The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-05
T he Mystery
 of the nusgrave Ritual

ed
 That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family custom of ours, and what does this rginarol. mean?' :" don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining that'Nsaid I: with your permission we will take the first train down to Sussex, and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the spot
 That same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstonc Possibly you have seen pic. lures and read descriptions of the famous old building, so l will eonfine my account 1 of 1t to saving that it is built in the shape of an l., the long arm being the more modern portion. and the shorter the an- cient nucleus from which the other has l developed. Over the low. heavy, lintelled 1 door, in the center of this old part, is | chiselIed the date, 1607 but experts are agreed that the beams and stone work are really much older than this. The enor- mously thick walls and tiny windows of | this part had in the last century driven the family into building the new wing and the old one was used now as a storehouse and a celler when it was used at all. l splendid park with fine old timber, sur i rounds the house and the lake, to which my client had referred, lay close to the avenue, about two hundreds yards from ! the building.
 T was already firmly convinced. Wat | son. that there were not three separate l mysteries here but only one, and that if could read the Musgrave ritual alright I should hold in my hand the clue which would lead me to the truth concerning both the butler, Brunton and the maid | Howells. To that then l turned all my 1 energies Why should this servant be so anxious to master this old formula? Eyi- l dently because he saw something in 1t which had escaped all those generation of country squires, and from which he ex- l pected some personal advantage. What was it then, and how had it affected his fate?
 Ut was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the ritual, that the measurements | must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document alluded, and that if | we could find that spot, we should be in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which the old Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so | curious a fashion. There were two guides ! given us to start with and oak and an elm. As to the oak there could be no question at all. Right in front of the | house, upon the left-hand side of the drive, there stood a patriarch among oaks one of the most magnificent trees that I have ever seen.
 "'That was there when your ritual was drawn up,' said I as we drove past it.
 "1t was there at the Norman Con- quest in all probability, he answered. It has a girth of twenty-three feet
 "Here was one of my fixed points se- cured.
 Have you any old elms?" I asked. 1 "'There used to be very old one over wonder, but it was struck by lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump.
 "'You can see where it used to be?'
 Oh, yes
 There are no other elms@
 "No old one, but plenty of beeches.'
 | I should like to where it grew.
 We had driven up in a dogcart and my client led me away at once without our entering the house. to the scar on tho lawn where the elm had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and the house. My investigation seemed to be progressing.
 '"I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm wasp I asked.
 :" T can give it to you at once. It was sixty-four feet
 "How do you come to know it" [ | asked, in surprise.
 "When my old tutor used to give me lan exercise in trigonometry, it always took the shape of measuring heights 1 When was a lad worked out every tree and building in the estate.
 This was an unexpected piece of luck (Contnued on Thirty-flfth Page)