood dumb wiki establishment, watch
! ing him from the darkness. A small
/ taper on the edge of the table shed a