Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-01

q | skllful sculptor and had earned an honest
{ living. but he had taken to evil courses and
d had twice already been i'm gHol-once for a
y petty theft and once, as we had already
5 heard. for stabbing fellow-country man.
q | He could talk English perfectly well Ills
4 | reasons for destroying the buSts stIl
s unknown and he refused to answer any
e questions upon the subject. but the police
had discovered that these same busJs might
= very well have been made by his own hands,
since he was engaged in this class OF work
ut the establishment of Gelder 81 Co. To
all this information, much of which We al
ready knew, Holmes listened with polite at
tentiCn, but l. who knew him SO well. could
clearly that his thoughts were else
where. and detected mixture OF mingled
uneasiness and expectation beneath that
mask which he wont TO assume At
last lac started in his chair. and his eyes
frightened There had been ring at the
bell. minute later we heard steps upon
the stairs, and an elderly. Ied-facrd man
with grizzled side whiskers was ushcrsd in.
In his right hand he carried an old-fash-.
Toned carpet-bag, which be placed upon the
| table.
rs Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?"
My friend bowed and smiled Mr. Sande-
| ford OF Reading. I suppusc?'' said ne.
Yes. sir; fear that ! am a little late.
but the trains We're awkward. You wrote
to me about a bust that is in my posses
sion
Exactly"
Il have your letter here. You said. 1 de-
sire to possess &. copy OF Devine's Napoleon,
and am prepared to pay you ten pounds fer
| the one which is in your possession Is
| that right?
81 was very much surprised AT your let
| ter. for | could not imagine now you knew
| that owned such thing.
| "Of course. you must have been sur
prised. but the explanation is very simple.
| Mr.. Harding of Harding Brothers said that
| they had sold you their last copy. and he
gave me your address"
oh. that was it, was it? Did he tell you
whatI paid for iF
No he did not
|
| very rich one. ! only gave fifteen shillings
for the bust and think you ought to know
| that before l take ten pounds from YOU
| Il am sure the scruple does YOU honor
| Mr.. Sandeford. But ! have named that
price. so / intend to stick to it
| We'll it is very handsome Of you. Mr..
| Holmes | brought the bust up with me.
| you asked me to do Here II isi' lie open
cd his bag, and at last placed upon
| our table complete specimen OF that bust
| which we had already seen more than once
| i'm fragments
Holmes took paper from his pocket and
| laid a ten-pound note upon the table.
| You viii kindly sign that paper, Mr..
| Sandeford, in the presence of these wit
nesses. 1t is simply to say that you trans
fer every possible right that you ever had In
the bust to me. L am a methodical man,
| you see, and You never know what turn
events might take afterward. Thank you.
Mr. Sandeford; here is your money, and
wish you a very good evening
When visitor had disappeared, Sher-
lock Holmes movements were such as 10
|
clean white cloth from a drawer and laying
it over the table. Then he placed his newly
i acquired bust in the center of the cloth.
| Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop and
= struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top
of the head. The figure broke into frag-
! ments. and Holmes bent eagerly over tho
, shattered remains. Next instant, with Il
; loud shout of triumph he held up one splin-
ter in which a round. dark object was fixed
like plum In pudding.
r YOU to the famous black pearl Of the
! | Borgias."
Iestrade and I sat silent for a moment.
and then, with spontaneous impulse, we
both broke out clapping, as at the we'll
wrought crisis OF play A flush of color
, ! sprang to Holmes pale checks, and he
bowed TO us like the master dramatist who
| receives the homage of his audience. 1t
! was at such moments that for an instant he
ceased to be a reasoning machine, and be
! trayed his human love for admiration and
, applause. The same singularly proud and
! reserved nature which turned away with
disdain from popular notoriety was capable
, of being moved to its depths by spontaneous
, wonder and praise from friend.
. Yes gentlemen" said he. lit is the most
| famous pearl now existing in the world and
, | It has been my good fortune, by "A connected
chain of inductive reasoning, TO trace IL
from the Prince of Colonna's bed room at
+. the Dacre Hotel. where it was lost. TO the
interior of this, the last of the six busts OF
, Napoleon which manufactured by
Gelder & Co. of Stepney. You Will remem-
Der, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
| disappearance of this valuable jewel, and
; ! the vain efforts of the London police to re
cover it. l was myself consulted upon the
case. but ] was unable to throw any Hght
upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid or
the princess. who was an Italian, and it
was proved that she had a brother In Lon
don, but we failed to trace any connection
| between them. The maids name was
Lucretia Venucci. and there is no doubt
in my mind that this Petro who was muir
dered two nights ago was the brother.
have been looking up the dates IN the old
files of the paper, and find that the dis
: appearance of the pearl was exactly TWO
days before the arrest of Beppo for some
| crime of violence-an event which took
place in the factory Of Gelder IL Co, at the
very moment when these busts We're being
made. Now you clearly see the sequence of
events though you them, Of course, in
the inverse order TO the way in which they
presented themselves TO me. Beppo had the
2 pearl in his possession. He may have stolen
it from Pietro, he may have been Pletros
confederate, he may have been the GO
: between of Pietro and his sister. 1t Is OF
2 no consequence to US which Is the correct
solution.
''The main fact is that he had the pearl,
and at that moment when II was on hls
person he was pursued by the police. He
made for the factory in which he worked,
and he knew that he had only a few min
utes in which TO conceal this enormously
valuable prize, which would otherwise be
found on him when he was searched. Six
! plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in
the passage. One of them was still soft.
In an instant Beppo, a skillful workman,
made a small hole in the wet plaster, drop
ped in the pearl, ana with a rev touNleS
| covered over the aperture once more. Mt
was an admirable hiding place. No one
| could possibly find it. But Beppo con-
demned to a years imprisonment and in
the meanwhile his six busts were scattered
over London. He could not tell which con-
| tanned his treasure. Only by breaking
them could he Even shaking would
tell him nothing for as the plaster was wet
| it was probable that the pearl would adhere
to it-as in fact it has done. Beppo did
not despair. and he conducted his search
| with considerable ingenuity and persever-
ance. Through a cousin who works with
! Colder he found out the retail firms who
had bought the busts. He managed to find
| employment with Morse Hudson, and in
that way tracked down three of them. The
pearl was not there. Then, with the help
| of some Italian employee, he succeeded in
finding out where the other three busts had
gone. The first was at Harker's. There he
| was logged by his confederate, who held
| Pappo racpop Sihla for loss of the uearl.