Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-07-14

1
and him on the floor, with his blood
| and brains over the room. 1t was
| enough to drive a woman out OF her
wits, tied there and her very dress spot
ted with him; but she never wanted
courage. did Miss Mary Fraser of AIDE
laide, and Lady Brackenstall of Abbey
| Grange hasn't learned new ways.
You've questioned her long enough,
you gentlemen, and now she is coming
to her own room just with her old
Theresa TO get the rest that she badly
needs"
With a motherly tenderness the
gaunt woman put her arm round her
mistress and led her from the room.
''She has been with her all her life,"
said Hopkins. ''Nursed her as n baby
and came with her TO England when
they first left Australia eighteen
months ago. Theresa Wright is her
name, and the kind of maid you don't
pick up nowadays. This way, Mr..
Holmes. if you please!"
The keen interest had passed out of
Holmes expressive face. and / knew
that with the mystery all the charm of
the case had departed. There still re-
manned an arrest to be effected, but
what We're these commonplace rOgues
that he should soil his hands With
them? An abstruse and learned spe-
cialist who finds that he has been call
ed in for case of measles would eX-
perience something of the annoyance
which | read i'll my friends eyes. Yet
the scene in the dining room OF the Alb
hey Grange was sufficiently strange to
arrest his attention and to recall his
waning interest.
1t was a very large and high cham
Der, with carved oak ceiling. oaken
paneling and fine array of deers
heads and ancient weapons around the
walls. AT the farther end from the
door was the high French window of
which we had heard. Three smaller
windows on the right hand side filled
the apartment with cold winter sun
shine. On the left was large, deep
fireplace, with a massive, oyerhanging
oak mantelpiece. Beside the fireplace
was a heavy oaken chair with arms
and croSsbars at the bottom. In and
out through the open woodwork was
woven a crimson cord, which was Sc
cured at each side to the crOsspiece be-
low. In releasing the lady the cord
had been slipped off her, but the knots
with which it had been secured still re-
NAMED These details only struck our
attention afterward. for our thoughts
We're entirely absorbed by the terrible
object which lay upon the tiger skin
hearth rug in front of the fire.
1t was the body of a tall, well made
man about forty years of age He
lay upon his back. his face upturned,
with his white teeth grinning through
his short black beard. His two
clinched hands were raised above his
head, and a heavy blackthorn stick
lay across them. His dark, handsome,
aquiline features were cOnvulsed into
a spasm of vindictive hatred, which
had set his dead face in a terribly
fiendish expression. He had evidently
been in his bed when the alarm had
broken out, for he wore a foppish, en-
broidered nightshirt, and his bare feet
projected from his trousers. His head
was horribly injured, and the whole
room bore witness to the savage feroc-
ity of the blow which had struck him
down. Beside him lay the heavy poker
bent into a curve by the conclusion.
Holmes examined both it and the indie
scribabe wreck which 1t had wrought.
HE must be powerful man, this
elder Randall" he remarked.
Yes" said Hopkins. Il have some
record OF the fellow, and he is a rough
customer"
You should have no difficulty in get
ting him"
Not the slightest. We have been on
the lookout for him. and there was
some idea that he hal got away to
America Now that we know that the
gang are here l don't see how they
can escape. We have the news at
every seaport already. and a reward
will be offered before evening What
beats me is how they could have done
so mad n thing knowing that the lady
could describe them and that we could
not fail TO recognize the description"
Exactly. One would have expected
that they would have silenced Lady
BrackenStall as we'll"
They may not have realized l sug-
gested. that she had recovered from
her faint"
THAT is likely enough. If she seem
ed TO he senselesS they would not take
her life. What about this poor fell
low. Hopkins? / seem to have heard
some queer stories about him.
HE was a good hearted man when
he was sober, but perfect fiend when
he was drunk. or rather when he was
half drunk, for he seldom really went
the whole way. The devil seemed 10 he
in him at such times, and he was capa-
bic of anything. From what hear, in
spite of all his wealth and his title he
very nearly came our way once or
twice. There was a scandal about his
drenching a dog with petroleum and
setting it on fire-her ladyships dog. TO
make the matter worse-and that was
only hushed up with difficulty. Then
he threw a decanter at that maid. The
resa Wright; there was trouble about
that On the whole. and between our
selves. IL win be brighter house with
out him. What are you looking at