The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-05
New Sherlock Holmes Series

could follow her footmarks easily cross the lawn to the edge of the mere, where they vanished close to the gravel pa th which leads out of the grounds. The lake there is eight feet deep. and you can ina zine our feelings when we saw that the trail of the poor demented girl came to an end at the edge Of il.
 " .Of course we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the remains hui no trace of the body could We find. On the other hand, we brought to the sur face an object of q most unexpected kind. 1t was linen bag which contained within 1t mass of old rusted and diseoloie ed metal and several dull-colored pieces Of pebble or glass. This strange find was all that we could get from the mere. and' although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton. The country police are at their wits end, and l have come up to you as a last resource.' ''You cAn imagine, Watson. with what eaRcrness I listened 10 this extraordinary sequence of events. and endeavored tc piece them together and to devise some common thread upon which they might all hang. The butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid had loved the butler ] but had afterwards had cause to hate
 him She was of Welsh blood. fiery and passionate. She had been terribly excited | immediately after his disappearance. She l had flung into the lake a bag containins
 some curious contents. These were al factors which had to be taken into con l sideration, and vet none of them got : quite to the heart of the matter. What
 was the starting point of this chain oi 1 eventsa There lay the end of this tangleV :, line.
 ] ' T must see that paper. Musgrave, ] said I. which this butler of yours thought ] it worth his while to consult, even at ths risk of the loss of his place. 1 It is rather an absurd business. this I, ritual of ours" he answered But il has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it. l have copy of the ques- tions and answers here if you care to TUT | your eye over them i He handed me the very paper I have | here, Watson, and this is the strange | catechism to which each Musgrave haC to submit when he came to mans estate | l will read you the questions and an swers. as they stand, | Whose was it?'
 I His who is gone 1 Who shall have it?
 He who will come.' ! Where was the shadow? [ "'Under the elm
 How was it stepped"
 North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and by two west by one and by one, and SO under.'
 What shall we give for it?'
 ".All that is ours | Why should we give it.? , For the sake of the trust The original has no date. but it is il the spelling of the middle of the seven teenth century, remarked Musgrave. . am afraid, however, that it can be O. l little help to you in solving this mys | tery
 |" At least said l, it gives us another mystery, and one which is even more in | teresting than the first. It may be tha | the solution of the one may prove to b, the solution of the other. You will eX cuse me, Musgrave if I say that you butler appears to me to have been {
 very clever man, and to have had | clearer insight than ten generations O | his masters
 "'I hardly follow you, said Musgrave l The paper seems to me to be of no prac | tical importance.'
 !" But to me 1t seems immensely prac
 tical, and I fancy that Brunton took thu same view. He had probably seen it be fore that night on which you caugh him.
 " It is very possible. We took no pain 1 to hide it.
 :" He simply wished, l should imagine to refresh his memory upon that last oc casion. He had. as I understand, som
 sort of map or chart which he was com pairing with the manuscript. and which h