The San Francisco call., 1905-03-19

give mei-but would not have touch
ed hair OF her pretty head Take
Il bask-youl Say that she is not
She was found. badly wounded bv
the side of her dead husband
lie sank with u deep groan on the
settee and buried his face in his
race IN his manacled hands. For five
nilnutes he was silent. Then he raised
Els race once more and spoke with
the cold composure OF despair.
L have nothing to hide from Won
gentlemen, said he. If I shot the
man he had shot at me, and there's no
murder In that. But If you think
could have hurt that woman. then
you don't know either me or her.
tell you there was never a man
In this world who loved
woman more than L loved her.
mad right to her. She was pledged
10 me years ago. Who was this Eng
lshman that he should come between
US l tell YOU that 1 had the first
right TO her and that 1 am only claim
ing my own
~. she broke away from your infiu-
ence when she found the man that
you are said Holmes sternly. 'She
heu from america to avoid you and
Sne married an honorable gentleman
IN england You logged her and fol-
lowed her and made her life a misery
H.
don the husband whom she loved and
respected in order to fly with you,
WnOm she feared and hated You
nave ended by bringing about the
death Of a noble man and drivine his
VIE TO suicide. This is your record
IN this business, Mr.. Abe Slaney, and
you viii answer for it to the law"
If Elsie dies. 1 care nothing what
becomes of me-" said the American.
He opened one of his hands and
looked at a note crumpled up in his
PALM See here. mister,'' he cried,
with gleam of suspicion in his eyes,
you're not trying to scare me over
this. are you? If the lady is hurt as
bad as you say, who was 1t that wrote I
this note?" He tossed it forward on
TO the table
i wrote 1t to bring you here"
You wrote it? There was no one
on earth outside the Joint who knew
the secret Of the dancing men. How
came you to write it?"
What one man can invent another
can discover" said Holmes There
is cab coming to convey you to Nor
swtch, Mr.. Slaney. But, meanwhile.
you have time to make some small
reparation for the injury you have
wrought. Are you aware that Mrs
Hilton Cubitt has herself lain under
grave suspicion OF the murder OF her
husband and that It was only my pres
ence here and the knowledge which
happened to possess which saved her
from the accusation? The least that
you owe her is to make IL clear to
the world that she was in no way,
directly or Indirectly, responsible for
his tragic end"
II ask nothing better" said the
American. II guess the very best
case can make for myself Is the ab-
solute truth"
T.
will be used against YOU" cried the
inspector, with the magnificent fair
play of the British criminal law
Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
III chance that" said he. First
OF all, want you gentlemen to under
stand that 1 have known this lady
since she was a child. There were
seven of US in a gang In Chicago and
Elsie's father was the boss OF the
joint He was a clever man. was old
Patrick. 1t was he who invented that
writing, which would pass as a child's
scrawl unless you just happened to
have the key to 1t. Well. Elsie learned
some of our ways, but she couldn't
stand the business. and she had q bit
OF honest money OF her own, so she
gave US the slip and got away TO Lon
don. She had been engaged to me =
and she would have married me, 1
believe, If had taken over another
ing to do with anything on the cross.
1t. was only after her marriage to this
Englishman that I was able to find
out where she was. I wrote to her,
but got no answer. After that came
over, and as letters were OF no use I
put my messages where she could read
them.
We'll, / have been here a month
now. lived in that farm. where i
had room down below, and could
get in and out every night, and
no one the wiser. tried
all l could to coax Elsie away
sages, for once she wrote an answer.
under one of them. Then my temper
got the better of me and I began to
threaten her. She sent me a letter
then, irnploring me TO go away and
saying that it would break her heart
If any scandal should come upon her
husband. She said that she would
come down when her husband was.
asleep at 8 in the morning and speak
with me through the end window IL
would go away afterward and leave
her in peace. She came down and
brought money with her, trying to
bribe me to go. This made me mad
and / caught her arm and tried to
pull her through the window. At that
moment in rushed her husband with .
his revolver in his hand Elsie had
sunk down upon the door and we
were face to face. I was heeled also,
and I held up my gun to scare him
off and let me get away. He fired and
missed me- pulled or almost at the
same instant and down he dropped
made away across the garden and
as I went I heard the window shut
behind me. That's Gods truth. gen
tlemen. every word Of It; and heard
no more about 1T until that lad came
riding up with a note which made me
walk In here, like a jay. and give my
self into your hands"
A cab had driven up while the
American had been talking Two uni
formed policemen sat inside. In
spector Martin rose and touched his
prisoner on the shoulder.
1t is time for US TO go.'
Can I see her first?"
No, she is not conscious. Mr..
Sherlock Holmes, only hope that, IL
ever again have an important case.
shall have the good fortune to have
you by my side" %
We stood at the window and